first flax

For a week and more, a scarlet flax (linum grandiflorum rubrum) has been open beside the drive. The godzilla, moreover, is still blooming, though only because I haven't quite finished demolishing it; I'm planning that for next weekend. The teucrium is doing very nicely, as is the solanum; the plumbago are looking a bit scruffy, especially the southern one, which needs either more nitrogen or a funeral. The catharanthus behind the house are also still in bloom, despite a frost a couple of nights ago. Did I mention that I've shorn all the perovskia?

There is still no sign of gophers.

I spent this morning doing a little weeding and a lot of thinning, mostly of gilia and clarkia in the front lawn. Then I transplanted various things into the back garden. Under the south wall of the house I put some anagallis and an osteospermum; under the fence I'll try some phacelia campanularia. I've had mixed success transplanting these in the past, but now there are enough of them growing in the East Zone that I can afford to take risks. I also shifted one ipheion a few metres eastwards to make their distribution a little more uniform. A week or two ago I sowed my third installment of snap peas.

I can see a few, very few, Johnny-jump-up seedlings, one probable nemophila, and any amount of ipomopsis. I've been sowing some red yarrow in the front corner, and have decided not to tolerate eschscholzia there. While taking out those and some other weeds, I uprooted one gaura entirely, but no matter; it had siblings. The 'Red Elf' escallonia by the front gate looks healthy, with new bright green leaves; it's hard to tell what the loropetalum is doing. The new grevillea and berberis have at least not died yet. The alstroemeria by the back gate now has two stalks in bloom, and the one behind the house is pushing up some good shoots. There are still some 'Ziva' open at the SE corner and west edge, and today I saw a shoot of a spring daffodil. The zillions of leonotis seedlings are still there in the Zone, and the two that I transplanted to the back of the house look healthy; the bigger leonotis in the corner lawn has also survived the frost (so far) thanks to a hefty mulch. The cistus are looking bigger and stronger than before.

The plum tree needs pruning and I still have no idea how to do this, any more than I did last year or the year before. Somehow I'll manage.

And then there were ... ?

Ten days ago I dug out some tunnels under the corner lawn until I reached a Y junction, then set two gopher traps in the tunnels I hadn't dug. An hour or two later, I found a little rodent dead on the walkway by the lemon tree, looking as if a cat had surprised it. Two days later I took out the traps, expecting that they would both be empty. One of them was. Since then, I haven't seen any more mounds or signs of tunnelling. So perhaps the garden is safe for planting again.

In celebration whereof I've planted three shrubs today. One was a Berberis thunbergii var. atropurpurea (please pardon my spelling) in place of the Camellia sasanqua, which looked pretty dead. The second was a Grevillea lavandulacea "Penola" in the place to which I had tried to transplant my previous Grevillea. The third is an unidentified Ceanothus hybrid in the place where the C. thyrsiflorus "Skylark" was also looking very dead.

Of the new daylilies, one, "New Testament", has bloomed, though the flowers did not look good. That could have been because of the lateness of the season: I hear that pink daylilies need a lot of sun to look their best. Besides that, the Godzilla still has two flowers, and the Solanum and Plumbago are still looking great. The original Epilobium looked dead and I've taken it out, but one of its children has bloomed prettily. The "Ziva" in the south-east corner are nearly over; those along the western edge are doing nicely. The Teucrium fruticans looks wonderful. The Perovskia don't, and I am progressively trimming them back, though the Godzilla keeps me busy that way. There are more morning glory seedlings than anyone could count, and plenty of sweet peas; my first planting of snap peas is well above ground.

Rumours of Winter

There are some shoots coming up that can hardly be anything but the 'Ziva' paperwhite narcissi. There are also some oenothera coming up just where I don't want them (and some where I do). Yesterday there were two Happy Returns daylily blooms, quite a nice surprise. The alstroemeria is long out of bloom and today I pulled out its second last stalk. The godzilla is stil fiercely in bloom, and one of the salvia nemorosa is bravely blooming under it; I cut away a big hunk of the godzilla to let more sun onto the salvia (and because tearing the whole thing down at the end of the year is utterly unrealistic). The teucrium is showing a few more flowers and seems to want to get bigger. I've hacked off one more set of faded blooms from the various perovskia, and what's left (not too bad-looking) will have to carry us until December or whenever I demolish them. Of the new daylilies in front, two still refuse to grow leaves. I've planted a couple of yarrows that my neighour gave me in the corner lawn; we'll see if I got them right. The solanum and the plumbagos do well ... I must remember to give the southerly plumbago plenty of nitrgoen this winter. The dietes bloomed just today, opening almost as I watched.

I launched an attack on the lemon tree this morning. Yes, it defends itself. The epilobium and one of its children are blooming perhaps a little more than before. The gazania was long out of bloom, but when the gopher took it out anyway, I took out the gopher. (No, I don't enjoy handling corpses.)

By the back door, that was a white nigella, Still is, in fact: just bloomed today. The echinops there has one faded bloom and two still blue. The catharanthi are doing very well, as is the red begonia in the south-east corner. And that's all I have time for.

... or at least autumn

The teucrium fruticans is rather shyly blooming. The maroon cyclamen in the front walkway is not shy at all. Most other plants are as they were ... the epilobium has very few blooms. The echinops outside the back door has finally bloomed. I'm looking for some coloured yarrow seed for the corner "lawn", but it seems expensive.

winter comes early

... when the watsonia starts sending up shoots (the one east of the garage, which gets some irrigation). So are the muscari in the front walkway. Some of the ipomopsis are reblooming, as is one of the salvia nemorosa; the others are lost to sight. The caryopteris has one tiny flower. The echinops in front are almost finished; the one behind the house is just starting. Down by the street, one of the new catharanthus has put forth a white bloom with a small red eye; the ones behind the house are blooming strongly. The burgundy snapdragon blooms on, and there's even one nasturtium flower under the perovskia. The epilobium is pretty sparse, but the plumbago and solanum are superb. And I hardly need mention the Godzilla. The "red elf" escallonia has some nice green leaves and looks healthy; it's much harder to tell how the loropetalum is doing. The salvia chamaedryoides still looks good, and the malacothamnus is covered with flowers if I bother to examine it.

One of the pardancanda actually put out some blooms on days when I could see them, but they're not as pretty as in the catalogue. I may not grow any more of those. Something intriguingly feathery is sprouting just outside the back door. I wonder what it will turn out to be.

quiet mostly

The Godzilla has more flowers than ever, almost hard to believe. The malacothamnus is in bloom, and both plumbago are looking quite good, except that the smaller one has its leaves all yellow. I did fertilise it over the winter, but .... The only daylilies still blooming are Stella d'Oro, the big yellow, and occasionally Happy Returns. Some of the ones I recently bought are growing and some not.

The sweet peas are definitely over, and even the morning glories are doing badly; something is eating them. The catharanthus are OK, as are the dietes and alstroemeria; the latter, in fact, surprises me that it is still doing anything. The Paraguay nightshade looks fine. The epilobium is not in very profuse bloom yet.

The rose is OK. I'm still wondering what to replace it with, when I do that.

pull and trim

Pretty quiet this week. I've neatened up the epilobium and hauled out most of the remaining clarkia (harvesting some more seed, not a lot). And sheared the lavender. The morning glory by the east fence is six feet high but very leggy, for some reason I haven't yet thought of. The white snapdragon has one bloom.

new arrivals

Wow! It has been a long time. A few daylilies have rebloomed, but more importantly, or at least more fun, I've planted eighteen new ones. I ordered sixteen, dug holes for eighteen, but the grower sent me four bonus plants. Two of them are still sitting in water while I decide what (if anything) to do with them. [OK, I've planted them behind the house.]

The Godzilla is even bigger, and I've cut it back away from the road and footpath. The California fuchsia (Epilobium canum canum) has started to bloom, which adds a good spot of colour; some montbretia (Crocosmia crocosmifloria or something) are also blooming. The gaura still look good. I've pulled out several white gladioli. The sweet peas by the east fence offersome late flowers; the ones in the front walkway are still growing and looking lovely, as are the morning glories. I haven't looked lately at the morning glory by the east fence. The gazania still has about six flowers. The plumbago are gradually improving, but the bigger (northern) one has had to be trimmed. The burgundy snapdragon is still blooming, the only one of its kind; the alstroemeria by the gate is also blooming on three or four stalks. I've harvested some clarkia seed; the ipomopsis seem about over for the time being. Oddly, the malacothamnus has a few flowers. Of the ceratostigma that I moved, one looks very dead, one very alive, and two are in limbo.

We had a morning's rain ten days ago. It made little enough difference.

I've trimmed off the old flowers from those perovskia that I sheared six weeks ago.

digging again

The daylilies are mostly coming to an end, but the somewhat inaptly named Autumn Red has just bloomed, and is very lovely and symmetrical. As for other plants, the white gladioli at the front of the house are now open, but I don't think they're worth the water they drink. The echinops are doing nicely and look ready to bloom profusely with no water at all. The oenothera are just about ready to be cut down. The dietes bloomed again on Sunday, and are shrivelled this evening. The big alstroemeria has two good flower stalks open; perhaps I should have pulled the old ones out more eagerly. The Godzilla continues to do well, and the ipomopsis and plumbago develop as expected.

So what do I do when my daylilies are out of bloom? Order more daylilies! I've cleared some existing plants out of the strip by the drive, mostly the ceratostigma, which I've moved down to the edge of the street; it looks as if at least some of them will survive.

The other thing I've done is bottled a good deal of seed: white nigella, flax, lavender, and gilia capitata. I'm also working on some clarkia and California poppy; not much of the latter.

clearing the mess

Today I've pulled out a good many wildflowers (mostly gilia and flax) and collected some seed ... a great deal of lavender seed over the past few days. I've also harvested the very last plum, after slightly more than two weeks of abundance.

The new daylily, which I've named "Raspberry Salmon", has two blooms today, looking very pretty, and Frans Hals has six ... details on the spreadsheet. My wife doesn't want me to get rid of the Strawberry Candy ... OK.

I've tied up (?espalier) another branch of the salvia greggii. The shorn aquilegia has a couple more buds; even the alstroemeria by the back gate is sending up more flower stalks, which is a pleasant surprise. The dietes came into full bloom again this morning; the oenothera are definitely petering out. The only clarkia still in bloom seem to be those on the corner, which also has plenty of anagallis and a fair amount of (almost entirely white) yarrow. The gazania continues with about six or eight blooms at any one time, the morning glory by the east fence has one bloom, while those in the front walkway do better and better. The sweet peas reverse this trend: those by the fence are blooming well and indeed showing quite a number of seed pods, while the one in the walkway has only four or so blooms. The canna is having a hard time. The plumbago is now showing a few blooms at visible height, but is also trespassing on the walkway. The lantana continues to grow back, but has not bloomed yet. Both agastache look good. Two white gladioli have put up hefty flower stems. The ipomopsis are blooming on, rather sparsely. The malacothamnus has fewer blooms but is far from finished. The teucrium, tanacetum, and santolina are finished, and the latter two shorn.

Some of the perovskia are almost six feet high, and Godzilla is close to eight.

it's raining plums

Well, not quite, but I think I harvested a hundred or so of them yesterday and today. Yesterday there were an embarrassing number of windfalls. I've frozen a fair number and distributed some to the neighbours.

Most of the clarkia are over. The scarlet flax and nigella are long over, and I should collect their seed, but there are a few more ipomopsis. The catharanthi continue to prosper and the aquilegia under the back fence has shown one rather ragged bloom and a fair amount of new foliage; today I've pulled away all the old foliage. There is one inarguably pink yarrow in the "corner lawn" and many weeds. The dietes bloomed most of last week, but has some stale flower stems that should be cut out. The erigeron karvinskianus is looking rather dry, and I should shear its flowers off. I've just done that to the tanacetum and some of the salvia nemorosa (others are smothered under the godzilla and I can't easily reach them). There's plenty of white yarrow.

The teucrium is clearly over, and the malacothamnus may be winding down. The godzilla, ahem romneya, is fine, as are the perovskia and solanum rantonetii (?sp). There are still a few osteospermum blooms and several gazania. The canna are struggling.

Daylily Tigerling opened two blooms this week (on different days) and has no more buds. Leebea Orange Crush has shut down. Another of my home-grown seedlings, let's call it Number Five, showed a diaphanous pink lower with a strawberry eye zone, making me wonder about its parentage. Stella d'Oro is doing well, and Pandora's Box. I think Small Gesture is over. As for Gingerbread Man, I have to admire it for being so prolific.

Summer is here

Warm-climate plants are prospering. The catharanthi have a few more blooms and the morning glories are as tall as I am. Some clarkia are over. Most of the anagallis are doing well; the "plumbago" (ceratostigma plumbaginoides) have shown a flower or so each, but the real plumbago is still hiding its flowers near the ground. Godzilla and the malacothamnus are looking wonderful. The dietes have been blooming all week after a fashion, and the oenothera still look good. The lantana is recovering well. I've pulled out the flower stems of the stachys, but I ought to replace them with divisions of a sterile one I have.

I've shorn off half of the blooms from the biggest three perovskia well before it was needed, in the hope that they'll have grown back before I need to shear the other half. I've also shorn some osteospermum that seemed to have finished blooming. I finally pulled up some very old bulb foliage.

The plums are ripening, and I've harvested two dozen over the past few days.

Daylilies are numerous. New arrivals include Hyperion and Frans Hals just today, Apricot Beauty, Fairy Tale Pink, Strawberry Candy (which is doing well but I'm not fond of it), and the second Holiday Happiness (not as tall as the first). Pandora's Box is blooming more generously. Custard Candy continues to delight me and Gingerbread Man is still going strong, as is Leebea Orange Crush. Stella d'Oro is back.

daylily time

Today's news is that, for no doubt at all, what I thought was one wine-red daylily seedling is actually two. Its two halves were both in bloom an hour ago, clearly different in size,shape, and colour. Another seedling ... number five ... finally got a bloom all the way open, a pleasant red colour. Its first two were an intriguing rusty brown but did not open fully. Hmm, maybe it also is really two plants. The Gingerbread Man produced one bloom that I quite liked, but mostly it's a landscaper's plant: looks better from a distance. Strawberry Candy is rather disappointing today.

Of true lilies, we now have two white speckled blooms and four orange, the latter starting to fade already. The ipomopsis are looking better ... well, two of them are, out of many. In fact they look better on camera (close up) than in real life. The teucrium has a few little blue flowers left. Other things are largely as they were; another canna is open and the Grandpa Ott are getting taller. Did I mention last week that the osteospermum are just about finished?

Watch out, Tokyo!

The Godzilla plant (romneya coulteri) is starting to roar. The malacothamnus isn't doing badly, either. These are both dry-summer plants, native to California, and I expect they will bloom for some time.

The daylilies are opening in increasing number and variety. Holiday Happiness looks quite handsome in the gentle light of evening. I suspect that the wine-red seedling is actually two plants, because I see two rather different colours in its blooms. Gingerbread Man continues to disappoint. For others, see the spreadsheet. Well, and maybe a few photos.








The sweet pea by the east fence is now two sweet peas, the other one being purple. The Turkish tansy (tanacetum densum amanii) has been blooming brightly for some time. In the south-east lawn, we have our first vaguely pink yarrow ... maybe. Among the true lilies, we have a creamy white with speckled centre, and two or three bright orange ones. Still plenty of clarkia, but I've begun to demolish the phacelia campanularia. The bright red canna behind the house is fully open. The mimulus struggles on. The very first ipomopsis flower is open, but they are so small, they are noticeable except in large numbers. The teucrium is getting pretty low on flowers, but the gazania is back.

I've shifted one of the volunteer perovskia to where it may do some good: just south of the main daylily bed, where the keckiella died last year.

I can almost hear the gopher laughing at my traps.

It has been a fortnight

... and the dietes are earning their name of "fortnight lily" by blooming again. Well, they are earning the first half of that name. It annoys me to think of how many plants are given names containing "lily" in the hope that they will sell better, or something. The true lilies are not blooming at all, and I plan to dig out that raspberry-coloured one. The daylilies are doing nicely, though. The two Happy Returns in the back patio have started, as has the Stella d'Oro under the back fence; the Small Gesture is still blooming intermittently; the little Wine Cup has started; just today we have Strawberry Candy, Leebea Orange Crush (I'm not as pleased with it as some folks), Holiday Happiness (misshapen petals), and maybe Gingerbread Man. Two that I think I grew from seed have also begun: one is a dark purple with a white blush, not very impressive, and the other a handsome wine-red. I think both are children of Dark Ruby, with paternity uncertain but perhaps Always Afternoon or Stella d'Oro. Several of the big yellow daylilies have now quit.

The romneya started about a week and a half ago and now has nine big white flowers open. The gaura have been stealthily adding blooms to the point where they look very pretty. The perovskia are just as stealthy and not as far along. The "wild lilac" (ceanothus thyrsiflorus "Skylark") has a few almost invisibly tiny flowers, long after I had stopped looking for them; the larger plumbago has its first few flowers, normal size but close to the ground and hard to see. The cistus stopped blooming some time ago, and I've pulled off most of what I suspect are seed pods. Some nigella are still blooming, but many are forming seedpods; I can scatter some seeds of the white ones at the western margin, where the ixia are over and the ipomopsis not yet started, with the teucrium fruticans still showing a few flowers and the big escallonia getting bigger -- I've trimmed it back -- and still blooming. Oh, and the rose looks good. No more zantedeschia. The lavender look very well next to the clarkia. The scarlet flax continue in some parts. Almost all the gilia are over, and I've collected seed from them. The gazania and solanum rantonettii are blooming with rather less enthusiasm. The first of the newly sown yarrow has bloomed, but it's white. There seem to be several volunteer epilobium seedlings; I'm not quite sure what to do with them.

In the back garden, one of the catharanthus that suffered so badly last winter has shown a nice red flower. There's a red canna just opening. Some of the heuchera are staying on. In the front walkway, the morning glories are two feet tall or so, the sweet pea there is struggling, but the one by the east fence has been blooming for a week and more, showy red (pinkish) flowers. The alstroemeria by the back gate is fine; the one behind the house is suffering fromthe heat, or something -- no blooms, despite extra water. I've sheared off the big aquilegia in the hope that they'll re-bloom; the seedlings are having mixed success.

The gopher is back. I've baited a trap with a fresh eschscholzia root and not much optimism.

one for the morning glory

Yes, both Grandpa Ott plants are blooming, though neither is far off the ground. Yesterday I saw the first "Small Gesture" daylily. The dietes are out again; the Hidcote lavender look superb, except that half of the ones I transplanted in the winter look dead. The oldest-established pervoskias are starting to bloom, though it isn't easy to see; the same goes for the malacothamnus fremontii. There are plenty of clarkia open, including one unusual one with strong red markings on an almost white ground, and more than plenty of oenothera. A few of the palue blue nigella have made their appearance, and some more clarkia unguiculata (?). There are even still some scarlet flax open, and a few flowers on the lithodora. I keep forgetting to mention the lavender cotton (santolina chamaecyparissus), not that its yellow flowers are all that spectacular. The snow-in-summer continues. The ixia are disappearing fast, but the salvia nemorosa are spectacular, at least by comparison with earlier years.

The gilia capitata are fading, and I have pulled some out; likewise the first row of snap peas, and the second row looks as it will only last a week. I've also pulled a lot of nasturtiums, but mostly on aesthetic grounds, and ditto the pink watsonias. The orange and red ones have few but attractive blossoms; only the white are making a really good show. The first true lilies are open -- have I mentioned them -- but they are the raspberry pink ones with yellow centres, which I don't like and shall probably dig up.

rockrose for sure

It showed nine flowers today. They don't seem to last long. Oh, and the dietes opened its first blooms of the year a few days ago; today I cleaned them off. The first farewell-to-spring (Clarkia amoena) are open, looking very good, and one astonishing yellow Calochortus, possibly "Golden orb". For no good reason there is a white freesia. The Dutch iris are all gone and my one bearded iris is not yet doing anything. The ixia look good and there a couple of purple flowers that almost have to be Ixiolirion except I don't remember planting any in that spot :-) The mimulus is adding more blooms, and I think one of the "Grandpa Ott" morning glories has its first one ready to open. I've dug out some little allium neapolitanum.

The soapwort and Indian hawthorn are getting pretty sparse, as is the "Grace Ward" lithodora. But guess what? One of the anemones is back. The teucrium fruticans and the big escallonia, both on the western edge, are in good bloom. Nearby, the salvia nemorosa have grown to quite a size and are still visible under the romneya, which is in bud. We definitely have some bachelor's buttons (centaurea cyanus) but only near the house, where they benefit from reflected heat; ditto some love-in-a-mist (nigella) but only the white ones, of which I am less than fond.

The Paraguay nightshade has fewer flowers than before and looks rather bare on its topmost twigs. I'm giving it more water, and likewise to the plum tree. The first row of snap peas, planted back in late November, is yellowing.

Concerning the gopher, one of my traps tripped but did not trap.

a little more

Some white (and pink) yarrow is in bloom -- an old plant, though -- and one of the rockroses (Cistus ladanifer) seems about to open. The iris are mostly withering. The cyclamens are ramping down slowly, but the big yellow daylilies are ramping up fast. One of the columbines I transplanted last weekend from the back fence to near the back door doesn't look too healthy.

old men forget

... and I forgot the mimulus in the front walkway, which I had not expected to see bloom again.

The lantana turns out not to be quite dead! I was breaking off the dead wood -- branches thicker than my thumb simply cracked in my hand, and the wood inside was black -- but at the bottom I saw a few green leaves. So it's tougher than I thought. There are more volunteer perovskia than I realised. Most of them will probably die when I transplant them.

I've set some gopher traps after finding a fresh mound. We shall see.

blooming all over

Nearly another two weeks gone by. The freesias are all finished, and some iris have withered, but there are now some white ones open, as well as 15-20 "Eye of the Tiger" and quite a few blue ones. The anemones are quiet, but some Allium neapolitanum are open, and some Ixia near the garage. I'm not too fond of the allium. The T. linifolia are either gone or hiding. Big news: the first Calochortus venustus is open and living up to its name. The Alstroemeria by the gate has plenty of blooms open, and the one behind the house has buds that look very ready. Just today I saw, by the NW corner of the house, a butter-yellow dwarf iris ... I. reticulata? The callas are still blooming.

There are still a fair number of scarlet flax, and the Gilia capitata are quite prominent in the East Zone. The masturshalums are making a good start. Two pinks (Dianthus) that I had more or less given up on are shining out. The gaura are coming along slowly. Some of the true lilies are in bud. The two Rhaphiolepis still look good and the Solanum is excellent. The Romneya is nowhere near blooming, but may deserve to be renamed Godzilla. The Heuchera are fine, and the first snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) is open; it may also be the last. The morning glory bush was lost to a rampaging mole (I hope it's a mole and not a gopher) a day or two ago. One of the dark red "McKana Giant" columbine (Aquilegia) has opened three or four blooms. We may or may not have a Centaurea cyanus. The "Hidcote" lavenders look ready, except for some that didn't survive my attempts at transplanting. Some of the Ipomopsis are standing higher than the others, which may help me decide how to thin them. The California bluebells seem to be fading.

Three of the big yellow daylilies are now open, and a week ago today I saw the first bloom on a Stella d'Oro. The others are not ready yet.

some shall bloom and some shall die

The Grevillea shows no sign of life. Neither does the "Dallas Red" lantana at the bottom of the drive; I'm afraid those few days of frost killed it, though it was quite well established and mulched with plenty of its own dead leaves. I'll wait another month or so to be sure.

The good news is that there is plenty of good news. There are several more T. linifolia poking up, though some are hard to see under the clarkia. One of the "May Night" sage (Salvia nemorosa) is blooming well, half hidden by the Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri), which is not yet in bloom; the blue sage (S. chamaedryoides) is also starting to flower, and the S. greggii has several vivid red flowers. The gaura are showing their first little white flowers. The rose is doing very well, and some callas are open. The Watsonia are starting too. The one behind the house is that dusty pink I remember from last year, and perhaps I should replace it. A fair number of blue iris are open, and one of the strange-looking "Eye of the Tiger" in the east zone. The blue pimpernel (Anagallis monellii) is starting, as are the nasturtiums. We also have our first daylily blooms, the big yellow ones that I got from a neighbour.

Most of what was in bloom stilll is, except that the tulips are completely gone and the freesia and sparaxis nearly so.

fast to bloom, fast to wither

Believe me, things have been growing -- I just haven't been writing about them.

The daffodils are all gone; the Mount Hood lasted about a week longer than the rest. Almost all the tulips are gone; we still have a few of the generic Darwin hybrids, maybe a few Daydream, and three of the bright red T. linifolia. I wish these grew better hereabouts. And of the other spring bulbs, the only ones that I can remember from a few hours ago (my, aren't we getting old?) are the anemones. The sparaxis are not quite over.

I've reconsidered buying more Falconet, since they lasted for such a short time and do take up quite a lot of space. But more sparaix would be welcome, as they combine with other bulbs.

On the bright side, the "coral bells" (Heuchera) are looking well, the Clivia minata is quite spectacular, the scarlet flax are bright and numerous, and my "Daybreak" gazania is best described as unbelievable. The Lithodora diffusa is covered in little blue flowers on both sides of the fence, and the blue thimble flower (Gilia capitata) are also out in force. Oh, and the Indian hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis indica) is doing well, as are the teucrium fruticans and the soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides). I was wondering about he autumn sage (salvia greggii) but it is coming into bloom too.

The plum tree is in leaf, with embryo plums clearly visible, and the snap peas are yielding a few very sweet and crunchy pods per day. Those are the ones I planted in, umm, November. The yarrow I sowed into a December frost has yielded some seedlings, but I think most of the green in that corner is actually low-growing weeds whose feathery texture reminded me of yarrow. In a few weeks I'll know for sure and perhaps do something about them.

The grevillea shows no signs of life. A week or two ago I cut off most of its foliage (to prevent dehydration) and poured several gallons of water around it, but I see no effect. The piece of malacothamnus that I tried to transplant has not grown, but the Ca. bluebell looks healthy. A few days ago I noticed what looked like "volunteer" seedlings of the Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia); that plant also spreads by underground roots, but I dug around these and they seemed to be true seedlings. I've moved three of them to where they can perhaps do some good. The columbines that I planted out a few weeks ago are, at least, alive. The ipomopsis rubra has enormous numbers of children. For now, I just watch them grow, but I can see that before long I'll have to pull a lot of them out.

Blooming

I was too lazy to write this blog up last week, but there are some changes with the warmer weather. Butterflies and bees are visiting. Here's a quick list of what has bloomed:

• scarlet flax
• calochortus, pale purple, likely C. Cupido
• tulips: the white T. clusiana "Lady Jane" with red outside, and the pink-and-yellow T. bakeri (I think), and one of the Darwin hybrids ready to open
  
• "bird's eye" gilia tricolor which I promptly pulled out
• plenty of osteospermum African daisies
• plenty of freesias
• the plum tree, covered with blossoms and quite wonderful
  
• a few "Johnny-jump-up" violas
• a little of the Vinca minor periwinkle
• a great deal of the Lithodora diffusa "Grace Ward"
• the scarlet and maroon cyclamens
• two poppy anemones (A. coronaria) gorgeous dark blue/purple
• some California bluebells
  
• in unison on the same day, all of the Falconet daffodils, followed by the Carlton and with the Mount Hood ready to open -- I was ready to give up on these last year, but perhaps that frost helped them along
• still plenty of grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum)
• the harlequin flower (Sparaxis tricolor) but only behind the house.
  

And a few things are finished: the true hyacinth, the Tenby daffodils (N. obvallaris), and the dwarf iris. Some purple crocus are still doing well. I've pulled out the scarlet flax from the lower half of the front bulb garden. It grew too tall too soon and made it hard to see the tulips. The snap peas have their first tiny pods.

Last weekend I tore out two shrubs under the north wall of the house that didn't belong there and planted a "Plum Passion" fringe flower (Loropetalum chinensis) and a "Newport Dwarf" (tm) escallonia. I've tried planting out another lion's tail (Leonotis leonuris) after the first one died, and the last of my indoor-grown yarrow seedlings, of which I think all the first lot died.

It's going to be dry. I may turn on some irrigation (groan).

More transplants

The things I transplanted two weeks ago are, at least, not visibly dying, and the phacelia actually looks better than it did. So on Saturday I took some lavender bushes (dwarf Hidcote) that I didn't need in front of the house and shifted them to the dry strip on the east side, in the hope that they'll establish themselves there before the rains end.

I also took out the frost-damaged parts of the plumbagos, since another hard frost is now quite unlikely. The smaller of the two was so badly bitten that I left very little of it above ground; the larger looks strange, since there were a few upright canes still alive, but otherwise only the ones lying almost on the ground had survived. I'm sure it will be fine in a few months. The former corner lawn is now thick with yarrow seedlings, so I tried thinning them out (it isn't easy). The front walkway is thick with morning glory seedlings; two sweet peas just east of the fence are an inch or two high. I've never grown those before.

One of the osteospermum daisies has put up a flower. The first spring starflower (ipheion uniflorum; triteleia uniflora) is open, as are a few more daffodils (but the paperwhites are gone). The cyclamens continue quite glorious, and the Clivia (clivia minata) has some flower stalks visible. The plum tree has many buds, some of which are now open. There are still a fair number of dwarf iris and some crocus, mainly purple but a few yellow. The hyacinth still looks good. The biggest of the snap peas has a flower or two.

This morning I did the dull, dirty, but important job of resetting and staking the edging strip along the front garden path. This had eased its way up out of the ground over the past year or three and was flapping. And, of course, I pulled weeds.

Transplanting

The weekend of the 10th was a busy one for me. I finally shifted the "Noell" grevillea from its rather shady spot under the north wall of the house to what I hope will be a better place. It was a fair size already and I hope the roots I had to cut were not essential to its survival. I also tried moving a California bluebell (phacelia campanularia) and two offshoots of the Fremont bush mallow (malacothamnus fremontii) because they weren't any use to me where they were. They look even less likely to survive.

This past weekend I moved another calla or two, and saw signs of life in the ones I moved earlier. I finally fertilised the plumbago. And shifted a few surplus "Johnny jump up" violas to the northwest corner, where I had tried to sow some seeds of that species, but apparently without success.

The dwarf iris are doing very nicely, as are the Tenby daffodils (narcissus obvallaris) and even a few of the generic big yellow daffodils that were sold as "King Alfred type". Tulips are poking up all over the front garden. The sasanqua has lost the flower it had, but I'm not sure if this marks the end of its season, since it rarely has more than one flower. The plum tree is covered in buds, and the remaining rose is showing leaves. The evening primrose (oenothera speciosa) has spread far too widely and I'll have to do something about it. The cyclamens are much as before; so are the primroses (primula).

early bloom

As of a week ago we already had some minature iris reticulata, the purple "George" and deep blue "Ida", and some yellow crocus. The Ziva are starting to wither, but some smaller daffodils, probably "Minnow", are open. The teucrium fruticans is doing nicely, and the creeping rosemary is in good bloom. That anemone has opened another flower. The red cyclamen is looking wonderful; the maroon one is blooming sparingly.

I've hacked off a lot from the leadwort (plumbago auriculata) and I ought to fertilise it soon. There are also any amount of weeds -- their growth rate seems to be limited only by the speed with which I can turn my back.

The weather is warmer, but those callas that I transplanted aren't showing much sign of recovery yet.

still cold

... but we have a dozen or more Ziva in bloom. Otherwise things are much the same.

cold

We've had several days where water actually solidified at night. (Yes, this is unusual. Yes, I know a night is not the same thing as a day.) The newly transplanted callas are looking very wilted.

I managed to put another hundred-odd kilos of pebbles where I wanted them. The place where I was thinking of putting lilies is both too small and too shady, so I'm contemplating a change of plans.

callas

Yesterday and today I levelled some of the soil in that strip in front of the house and planted into it some callas (zantedeschia) that I had ripped up from wherever they were. Then I bought some more wire mesh so I can make a protected bed for the lilies I hope to eventually plant in the rest of the strip (we have gophers hereabouts and I don't want my plants attacked from below).

I've pruned the plum tree, which I would probably do better if I knew what I was doing, and done demolition work on the gaura and the "Dallas Red" lantana.

There are more primroses open; the morning glory (convolvulus tricolor) behind the house is doing nicely; that anemone is still blooming; the red cyclamen in the front walkway has several flowers open, though the maroon has only one. The lemon tree is bearing magnificently. My neighbour tells me it needs spraying for whitefly; she is probably right.

more pebbles

There's an African daisy (osteospermum fruticosum I think) open, one yellow primrose, and several "Ziva" narcissi. The bush germander (teucrium fruticans) is looking nice, and will be even better when it reaches full size.

I've demolished the Matilija poppy (romneya coulteri) so that it can grow back in the spring, and likewise many of the Russian sage (perovskia atriplicifolia). Hmm, I should add photos to this blog. I also took out as much as I could find of the black-eyed Susan "Blushing Susie" (thunbergia alata). It looked all right, before the frost, but it grows too aggressively for my contentment, so I'm going to try some sweet peas (the seeds were a Christmas present from my sons) and morning glories on that fence instead.

Most importantly of all, I've finished the first half of that monumental project of digging up pebles and sieving the earth away from them. Why am I doing this? Years and years ago, someone laid a pebble-and-flagstone walk under the front of the house and forgot to do anything to keep the pebbles separate from the earth underneath them. So they just worked their way down into the soil, and after I had taken up the flagstones and put them to better use, I had what we might technically describe as a big mess: too soft to walk on and too hard to dig planting holes. I decided the only way to fix this was the hard way. So now I've got the pebbles in one place (with some sturdy fabric under them, never fear) and in the other place I've got wonderful smooth loose soil. Not much left to put in it, though, since I planted all my bulbs back in December. But I can move some calla lilies (zantedeschia aethiopica) into part of that strip -- I have plenty of them and don't much mind if I lose a few. Then I'll see what I can get over the course of the year.

Many spring bulbs are putting up shoots, lately including the calochortus and some of the species tulips. I was getting worried about them.