Replanting Beds

 I had the house painted. Last time painted was 22 years ago. Also removed the faux rock and installed wood siding for a more modern look. 

To make it easy for the workers, I removed almost all of the plants. 

The three green plants under the window are correa pulchella, pink eyre. 

All of the plants are drought tolerant and most of them are shade loving plants. 

This area gets only morning sun. 

Just waiting for my free wood chips to be delivered so that I can finish the beds with a good layer of chips.

Winter Rains Brings Spring Blooms

 We have had two consecutive rainy winters!! 

Which has yielded my garden with lush growth and intense colors.

Almost everywhere you look in the garden are surprises and rewards.  

This is a green rose that doesn't produce rose hips. 

Even the cacti are producing pups!

My backyard is just a beautiful!

These Africian daisies have been blooming for months.

The Jerusalem Sage is gorgeous this year. 

Surprises are abound!

The Buckeye tree that I started from seed has also taken off this year with at least a foot of growth.

A dragonfly frequents the garden along with a couple of lizards.

This year the California Monkey flower is lush!

More Spring surprises awaits.

Then and Now

In 2009, I planted this artichoke agave, agave parryi var. truncata, without knowing how large it would get.

 Back then, I also didn't know its proper name. I called it a rose cactus because it reminded me of roses.

Well 14 years later, the plant is huge. I'm waiting for the flowering stalk to appear. This plant has given me numerous pups, like the one trying hard to grow from under this huge momma. I transplanted one pup from five years ago to my front yard garden bed. That pup in now a momma to at least seven pups. 

Hummingbird Mint

 I planted the pink hummingbird mint from a 4" pot in the Fall 2022; look at it now!! It is as tall as me, wow!!!

Green Rose

 

After learning that there is a rose that has green flowers, I purchased one for my garden. Green rose, rosa viridiflora, might be the oldest roses that originate from China. This rose is asexual since it doesn't have a stamen or stigmas, making it sterile. Yes, no hips are produced. One needs to get a clone! The rose is cultivated by grafts or cutting off pieces of the stem and replanting them. 

Heat Wave

 I think Mother Nature is skipping Spring again. 

I'm taking advantage of this warm evening weather to repot some of my planters. It 's too hot to work in the yard during the day. What happened to low 70s temperatures?  Instead it's hitting the upper 80s to low 90s. At this rate the plants will bloom quickly and then go into their hot, summer dormancy. Noooo! 

Baby It's Cold Outside!

 It's cold, but I'm staying warm indoors while waiting for Spring.

This Fall, I mulched the yard in prep for winter and now I'm praying that some of my plants that are self-sowers survive my mulching.

Agrostemma Milas was such a surprise for me. I purchased it in 2021 from Annie's Annuals. It really didn't do much that first years and then died. I thought it was a goner. But Spring 2022, it came back in full force! It's a self-sower that is very hardy- at least I hope so! We'll see if it survives my mulching. If not, I'll purchase more from Annie's.

Another surprise self-sower is origanum libanoticum, cascading oregano. Again another plant that totally flopped for me in 2021. I thought it was a total goner too, but it too surprised me in very early Spring 2022. It bloomed for months. And the bees just loved this plant. Not only did I enjoy the grace of this plant, but I also enjoyed the bees and hummingbirds that were loving the blossoms.