spring

Many of the tulips are withering, as are some freesias, but the recently planted Darwin hybrids at the corner look lovely still.  The sparaxis still look great, though some are spent.  Two of the new cyclamen have suddenly yellowed and may well be dying.  I'm starting to see some zantedeschia by the garage.  The anemones are a bit less vigourous than they were.

There are plenty of flax and eschscholzia open, and a few gilia.  The solanum still is covered in blooms, and the lithodora and saponaria are nearly so.  The ceanothus is not yet out of bloom, which surprises me.  There is more anagallis and loads of osteospermum.  The primrose seems almost over.  The alstroemeria by the back gate is getting more blooms; the one behind the house has none yet.

I've pulled out the hibiscus.  It was pretty clearly dead.  Maybe the frost got it, but maybe I just hadn't given it the right soil; the root mass had not filled the tub.  The teucrium still looks good and colourful.

bouquet of bulbs

The daffodils are over (I've beheaded the last of them, except a few by the south fence) but the tulips are doing nicely: most of the Darwin hybrids, all of the T. bakeri etc., and some "Lady Jane" T. clusiana. The sparaxis still look great, the muscari still look good, more anemones are open (a pink and a white near the drive), and more and more freesia are showing up. There are more calochortus.

There are a few scarlet flax, a fair number of California poppies, ditto osteospermum daisies. There has been one bloom from the dietes. The alstroemeria are opening more; the lithodora diffusa is looking very good on the east side of the fence. A few anagallis, but not enough to make a summer.

The ceanothus is still in bloom, and the solanum was spectacular yesterday when wseen from the south.

I've been thinning out the gilia and clarkia in the Zone.

warming up

We had one frost scare two or three nights ago, but everything survived.  I've now taken away most of the insulation I had put on last year.

Two weeks ago I forgot to mention that a very daring cosmos was open behind the house.  It's only knee high, from a strain ('Sonata') that is supposed to grow head high, but still.  The red primrose I mentioned then is doing very well indeed, as are the cyclamens; of the three I planted at the south fence, the third (bright red) finally seems happy.  In the back, the hyacinth is opening and so are a few daffodils, though I think I'll move them; in front, the 'Ice Follies' and 'Barrett Browning' are looking very good, and I want more of them in the adjacent bed that now has only zantedeschia and lobularia.  All manner of tulips are threatening to open, and the ones I planted in fron of the corner lawn (where the erigeron also is) are at least up.  Another sparaxis is open, just, and the freesias are covered in buds.  Most of the ipheion are blooming, and the dwarf iris are nearly over after making a good show in the daylily part of the Zone.  Several red anemones have joined the blue one: two in the tubs in the southern Zone and one or perhaps two in the front lawn.  I've also seen a first scarlet flax, a first few anagallis, and a first 'Johnny-jump-up' viola cornuta.  The ipomopsis seems nearly extinct in the western border -- oh well, I wasn't quite happy with it there anyway -- but is growing behind the house.  The bloom on the plum tree  was within a few feet of the tops of the branches, and I hope there is some left after today's storm.

I managed to mow the back lawn yesterday, and cut the biggest epilobium down to roughly knee high rather than try to keep a cage around it.  For the rest, the only work I've doen is weeding.  Oh, and I've pulled out most of the gilia capitata, except in the Zone.  Not that it's ugly, but in the lawns I have better uses for the space and light.

In the western border, neither the berberis nor the hibsicus have done anything yet, but the teucrium does its best to make up for them.  The grevillea are both in bloom, as is the loropetalum, though the latter is hard to see because it has not added any height to speak of.  The 'Newport Dwarf' escallonia is doing slightly better in that respect.

a few things are up

Actually, many things are.  Two weeks ago the first anemone coronaria began to open.  More recently we have a few yellow daffodils, muscari, ipheion, and dwarf iris.  First of all was just one purple crocus.

I pruned the plum tree in early February, but probably should have done it sooner.  I've also hacked back the plumbago.

Over the winter I've transplanted a few things.  Most of the erigeron karvinskianus has moved to the front of the "corner lawn", where it is doing well despite rather rough handling.  I also moved some sprigs of the salvia chamaedryoides to just behind the e.k. and several of them look to be growing.  Better yet, I've put some suckers of the malacothamnus in the northern Zone and all seem to have taken root, or at any rate are growing new leaves.  I transplanted four lenotis leonuris seedlings into the Strip, whereupon a frost took them out; I put one more in, with some protection, and it has lived.  Best of all (perhaps), all of the watsonia that I transplanted last year are growing.

New plants in the corner lawn are a ceanothus griseus horzontalis and, umm, a "Mount Tamboritha" grevillea lanigera (hope I haven't confused that with my other grevillea).  Neither has died yet.  The yarrow in that lawn looks much denser now that it did last year.

In the back, we have one red primrose looking very well.  The alstroemeria by the gate looks ready to bloom -- it never quite died down even in summer -- and the one behind the house is sending up shoots.  The lithodora shows a few flowers, as does the gaillardia, which also hung on through the winter, and the osteospermum.  The cyclamen, of course, are doing very well.

At the west edge, both the berberis and the hibiscus are quite bare.  I don't see why the latter should have died, but can't rule it out.  The teucrium is blooming nicely, and has been for months.  The nameless ceanothus in the northern Zone is also blooming, and slightly bigger than last year.  At the south end of the Zone, the rosemary looks wonderful and the juniper unchanged.

start of autumn

It actually rained last weekend, possibly as much as half an inch. Some bulb shoots are coming up, probably freesia and muscari. I've watered the grevillea and the ceanothus myself, and hope it does them some good.

I've hacked a lot off the godzilla; its flower production was down, after a month or two without deadheading. Most other plants are unchanged.

season of mists

The epilobium are now clearly in bloom. The ceratostigma look quite well too. One of the leonotis in the Zone is close to nine feet high, and the ones behind the house (which I had to cut down for some painting work) are, ahem, roaring back. The "Grandpa Ott" by the east fence is showing some lovely big flowers, while the ones in the front walkway try to re-grow after they were cut down (yeah, yeah). Also in that walkway, some cyclamen and are coming up, and the achimenes are showing their true colours, two of which I quite like (and two varities are missing; not sure why).

I've demolished the southerly of the two plumbago after deciding that (1) I didn't like its yellow leaves and couldn't see how to cure them (2) it really wasn't needed since its brother grows so well. Speaking of which, the godzilla is overunning everything. The hibscus acetosella is now as tall as I am (admittedly in a large pot) and I may well keep it, if I can decide where. The yarrow in the corner lawn, which I cut short recently, is looking rather sad and in some places dessicated. Possibly gaura would have been a better bet.

I'm also pondering a replacement for the salvia greggii but I don't think the hibiscus is it.

another one bites the ant

Last weekend I put down some gopher traps, without much optimism. This morning I lifted them up, and found that one of them had worked. Some ants had got there before I did, so no photos (and a pair of latex gloves).

Since my last, the daylilies have shut down except for "Happy Returns", and the oenothera are blooming much more sparsely. I've pulled out a good many flax and gilia and so on; some clarkia and even a few brave eschscholzia are still in bloom.

The penstemon and the berberis both seem to be sending up bright new shoots. The dry-climate plants, godzilla and malacothamnus, bloom on unperturbed by the weather; the solanum and plumbago also look good, except that the southern plumbago is almost all yellow again, depsite vast amounts of nitrogen last winter. I may take it out. The ceratostigma has started to bloom. I've demolished most of the sweet peas, including the one in the front walkway, partly because the dry summer did not seem to suit them, and partly because they were too much work for too few blooms. In the walkway I've put a volunteer morning glory in the vacant spot.

The achimenes that I planted in the front walkway in May are coming up in some fair number; of the babiana I see but two, which is two more than of the ixia that I also planted then. The "Durban" canna is growing well; the red ones in the back garden are blooming strongly. One of the nasturtiums that grew under the south fence after I dug the old ones out has bloomed already. Oh, and two of the white catharanthus are in bloom: one by the telephone pole, which is doing quite well, and one down on the street. The alstroemeria behind the house has had a last hurrah and I don't expect to see any more of it; the one by the gate is still sending up shoots, or was as of a week ago, and blooming. The dietes have been blooming wonderfully in this warmth.

Down on the corner lawn, the anagallis that I sheared a week or so ago are not coming back; the yarrow is still growing, but I have cut much of it back, and perhaps should water it.