I've been spending more time of late at
South Coast Botanic Garden. That's partly because I'm curious to see if what's happening in my garden this spring is on par with what's happening at the botanic garden, roughly 5 miles away. It's also because I started training to become a volunteer docent there. As I'd missed the garden's cherry blossom festival last weekend, I took a quick spin around the garden after this week's training session in hope of spotting some blooms. Although some trees flowered earlier this year due to our very warm January, the cold spell that began in February has set others back. As a result, some cherry trees are in bloom but they aren't all blooming en masse, at least not yet.
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| Here's the best example I found during my brief survey. This one is located along the garden's perimeter. |
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| Close up of the flowers on the same tree |
But it's not just the cherry trees that are blooming. Here's one of my favorites, looking especially good this year.
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| These are a hybrid apricot-flowered Handroanthus, H. chrysostricha x impetiginosus, formerly classified as part of the genus Tabebuia and commonly known as ipe trees. |
And there are more.
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| The coral trees, Erythinia caffra, are in bloom. The specimens in the garden are larger than any I've seen elsewhere. |
The next tree isn't flowering but its fresh green foliage still sung of spring.
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| This looked like a Podocarpus to me but I didn't find a tag to verify this. In looking up Podocarpus, I discovered that these plants too have been reclassified. They're now officially Afrocarpus. |
In addition to the flowering trees, there were other spring blooms.
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| Narcissus of various types could be seen here and there but these large-flowered daffodils sing of spring |
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| I spotted Iceland poppies (Papaver nudicaule) in several locations |
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| More Iceland poppies, planted with pansies and what I think was flowering kale, with Loropetalum in the background |
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| This wide shot features a slice of the Volunteer Garden. Pincushion flowers (Scabiosa) are in bloom in the foreground and Crocosmia can be spotted in the distance. |
This brief tribute to spring is my Wednesday Vignette. For more vignettes,
visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
