Spring is here in Northern CA

Spring is definitely here in the San Francisco Bay Area -- the cherry and plum trees have burst into bloom, and my freesias are starting to perfume the air! Yesterday I spent several hours yanking out that pernicious weed, Oxalis pes-caprae (aka Bermuda Buttercup), as well as any hopeful sprouts of Bermudagrass trying to re-establish itself back in our garden.

Also a sign of spring is having enough of the calla lilies and bearded iris to cut for a good-sized bouquet. I added a pruning of Rhaphiolepsis indica 'Ballerina' (Indian hawthorn) and a spray of variegated Aucuba 'Gold Dust' leaves, which I always think is so pretty for bouquet foliage.

Stunning! I'm a bit envious... the white stuff (more ice than snow) on the ground this past week has actually been rather pretty, especially on sunny days, although it did bring things around here to a halt last week. But now it's melting and turning to that grey slush. On the other hand, the Burpee's catalog just arrived... and although I don't think I'll be ordering from them this year (is it me, or have their prices jumped up again?), seeing it will always make me think of my mom's exclamation -- "The Burpee's catalog is here! Can Spring be far behind??"

Thanks for sharing your lovely bouquet!

I love the colours -very pretty. A natural looking arrangement ,which is the sort I like to have ..Isn't it a warm experience to carry the first of the Spring flowers inside . . Oxalis is a terrible weed here -the one with tiny bulbs and pink -white flowers .I practically cried when I arrived at our new home and found it through the gardens -have worked so hard for 6 years to rid it .
Emelle

Absolutely stunning flower arrangement - I'd love to have something like that in my house right now!!! My callas won't be blooming for quite some time, nor will anything else (except crocus, primroses, and hellebores).

I love San Francisco and the Bay area!

And I can't believe those are blooming in February! Irises? How can that be? What blooms there in May?

They are absolutely stunning -- I shudder to think how much that would cost from the florist!

Suzy

That's the fun part of living in coastal Northern California - even the roses bloom all year round! Here's my front yard on Feb 18th. On the downside, there's pruning, cleanup of dead leaves, removal of rost-damaged branches, and enough snails & slugs to break your heart....it'll be a prime time for aphids too; I've already had them en masse on my freesia blooms. Ick!

It's warming up here, too. We could conceivably have a freeze before it's truly summer, but I doubt it at this point. Here's my rainbow knock out, being a trooper through the last cold spell and the transplanting:

Oh, that 'Knockout' rose is so pretty! I would love to find a reddish-toned one, but haven't seen it in the stores here.

I've never figured out why, when CA is home to 2 of the largest wholesale nurseries in the US, it takes so long for us to get new varieties. I know we have very strict agricultural laws, which is fine, but it makes it very frustrating when the rest of the world has had 'Endless Summer' hydrangeas and 'Encore' azaleas for years, while they are still very very rare here. There are tons of Monrovia roses - of course! - but no 'Knockout' roses at the big box garden centers that I've been able to find.

In fact, I finally gave up on ES hydrangeas in the nurseries and ordered 2 by mail, something I normally never do. They're doing beautifully too, I only wish I had been able to put them in the ground 2 years ago, they would be spectacular by now! I did find some 'Encore' azaleas in HDepot once but none of them had any bloom color marked on them! Since I only want a red one I had to pass them by, and that was the only time I saw them for sale here.