Things are beginning to pop so I thought that it would be fun to share. This magnolia 'Galaxy' has been blooming for a couple of weeks. The daffodils are all budded up and ready to bloom and the hydrangeas are beginning to leaf out. Bearded iris are sticking their leaves up and the camellias and azaleas are making their moves. A lot going on in the middle of February.
I forgot to say that the hellebores are blooming now.
This message was edited Feb 21, 2009 1:54 PM
I am really excited about everything starting. In bloom: first tulips, narcissus, pansies, primroses, alpine strawberries, calla lilies, hardenbergia, hardy hibiscus, snapdraggons, cyclamen. muscari 'grape hyacinth' is blooming. Buds on daffodils, cymbidiums(only one bud out of three plants!) melianthus. Spraxis, fritillaria and bearded iris I got from a hybridizers here in sc. are sending out leaves. I'm really excited about self sown nemophila menziii 'baby blue eyes' coming up in my potted japanese maples. Also cuttings of hebe, strobilianthes, and salvia that have over wintered outside, are starting to get new growth. I have a lot of stuff in pots and tend to just buy things to try out as i'm still learning so everythings a funny mishmash.
You have so many wonderful flowering plants wonderearth. I love cyclamen although all I have is a pot in my kitchen. Good for you to leap into learning even if it's a mishmash!
No pics yet...but I've got several Grevillea's blooming (G. levis, G. sericea, G. 'Scarlet Sprite', G. thelemanniana, G. 'Ruby Clusters' and probably a few I forgot). My callas are blooming, as is Anisodontea 'Tara's Pink', Coleonema, and my Ceanothus 'Concha' is just getting started. I've got a few blooms on Cestrum elegans 'Smithii' and Cestrum x cultum 'Cretan Purple' as well. My rosemary, Oxalis hirta, Gaillardia, and two Nemesia's ('Berries and Cream Sachet' and 'Compact Innocence') have been blooming all winter and are still going. Buddleja asiatica are Buddleja salvifolia are getting ready to bloom--they both smell really yummy so I can't wait for them to bloom! (B. asiatica smells a bit like freesia, and B. salvifolia a bit like lilacs) And a bunch of my tropical hibiscus are blooming too although they're in the greenhouse so I don't know if that counts! Oh, and one of my pink Salvias has a couple blooms on it as well.
Nemesia's -!!- ooooh I love them, Thanks for reminding me, I had them in Oregon and adored them so. I pulled weeds for 7 hours yesterday - whew! ... here is a before
and an after. I better get busy planting (and mulching) - no blooms for me yet, but still I'm glad to have this cleared.
**sorry just realized I am waaaay off topic! this is about as anti-bloom as you can get
This message was edited Feb 22, 2009 8:31 AM
No, not off topic, toots! Your clean, blank slate is "bloomin' wonderful"...LOL!
After I excavated it from 2 feed of chickweed, I discovered my "Elegant Lady" cape mallow had started blooming, and the first flock of daffs has opened up (hopefully many more to come---I planted about 200 bulbs earlier!)
The camellia buds on the plants in my courtyard were showing color yesterday, too.
200 ! Wow, that is going to be a lovely show -
I just have a few measly daffs here and there, but I did see some alliums breaking ground. It's wet and warm today, it would be a great day to plant some of the little 4" pots of various sticks I have waiting for me (right outside my back door), but I have a terrible cold. Hmmm, maybe this afternoon.
Love the pictures of blooms!
doss, I do love your tulip tree----unfortunately, here they routinely bloom for about 3 days and then get hammered by frost. I've seen it happen almost every year I've been here. So none for me.
Here's a bloom from my little "Elegant Lady" mallow. Got her last year at a grange sale fundraiser for 4H, and she's SO cute!
The crocosmia my friend shared with me last year is blooming...
I don't think that pic is a Crocosmia--the flowers don't look right and now is definitely the wrong time of year for it to be blooming. Maybe it's Chasmanthe? They bloom this time of year and look a bit like Crocosmias.
I might have to get myself an 'Elegant Lady'--very pretty! Looks like it's a darker pink than my 'Tara's Pink'.
Just noticed today that my Dendromecon harfordii is blooming too--nice cheery yellow blooms on a gray rainy day! It's bloomed almost nonstop all year--for a plant that I wasn't sure was going to like our climate and my clay soil it sure has done great so far!
along with my almond (this photo is from last year---we have NO blue sky today; it's raining steadily----good for my veggie seeds!)
Thanks, ecrane---I think you're right. It looks like it's probably Chasmanthe floribunda.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54491/
My friend inherited it in the garden when she bought her house, and I guessed it was a variant of the crocosmias I had bought before with labels on them. They are apparently related, but clearly different.
Thanks for the info!
Beutiful Almond Tree blossoms. This valley used to be just full of fruit trees.
And what a weeding job RED! Do you plant seeds or can you use a preemergent so you don't have to do that again soon?
Can't wait to see photos of all of your bulbs blooming ima .
I had no idea mallows bloomed so early.
The oranges on the tree are ripe. Yum.
doss, I would LOVE to plant some seeds in that freshly loosened dirt, but I would rather NOT have to weed it - so preemergent for it this time around. I'm going to work at it this week, planting, preemergent and mulch. I was thinking planting first then the preemergent, -then mulch of course so speak up if I'm doing it wrong! It is such a big space, I'll be putting tiny plants in due to $ cost. But I have hopes it will be pretty next spring.
ima, your Almond tree is beautiful! ... as is that pretty mallow.
Found this in the courtyard a little while ago (no idea what variety it is, as it came from a friend's house when she had to move).
Corn gluten works really well as an organic preemergent.
Well, I've got jonquils, Daffies, Rosemary, Roses, Sea Pinks (see photo), Dandelions and a whole bunch of wildflowers starting to bloom.
I am so impressed with your energy getting that fence area weeded. I was hoping to get some weeding done, but it is cloudy and starting to rain here today.
Noticed some tiny sprouts coming up in the B.fly planter. Can't remember what they are though.
Nice thread doss. Is your magnolia also known as a Tulip Tree? Been planning on planting one of them.
WIB,
SW
On the chasmanthe...if the flowers are all to one side, it's chasmanthe aethiopica........I think....
This message was edited Feb 22, 2009 3:33 PM
Well, now I'm all wet and it's your fault (LOL!). Looks like the flowers on the fully-open stem are on either side of it, evenly spaced top to bottom.
Oh! I am sorry...is it raining there?...LOL...if I'd taken a closeup look at your photo, I would have seen that they only appeared to be on one side.......The only reason I paid any attention at all was because the neighbor who lives on our old property has been selling the chasmanthe corms as crocosmias and I told her she would have some people who were not happy to not get what they thought they were getting. I'd never paid that much attention to the chasmanthes, having naturalized, they're wild on our property...but looked them up for her just the other day and had never known there was a 'flowers on one side' form...that's what yours looked like. If it rains here, I promise that I will go out and stand in it for a few minutes to do penance......
That seems more than fair...LOL!
I'm always happy when I know what things really are----especially since my poor friend has been trying for the past 3 years to memorize "crocosmia". Now I'll be able to torture her with "chasmanthe"....BWAHAHAHA!
While I'm standing out in the rain, I'll have to tell the DH just exactly WHY I'm standing out in the rain and he'll have the opportunity to say, "See, I'm always telling you that you don't know what you're talking about." Oh, the humiliation of it all...sigh.....
ha ha ha
I'll try the corn gluten - it's raining off & on all week, should I wait until it dries up a bit ? Thanks!
The corn gluten I got was a powder, and if it got wet while I was spreading it, it was a mess. However my friend (same one with the CHASMANTHE) got some (probably at Summerwinds) a nice shaker bag, and it was sort of pelleted. That makes it much easier to broadcast.
I'd get it in ASAP since you've disturbed the soil and undoubtedly exposed weed seeds that are soaking up this lovely rain and getting ready to sprout! The only downside to any pre-emergent is you have to remember you can't plant any GOOD seeds, either. It's an equal-opportunity preventive treatment.
SW, magnolias and tulip trees aren't the same. Tulip trees get huge and magnolias can be quite small. The one i have is about 18 feet tall.
http://home.howstuffworks.com/tulip-tree.htm
Thanks doss,
I want to plant it in the middle of my driveway turn around circle. Got plenty of room and we normally don't park there. SIL had one when she lived in Yucaipa. I took a photo of it, because I wanted one some day. The fellow at the nursery said it was a Tulip tree. Have to replace those dying pine trees, so I thought I'd put in something pretty. I was thinking of Jacaranda's but can't seem to keep them alive here.
Looked for my Sea Pink blossom which I had posted above, and something ate it. It is gone. The stem is still poking up, but the flower is no where to be seen. Got more buds coming on.
Red, inspired me to weed along the front walk, and I finally got those rose bushes pruned. While I was waiting for the physical therapist for Mom. He was supposed to be here between 10-12, but still hasn't shown up. I have to go get a kid from school soon, and go to the grocery store too. I really wanted to talk to him. What is a girl to do?
WIB,
SW
RE the sea pink being gone, as soon as this rain stops I'm putting down snail bait! The hostas are beginning to emerge.
You might want to consider "Jane" magnolia SW. It blooms more than once although again it's only about a 20 foot tree.
SW, my friend has jacaranda as a street tree in Long Beach---they are so beautiful, but if the petals from the blooms fall on your car, they literally etch the paint for good. Our friends wish theirs would have a "tragic chainsaw accident". They're cold-tender too---we can't grow them here, but they do fine 35 miles up the road in San Jose.
How's mom's ankle doing? Hope she's mending well!
It all started with Ima weeding her raised bed! I will put down the corn gluten tomorrow morning. I would've done it today but drove for a field trip. And Vincent and I have dentist appointments this afternoon.
Hope your mom's ankle is healing !!!
That's what I love about DG---we can inspire and motivate and support each other even across great distances!
My callas are blooming right now, and the Camellias on the North side of the house are all blooming (many varieties all unknown to me), and my Aloe sent up a big flower spike in a pot on the patio.
I was pruning the Plum tree this weekend (ouch - even though they don't have thorns, they are very prickly!), and noticed the buds are getting ready to set, and the Apricot tree is also getting ready to set buds as well. I'm bummed that my Strelizia decided to stop blooming, though I have a feeling if I gave it some rock phosphate it would bloom again pretty soon!
It was humid and warm in my garden this afternoon, sun peeking through the clouds, and setting up a nice ambience for the end of the day. Very golden color of light.
Tell you what, it helps!
Didn't see any snails. The crows eat them, or the tortoises do. Slugs? Haven't seen any slugs out there. In the green house but not out in the yard. Saw a lot of worms when weeding. Just a little each day. Still have to get that pre-emergent. Life happens.
Mom is much more comfortable now that the bed is lower. She is also able and willing to get in and out of bed without resorting to using a step ladder. She scared me doing it the other way. Just relieved. Also so relieved that the ramp is finished. If it hadn't been raining off and on today, I would have made her go out and enjoy the day.
ima, That is exactly why I don't want the Jacaranda in my yard. Used to live across the street from one, and I'm well aware of the acidic blossoms. I had to laugh about the chainsaw accident. We got all kinds of other places for people to park their cars around here. The Jacarandas sure are pretty and would give me some color out front. I was actually thinking about doing a grouping of three. Two Jacarandas and the Tulip tree. Might have to rethink that.
doss, I like trees that flower more than once. The "Jane" magnolia sounds interesting. I've seen other Magnolia's around town, and I've seen a street lined with the Jacaranda just 4 miles away from here. Must be my dirt. LOL!
Thanks for thinking of Mom, I read her a lot of the threads, and it does help.
WIB,
SW
Surprisingly I have a small Jacaranda tree in a container which has survived the last 5 winters (2 of them where in Martinez which has a little milder winters, and 3 of them here...including this winter so maybe I shouldn't count it yet!) Even in Jan '07 when we had temps in the high teens-low 20's it lost its leaves but didn't die back at all and came right back in the spring. I got it mail order from Ecolage so maybe theirs are a little hardier strain than what you'll typically find in nurseries here. Given all the supposedly much hardier things like Lantana and Tecoma stans that bite the dust in my yard every winter I am very amazed that this tree has been so hardy!
It's a mutant! I love mutants---we have a crape myrtle we named "Audrey" after the plant in Little Shop of Horrors. She grows 4-5 foot major branches every year. My other crapes, and most of the ones I'm acquainted with, grow s-o-o-o slowly! Needless to say, I planted her before we put in our solar panels, and now I'll have to prune the living daylights out of her every year.
SW, glad to hear mom is coming along! The CalTrain depot in San Jose has a beautiful row of jacarandas---they're so pretty from the train windows when we go by and look down on their purple blooms.
Things are more subtle around here, but this morning I'm seeing things that are still blooming:
Salvia karwinskii, one of my favorites, especially for blooming this time of year (winter):
Salvia pulchella:
The first of the salvia micro 'Dancing Dolls'
Another s. karwinskii:
First flowers of the s. clevelandii opening:
