feels like summer

... and a long time since I've been here.

Latest to bloom are the aquilegia by the back door, one of the cistus ladanifer, and a few clarkia. Before that, there was one (one) zantedeschia and two calochortus ... I think these are C. venustus, anyway, the white ones with the lovely markings inside. The oenothera have also started. The freesia are just about gone (some shrivelled ones left hanging on the stem) and some of the flax are starting to fade; but there are still plenty of these, many eschscholzia, and quite a number of gilia.

I've pulled out a lot of flower stems from the flowering stachys, which were probably a mistake to buy in the first place, and a lot of clarkia ?unguiculata and gilia from the corner lawn, which is being overrurn by anagallis, not that I mind that. The "Eye of the Tiger" iris are proving more numerous than I had thought: there are at least eight in front of the house, though apparently only one in the Zone. The big yellow daylilies are starting to bloom, and several others are budding. The sweet peas outside the fence are quite splendid, as is (still) the solanum. Nothing yet from the "Grandpa Ott", and the cyclamen are losing blooms; the clivia has been withered for a week or so, but I'm thinking of trying to get a seed from it. The alstroemeria seem very happy: behind the house there are four stalks blooming and two more to come, and by the gate very many stalks in bloom simultaneously. But the ones behind the house are starting to lose leaves already, even though I give them extra water. It's hot there.

The ixia are mostly open, but I wish they weren't all pale cream with deep red centres. Well, one of them is rose-pink. I should try and buy some better ones. Several of the transplanted watsonia look dead.

The godzilla is already huge. There's not much to be done for the plants under its spreading footprint. Oh, the berberis is now fully clothed in dark red leaves; the grevillea has opened some spidery red flowers; the ceanothus is blooming fairly well for its size, but the lower leaves are yellow and I daren't flood it with nitrogen as I did (apparently successfully) the plumbago.