Spring officially arrived at 9:06PM PDT yesterday, which makes today the first full day of the spring season. It'd be hard for me to walk into my garden now without feeling the pure joy of it. The birds are singing, the bees are buzzing, and I've already spotted several butterflies. I'm not even annoyed when I see a squirrel eating fruit from one of our citrus trees. Every stroll through the garden is a delight.
I find new flowers virtually every day. Here are some I spotted after I posted my copious Bloom Day photos just five days ago:
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| The white-flowered Ageratum I could swear I never planted is 4 feet tall |
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| The Babiana stricta bulbs I planted in April 2018 have returned once more |
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| This noID dwarf white-flowered Cistus is another one I've no record or memory of planting |
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| While the Hippeastrums I planted in pots in the fall are close to finishing up, those I planted in the ground are now gearing up to bloom. Four Hippeastrum 'Luna' (2 shown here) have bloom stalks coming up and I noted a Hippeastrum 'La Paz' in another area also has a bloom stalk. |
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| The majority of the 12 Iris hollandica 'Eye of the Tiger' I planted in 2021 are already blooming and the rest are close behind |
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| Iris hollandica 'Mystic Beauty' is coming on in large numbers on the heels of 'Sapphire Beauty', which I highlighted in my Bloom Day post |
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| Iris hollandica 'Pink Panther' had a single flower on Bloom Day but now it has a dozen |
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| The Pacific Coast Iris off and running with Iris douglasiana 'Santa Lucia' |
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| Narcissus 'Geranium' (left) and N. 'Sunny Girlfriend' appeared just days ago |
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| Phlomis fruticosa was hard to photograph because its growth is very dense |
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| Salvia 'Bee's Bliss'lives up to its name |
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| I planted one Veltheimia bracteata (forest lily) in 2015 and another in 2017. They've only bloomed a few times since and there's no guarantee they'll bloom this year but at least their foliage is up! |
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| Despite last year's heavier rain, I got just one calla lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica) but this year's looking much better. The majority of these plants grow on my back slope, where they're left to their own devices. |
But every garden poses its challenges. At present my biggest headache is still the gophers. I remain convinced there's more than one, which may be why using deterrents in the form of granules containing castor oil and solar-powered sonic devices to direct them to the selected exit hasn't done the trick this time.
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| This is a Renga lily (Arthropodium cirratum) I found after it collapsed in late February when its root system was devoured. I found another one one about 15 feet away in the same condition yesterday. Nothing was salvageable in either case. |
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| I initially assumed this Mangave 'Red Wing' hadn't received the water it needed - until I cleaned it up and discovered its roots were gone. I've replanted it but it remains to be seen if it'll recover. |
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| Phormium 'Tom Thumb' was a nice specimen that'd been in the ground with 2 others since 2016. It suffered the same fate as the Renga lilies. |
I can't bring myself to install any more of the sonic devices - even with the birdsong, it's hard enough to tune out those I already have but I'm gradually shifting them from the areas showing no recent activity to the areas showing the most obvious signs of new activity. And I'm ordering yet another bag of the deterrent granules in the hope the critters aren't developing a tolerance for castor oil.
We haven't had any more rain in the past two weeks. A surprise thunderstorm moved into our area late Monday afternoon but, although we saw lightning and heard thunder, we didn't get any measurable rain. That was disappointing but there's another chance of rain in the forecast for this coming weekend.
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| The clouds sent mixed messages |
I hope your spring experience has more ups than downs!
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
