First Coreopsis gigantea bloom
Happy Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day! We don’t have a whole lot going on in the bloom department right now, but are crazy excited our Coreopsis gigantea just started to bloom. We had a little gopher scare with it a couple weeks ago. I walked out one morning to find it completely droopy, with two gopher mounds about five feet away and panicked. This freaky California native is one of my favorite plants we have out back. After a good long water it recovered and Matti took care of the gopher.
Lobelia aguana
My favorite new, super rare, orangey-red Lobelia aguana blooms just started to open up in the last few days. I’m in love! Mark D. (aka serialplantfetishist on flickr) picked up this cool Lobelia at a Strybing plant sale and shared the seed love with Annie’s. Check out the online sign for the cool story and more info.
Crassula multicava
I’m not a huge fan of this Crassula, but it seems to bloom continuously… dropping it’s tiny weeny babies all over the place. It’s not terrible or anything, but I have a feeling its days are numbered. Matti and I aren’t big fans of white flowering plants in our garden.
Eccremocarpus scaber 'Tresco Gold'
I can’t believe this dude is still kicking it.
Layia platyglossa
The first Tidy Tips bloom of the season!
Kalanchoe prolifera
This weirdo Kalanchoe known as “Blooming Boxes” is still doing its thing. I haven’t really seen an actual yellow flower peeking out from the box (technically bracts).
Black Petunia
A big shout out to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting the monthly bloom share-a-thon!
January 14, 2012 at 9:59 pm
Such beautiful blooms. The Black Petunia is gorgeous and Layia and Coreopsis gargantea are both stunners.
January 14, 2012 at 11:19 pm
Love the coreopsis. I’ve lost other plants to gophers, but so far my little colony of it has been spared. My Crassula multicava only blooms for a few months–maybe because it gets almost no supplemental water? Anyway, happy Bloomday, and January.
January 15, 2012 at 1:56 am
Lovely pictures! Especially your Layia platyglossa. It’s amazing what you can see on GBBD!
January 15, 2012 at 6:34 am
“Took care of”, hmm? Euphemism for shot / poisoned / relocated? I wonder if he’d like to “take care of” a vole problem I have… My cat would rather hunt birds than voles… Naughty kitty…
I can’t believe that your plants are so far ahead of mine… Aren’t you being frosted? Look out and see a dusting of snow on the peaks?
January 15, 2012 at 8:23 am
We use a trap.
The challenge is that we’ve many predators that eat gophers. If they eat one that has been poisoned, the predator gets poisoned too.
January 15, 2012 at 7:37 am
Oh, what beautiful blooms! So nice to see such color! Happy GBBD!
January 15, 2012 at 10:16 am
Ugh gophers! I was just complaining about them. Nasty little things. I’m glad your Coreopsis was OK. I wonder if there is a place I can see C. gigantea in the wild around here. Their peak bloom down in Malibu was always late February – March.
January 15, 2012 at 10:27 am
Congrats on the dead gopher! Only another California gardener would say that, eh? ;^)
January 15, 2012 at 11:17 am
Lovely photos, especially the black petunia! I love very dark red flowers, any kind of drak red, dark maroon, or dark brown, as dark as possible
January 15, 2012 at 11:29 am
That Lobelia aguana is awesome! I like Lobelias in general but that is one of the loveliest I have seen so far.
January 15, 2012 at 11:58 am
Lovely blooms on what is a cold day here in the north… Larry
January 15, 2012 at 2:02 pm
I love your site!!! I often visit and enjoy. If you will be thinning out your crassula multicava, I’d really love to have some cuttings. I live in South Pasadena, in the LA area and will be happy to pay for shipping. They are impossible to find.
January 16, 2012 at 9:26 pm
Thank you for opening your garden to us.
January 16, 2012 at 11:49 pm
So, so pretty! I hope you have everything covered and ready for the freeze!
January 22, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Hey Candy, no freeze yet. The temp outside in our garden got down to 36F one night…a little frost, but all looks in the clear. Maybe lost a couple of Echeverias, which is not uncommon for us. Matti
January 17, 2012 at 2:49 pm
AMAZING BLOOMIFEROUS PICS!
– Plant Finder is pretty cool 
SFBG Plant Finder says we have a Lobelia aguana in MesoAmerica Cloud Forest Bed 25 C – last checked in 2010 – Im gonna go double check
http://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/findplants/
January 22, 2012 at 1:29 pm
We were at the area where we thought it would be, but couldn’t find it. Would love to hear what you uncover. Matti