What's happening in your spring garden #3

But I thought Pacific Coast irises were not the same as TB?

Hmmm....will have to look into this. What I want are native CA irises, which I thought were the Pacific Coast irises. They do sell them (the natives) at Las Pilitas, but I'm always looking for another source. The first ones I've planted are not doing that great under the trees, so I wonder if it's due to the pine needle mulch. I might consider putting them in a raised bed elsewhere.

Edited to add: Found this great site - will now explore possibilities. http://www.pacificcoastiris.org/framewld.html

This message was edited Apr 3, 2009 12:15 PM

Pacific Coast Iris are a completely different species than TBI's.
They need full sun, so under your pines is probably too much shade.

Some of mine grow in shade but they are really picky about where they will grow. If they are happy they are very happy and if they aren't happy - well. I bought mine on line several years ago. I'll bet that someone in the iris forum would be happy to tell you where to buy them. I bought 25 of them and only about 10 of them grew.

They are supposed to like afternoon shade inland, but I'm thinking - according to the poor performance of the two Douglasiana I planted - we are coastal enough to move them out from the trees somewhat. Our soil is so flaky, something will turn into a behemoth in one spot and not grow an inch in another!

Ihave the same problem. I have one spot where I can't really grow anything at all. I may just dig out all the old dirt and replace it one of these days.

It's one I bought at the UC Riverside Botanical Garden sale. I should have it listed on my garden drawing plan, or the the tag will be there. Seemed like a prolific flower/seeder last year. I'll check.
Jasperdale, someday I hope the arbor over my gate looks as pretty as yours. I thought them bugs was doing the wild thing. Nice to have some confirmation. Sorry to have intruded on their private moment! LOL!
The salvia is growing inside the greenhouse. it get leggy in the summer but seems to have leafed out and decided to bloom in the gh. I usually put potted plants in front of it in the planter, to hide the leggy growth.
Calif_Sue, I just can't believe that you let that gorgeous plant get away. I liked your other photos too. You reminded me of how much I like ranunculus.
I got bug problems in the gh and will be spending the weekend taking care of them.
Hope you don't have bug problems and have a great weekend.
WIB,
SW

Jasper, your gardens are beautiful.
Doss, I love that PC iris--gorgeous.
SW, your wisteria is luscious.
Acutally I love everything here.
Running out of words to say it.

sweet springtime! All of your gardens look so fabulous, picked up a wisteria yesterday because of you SW, a pink rose because of Jasper's gorgeous Bill Warriner and couldn't find anchusa for Ima, but I will keep looking!

You'll love Bill Warriner. It's a great rose, prolific, disease resistant and fragrant.

Annie's usually has Anchusa (and that's the only local place I remember seeing it...besides the other nurseries that carry Annie's plants but it's more of a sure thing to find it at Annies since you never know which of her things the other places will have). They're having their spring party this weekend--they have fun stuff for the kids as well as grownups so maybe you could talk DH into a family outing!

I may just take the kids tomorrow - too tempting (DH is working all weekend, it's a quarter close and he's the tax man). The kids would enjoy that. Is anyone else going / gone?

Finally took some pics of my spring flowers. After walking the garden, I realized how many items were finally blooming.

Red Amaryllis and Rose Campion.

A row of Geranium Maderenses

My first bloom of Graham Thomas rose. Just planted it last year. She is so full of petals and a lovely shade of yellow.

An unknown Iris someone gave me with my hardy geranium and white omphalodes.

Sparaxis

Hot Lips Salvia

Peach Abutilon

These are 2 of my new Alstromeria's that I bought last year. I just love their intense color. They are in my front garden where all the warm color flowers are.

#2

Cymbidium Orchid

And lastly, a new seedling of Convolvulus Insignia

Beautiful, Donna. I can see why you like those Alstromeria!

What a fun time in your garden donna. You seem to have color everywhere!

Kathleen, I got both of those Alstromerias at Weidners Gardens, by you.

Hi doss, thank you for the nice words. yes, I love color as it brightens the garden alot. I keep the front garden in the warm yellows, oranges and reds with a splash of white, but the rest of the garden gets planted with plants that I like and any color. lol

Donna

Isn't Weidner's great? Evelyn W is the neatest lady, too. I also attended a class she gave at the Master Gardener's seminar one year. They don't have much that I need, but I still like to go over there at least once a year. For the interested: http://www.weidners.com/

Having a severe case of garden envy, SoCal. Beautiful photos, I especially loved the yellow rose. I just love that color.
I have wildflowers though, and today my miniature freesias in the butterfly garden bloomed.
I see lots of green sprouts too, which is heartening.
WIB,
SW

SW: What is that blue flower ???

You SCers are a few weeks ahead of me---some of my earlier iris have set buds, and my alstros have nice clumps of foliage but no signs of bloom stalks yet. Most of my freesias are fading, but there are a few new ones that I planted last fall that are just now blooming. First few blooms are open on my roses, and my apple & pear trees are in bloom as well (time to bait the apple-maggot traps!)

Things are just starting to pop here. We've had a few days of warmth and the Chitalpa trees are starting to leaf out, finally! Those are always a joy to see blooming. And the Roger's Red grape is really looking good.

Nice variety of plants you got there, Donna.

Two of my tree peonies are in full bloom.

I normally do not take close ups of my plants, but since my daughter was out in the garden with her camera, she took this close up of the peony bloom. The blossoms open up during the day, and closes at night.

This message was edited Apr 5, 2009 11:55 PM

What a pretty Peony, love that color. Sure wish we could grow them down here....just too warm.

Thanks, Donna. My sister lives in Camarillo and she has the same lament. But, you guys can grow a lot of the tropical plants that we can't. LoL

Most of the flower stalks in my cymbidiums are breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the snails. I finally got a couple of stalks that escaped them and was able to open properly.

What a lovely peony. And I thought that they didn't grow well in California.

Here's clematis "nelly moser'.

JasperDale,
That is a miniature freesia. I think!?! Don't confuse me. Seriously, I'll go take more photos from different angles so that you can see them better.
KC, here is what your water lilies will look like when they start blooming if they haven't already. Dang near fell in the pond getting this photo yesterday.
If you look real close, you can see my camera reflected in the water. LOL! If you really feel like seeing it close up you can go to the photo macro thread, http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/969430/
to see a closeup of the lily. It is near the end of the thread.
WIB,
SW

Oh, wow, that's a beauty, SW! They are all settled in their new home, so hopefully with the weather warming up they will bloom soon. The hyacinths are waking up, too. They make the pond look so pretty and we always get lots extra to add to the compost bin.

Guess what my patio smells like? and my driveway? and Olivia's Rose Garden? and my family room (garden room)?

AWESOME! I love the scent and am more than willing to tolerate the remainder of the year's lack of particular appeal, except for the "clouds" of branches and leaves.

I love these!

Linda

SW, that's a lovely little blossom.

Linda

Here's my other Pacific Coast Native Iris hybrid -- this one's called Native Warrior.