I’m usually not organized enough to participate in Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day with May Dreams Gardens but this month I have a bunch of blooms and I’m ready!
Most of my true annual volunteers are still looking pretty good.
All the plants in the foreground of the above shot are volunteers. Oh how I love free plants!
Zaluzianskya capensis bloomed all winter but the warmer it gets the more abundantly it blooms and the more fragrant it is. I’ve seen others criticize it for not being very exciting but I think the shrubby little plants are quite attractive and when the blooms open in the afternoon it is gorgeous.
Linaria reticulata ‘Flamenco’ is still blooming like crazy. A few at the front (where they receive less water) are starting to peter out. I’m wondering if I will get any new seedlings and bloom for the season or if I am going to have to fill this big area of the garden with a few summer bloomers.
Ursinia anthemoides were a huge success this year and many are still in full bloom.
Geranium maderense has survived the wind storms and has been putting on a show for the past month.
Clianthus puniceus from New Zealand deserves better placement in the garden than I gave it. It has long stems that get weighted down by the large flowers so they end up hanging down pretty close to the ground. Closer to the front of a raised bed or large container is my suggestion for anyone growing this neat plant.
Sutherlandia frutescens from South Africa is a similar pea flowered plant but a little more delicate. This one bloomed in just one year from seed despite some rough handling. First it got swamped by some Lotus growing nearby, then it got tromped on and snapped in half by construction workers, I dug it up just in time before they could do more damage and it surprised me with new growth and new blooms in the gallon pot it calls home now.
Echium gentianoides ‘Tajinaste’ is basically a smaller and more airy and delicate Echium candicans.
Most of my succulents are living in containers in the backyard. Awaiting some future garden. My Aloe dorotheae surprised me with a beautiful organe and green inflorescence.
I’m very glad I kept two Craspedia globosa in my mediterranean garden.
Hymenolepis parviflora has become a nice little shrub. It bounced back quickly after an attack by caterpillars last month.
I have tons of ladybugs which is a good thing because I also have tons of aphids.
A few Coreopsis gigantea flowers remain.
I snapped this photo of a Dudleya pulverulenta inflorescence just in time. A few days later my neighbors large dog escaped confinement and went on a rampage through my garden. She snapped stems and small plants left and right. My future garden will have a fence to keep out neighbors dogs as well as marauding deer.
Euphorbia mauritanica in bloom looks pretty sticky and a bit sinister up close.
I am sure that there are some people who would consider Chrysanthemum paludosum a potentially noxious weed. A six pack of plants last year became thousands this year. But they are very easy to edit out and much more charming and longer blooming than perennial Chrysanthemum hosmariense that I also grow. They have become one of my “must have” plants.
I’ve posted about Thymus juniperifolius a few times. In full bloom you can’t even see the foliage that gives it its Latin name.
Convolvulus sabatius is a tough and reliable plant for California gardens.
I had no luck with Penstemons last year. I planted many and they all withered and died. I’m trying again this year with various P. heterophyllus cultivars. This is ‘Margarita BOP’.
Lavandula stoechas ‘Boysenberry Ruffles’ is pretty spectacular despite the fufu name.
Up close the bicolor blooms are pretty intense.
I like the overall form of this Lavandula stoechas ‘Blue Star’ (even though it is a bit floppy).
But up close the flowers are a bit stunted compared to other L. stoechas cultivars. The jury is still out on this one for me.
I’ll have to check my notes but it seems like this Mentzelia lindleyi has been blooming for about two months. Very rewarding since it is a California native and it was also a free volunteer. This winds have battered it a bit but it is still going strong.
I posted this little vignette last week but this week the Euphorbia ‘Blue Haze’ is in full bloom.
The first blooms of Berlandiera lyrata are opening up. It is well worth getting down on the ground to get a whiff of the amazing hot cocoa smell of these flowers.
Last year I was quite disappointed with Eccremocarpus scaber ‘Cherry Red’. It just sort of sat there looking sad all summer. Since everything in California seems to grow like crazy I forgot that some perennials need a year or two to get established. Now it is doing just what I wanted it to do. Covering the ugly chain link fence. And the hummingbirds go crazy for it.
I think that is enough for now! Do go check out the links at May Dreams Gardens to see what is blooming in other garden bloggers parts of the world.