Happy March Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day! I have to admit I’ve been kind of bloom picture taking slacker lately (some of these pics are from a week or two ago). The California poppies are in action out back and they’re cabbage looper free so far. Last year all our poppies were covered in holes and little green caterpillars. I’m not bitter.
Grill full o'plants
So the crazy orange flowered Lotus maculatus (parrot’s beak) has been blooming its little heart out for months and months. It doesn’t stop. I shake the spent blooms off now and then and trim parts of it that start strangle the other plants in the grill.
Gilia capitata
The California native section is starting to take off and after all the rain stops in the next few days stops it’s going to be insane. I’m a big fan of all the Gilias.
Awesome Aeonium
The Aeoniums have been a bit sad with so little rain this winter. We’re not seeing very many blooms. It looks like birds have been hitting the leaves of this guy (a free score from a neighborhood garage sale a couple years back).
Aristolochia californica
The pitcher party is almost over and the leaf (crazy freak out take over the world) party is taking over. This pic was taken at the start of the month.
Helleborus foetidus 'Gold Bullion'
Our one and only hellebore is doing its thing. I was hoping it would be a little more gold, but still love it. If you crush the leaves it’s supposed to stink hence it’s common name “Stinking hellebore”. We’ll have to give it a try to experience the stench.
Crested Euphorbia 'Tiny Tim'
As soon as the rain started all of the freakazoid crested blooms weighed down this poor plant, so they’re no longer standing up.
Crested Euphorbia 'Tiny Tim'
How can you not love the monster like blooms?
Kalanchoe prolifera
I can’t believe how long this thing has been going for. We lost a stalk in a wind storm a month or two ago, but this one’s still standing tall.
Kalanchoe prolifera & friends
Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting the flower share-a-thon!
Happy Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day! We’ve got all kinds of sweet stuff blooming right now, but this Ferraria crispa is the freakiest. It’s our first fancy South African bulb. The foliage on this guy is what sold me. So often SA bulbs have lame grassy leaves, but this guy is almost succulent. Blooms are super fragrant, smelling like a combo of vanilla and butt. They’re fly pollinated, so the stank works for them. Check out all our pics of it here. Now for some of the California natives that have started to bloom.
Coreopsis gigantea & friends
During our first big rainstorm in what seemed like forever ago one of the branches took a dive, but it didn’t break off. We think it might help counterbalance the giant poofy top. It’s growing a with a bit of a tilt, but we’re going to get another big bunch of blooms soon. The Aeonium nobile above the bowling pin is going nuts! A shout out to Jenn at Dirty Girl Gardening for giving it to us last summer.
Phacelia viscida
Aristolochia californica
Three years ago I went on a mission to find this plant. I had seen cool pipe covered pictures of it via google and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Matti and I went to our first SF Garden show in 2009, where I tracked one down from Bay Natives. It was a little slow to establish and I thought it was dead the first year it went deciduous… right now it’s about to do the amazing thing I saw online. It put on a decent show last year, but this year is going to be nuts. If it wasn’t deciduous I don’t know if I could deal. Hopefully this is the year the Pipevine Swallowtails will sniff it out. They’re welcome to eat as much of it as they want.
Eccremocarpus scaber 'Cherry Red'
It’s the vine that won’t quit. Last year our Eccremocarpus died back quite a bit, but this year our masses of them (them reseed like crazy, annoying cut off the pods crazy) are keeping the hummingbirds happy.
Fuchsia fulgens with Aeonium 'Cyclops' friend
Fuchsia boliviana
Brugmansia sanguinea
Senecio cristobalensis
Euphorbia wulfenii
Crested Euphorbia 'Tiny Tim'
Pretty much all the flowers on ‘Tiny Tim’ are cresting with bizarre monster like flowers. My crackpot theory is that aphids had something to do with it. They were all over this guy and I didn’t really do anything but blast it with the hose once. We have another big honking Euphorbia that’s currently under attack. I’m keeping my fingers crossed it will have a bunch of freaky blooms in a few weeks, too.
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!
Happy Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day! We’ve got tons of cool stuff blooming right now including the tallest plant we’ve ever grown Dahlia imperialis ‘Double White’. There were a bunch of big babies in one gallons at Annie’s that needed a new home, so I took one home not knowing which tree Dahlia it was going to be (we’re usually pretty anti-white flowers). It’s pretty awesome, but I kind of want to try Dahlia tenuicaulis or crazy awesome Dahlia campanulata next year. There’s another shot of it in the container here (it’s kind of skinny).
Fuchsia thymifolia
Maybe a month or two ago I hacked this puppy back pretty hard since it was getting scraggly. Now it’s covered in flowers again. I think this is one of our very first Fuchsias. It loves a good hacking every few months.
Fuchsia denticulata
Quite a few of our Fuchsias are blooming right now and Fuchsia denticulata is one of my faves. Hummingbirds are having brawls and it’s December. The Wisconsinite in me is still in awe that it can be sunny and 65 sometimes even 70 degrees in December. January through March used to be my most hated time of the year and now it’s my favorite. Bring on the rain!
Fuchsia fulgens
While I love Fuchsia fulgens, I’m more excited about the Kalanchoe carnea growing behind the flowers. We started this guy from a stem we picked up on the ground in Santa Barbara last winter. I keep moving it around and pissing it off, but it seems to like the new spot.
Cyanotis somaliensis (Common Name - Furry Kittens or Pussy Ears)
A big shout out to Plants Are The Strangest People for helping us ID this purple poofy flowered thing several months back. I’m pretty sure this plant withstood dog pee in its not so great spot in the yard back in the day, but it now lives happily in a pee free zone. Everything I’ve read says it needs to be in zone 10 or above and I remember it dying back pretty hard after a frost. It’s been a great houseplant for us, too. We picked it up at Lone Pine Gardens a nursery that specializes in succulents and bonsai trees in Sebastopol. Cool place.
Oxalis herrerae
Matti picked up this bizarro Oxalis herrerae at Cactus Jungle last Spring. If we put it in the ground, kept it watered and fed it could potentially turn in to a three foot tall leafy shrub. We like the freaky succulent petiole action, so we keep it abused in a little pot. I wasn’t all that excited about it at first since Annie’s had some pampered plants leafy plants at the time. It’s pretty dang cool.
Eccremocarpus scaber 'Tresco Gold'
It took Eccremocarpus scaber ‘Tresco Gold’ a little longer to take off this year since most of it sprouted from the abundant seed of one crazy floriferous plants from last year. It seems to be lasting later in the season. Snip off the pretty seed heads if you don’t want lots and lots and lots of babies, but they’re easy to spot and pull, too. The hummingbirds go crazy for it. I’m convinced they like it more than any of our Fuchsias.
Anagallis monellii
I planted this Anagallis monellii in a big container last May or June. It bloomed like a little trooper for a couple months, got rangy, hacked it back and it’s coming back. It’s seriously one of the prettiest shades of blue out there, but it’s tough to capture in photos. I severely abused (moved at least three times in a not so nice manner) a different plant last winter that olerated my cruelty no-problem. Annie’s almost always has them available, so I started fresh with this guy.
Kalanchoe marmorata
We’ve had a couple of Kalanchoe marmorata hanging around for at least a year. They haven’t loved life in our garden (honestly, they’ve usually been jammed in sub-prime real estate), but this one finally liked it enough to shoot out some crazy four inch long flower. One of our favorite succulent bloggers Candy got a great shot of it looking happy, but not as spotty at Huntington Gardens this fall. From what I’ve read it sounds like the more sun it gets to more pronounced its leopard spots are.
San Francisco, if I haven’t told you how much I love you lately I apologize. Gardening in Winter is one of my favorite activities, especially after checking the temp in Wisconsin and giggling. I’m going to shut up now and show some more pics of stuff that’s blooming out back. Hurray for December!
Petunia exserta
Froofy Fuchsia (don't really know what hybrid it is)
Helenium autumnale 'Helena Red Shades'
Crassula erosula 'Campfire'
Graptoveria 'Fred Ives'
Lotus maculatus
Okay, I can’t keep my big mouth shut… Back in early October I was walking the dog around the neighborhood with the camera and took a pic of a house using Lotus maculatus as a ground cover in the middle of their driveway. It looks nice, check out the pic here.
Happy June Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day! We’ve never had so many bloomiferous happenings out back before. A big shout out to Annie’s Annuals for offering a plant employee discount so generous I’ve tried out TONS of plants I never would have given a shot. My current fave that’s covered in buds and blooms is Calceolaria integrifolia ‘Kentish Hero’. How can you not love the freaky lip like orange blooms? I apologize in advance for the mass quantities of flower pictures.
Papaver commutatum 'Ladybird'
This is my first year growing Papavers. My favorite is hands down Papaver commutatum ‘Ladybird’. I’m sad to report that our Papaver ‘Greek‘ died an early death due to a gopher incident we’d like to forget, but it was pretty for the few weeks we had with it. This one’s safe and sound in a container.
Papaver 'Drama Queen'
Named appropriately, Papaver ‘Drama Queen’ almost got eaten by the gopher, too! I definitely would have staked this puppy if I knew how big and floppy it was going to be. The gopher action right next to it didn’t help the situation, along with the RAIN IN JUNE. I think I’m going to replace it with Dahlias this weekend. It’s squashing stuff.
Bulbine bloom
Gosh darn it. I forget which one this is. Love that it has peachy orange blooms.
Delphinium belladonna 'Bellamosum'
I was curious to see if Delphinium belladonna ‘Bellamosum’ could hack it in the cold, windy, foggy Outer Sunset. It went a wee bit sideways, but still pretty.
Fuchsia 'Fanfare'
The fuchsias are all freaking out, but ‘Fanfare’ is freaking out with wild abandon. It’s kind of out of control. Most of the canes are at least ten feet tall flopping all over the place. If I had carefully read the description I would have seen, “I have seen it espaliered to fill up the entire side of a house”. Wholly crap! I’ve been chopping it back a little to promote some bushiness. Maybe it’s just going through it’s gawky stage?
Fuchsia Mystery
Here’s the mystery fuchsia. It’s been looking kind of sick (yellow leaves), but still busting out flowers. My best guess is that it’s getting sunburned. In the winter this side of the yard gets almost no direct light. The blue stuff is a Cerinthe major purpurascens seedling we let stick around.
Scyphanthus elegans
Scyphanthus elegans is a cute little vine from Chile. I planted Eccremocarpus scaber ‘Cherry Red’ next to it and they’re just starting to play with each other. I just realized they’re both Chilean. We have TONS of Eccremocarpus scaber ‘Tresco Gold’ from reseeding action on our shady side. It’s one of my favorite plants. The hummingbirds go crazy.
Clarkia concinna
Clarkia concinna gives the native section a little splash o’ pink. The native middle section continues to rock.
Poppy Attack!
Caterpillars have been having a ball with the California poppy blooms. This weekend I watched as flocks of little birds came in and went to town on the little flower eaters.
Camissonia cheiranthifolia
Still loving California native Camissonia cheiranthifolia. The flower action never ends. I’m going to shut up now, and post more pictures since it’s getting late.
Lathyrus odoratus 'Barry Dare' & Friends
Nemophila menziesii 'Penny Black' with cresting Graptopetalum
Phygelius capensis ‘Magenta’
Echium plantagineum with Scabiosa & friends
Cestrum newellii
Anchusa capensis 'Blue Angel'
Check out May Dreams Gardens for blooms all over the world. Happy Bloom Day!
