February Bloom Day
Arctostaphylos Louis Edmunds
I’ve haven’t posted about the garden since we got back, but it has been doing well. Pretty damp, despite the sun this weekend. Almost every plant is happy about all the moisture, though not too many have started to bloom. Most are still in foliage mode; a number of them have a few stray flowers and others are budding up, but not too many are in full bloom. One of our manzanitas, Arctostaphylos ‘Louis Edmunds,’ is pretty much the one plant at peak bloom. It’s a good one, though, maybe my favorite manzanita.
Columbine New Growth
Not a flower, but the new growth on the columbines has an almost floral look. The various shades of green in the garden look very lush after my month down in the desert.
Iris reticulata Clairette with Beach Strawberry foliage
The first of the bulbs are going.
Our First Daffodil of the Year
Hellebore Buds
The first of the hellebore buds opened this weekend.
Hellebore Opened
Aloe
The most dramatic plant right now is not actually ours. Our neighbor’s aloe, right on the property line, has been blooming since before we left for Baja. The rest of her yard is juniper and ivy, but I’m jealous of the aloe. This time of year, I always tell myself I should plant more aloes.
A list of our other blooming plants (all of them actually in our yard) is below the fold. My thanks to Carol at MayDreamsGardens for hosting bloom day. Click over to her site to see what other garden bloggers have blooming this month.
Arctostaphylos ‘John Dourley’ (finishing up)
Hardenbergia (starting up)
Ribes ‘White Icicle’
Ribes sanguineum (starting up)
Ribes viburnifolium
Ceanothus ‘Concha’ (starting up)
Fragaria vesca
Alpine Strawberries
Sidalcea malviflora (one of the three plants has a thick cluster of flowers)
Sisyrinchium bellum (3 flowers on two of the plants)
Alyssum
Calendula
Sedum sp. (starting up)
Gernium ‘Bill Walls’ (2 flowers)
Fuchsia ‘Gartenmeister Bonstadt’
Culinary Rosemary (finishing)
Creeping Rosemary
One of the blueberries (A few stray flowers)
Arugala
Tags: aloe, hellebore, manzanita
This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 12:14 am and is filed under garden bloom day, plants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 15th, 2010 at 12:54 am
Hiya Ryan,
What a difference 6000 miles makes 🙂
My UK garden has a few tiny snowdrop buds and not much else. So I have to enjoy my indoor garden until we warm up.
The I.r.”Clairette” is new to me. Lovely. And I had no idea an Aloe actually sports flowers.
February 15th, 2010 at 5:51 am
Lovely presentation. Your neighbor’s aloe is stunning, as are your crocosmia. Makes me hopeful for an early summer.
Happy Bloom Day.
February 15th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Nice collection of blooms. And what a good idea to make a list. I actually forgot the Hardenbergia I have, that’s what you get for posting after dark.
Happy bloom day!
February 15th, 2010 at 9:21 am
That huge clump of crocosmia is a nice welcome home:)
February 15th, 2010 at 9:37 am
I’m struck by all you central-/northern-California gardeners growing hellebores. I’m so used to seeing them (in photos, anyway) pushing their way through snow as one of the first blooms of the year.
Your Louis Edmunds looks like an especially graceful plant. For a genus full of graceful plants, that’s really saying something. Happy bloom day!
February 15th, 2010 at 11:02 am
You should be jealous of that aloe. It’s awesome. I really like the hellebores. That color is amazing.
February 15th, 2010 at 11:38 am
The crocosmia really looks lovely against the window and the Agave is amazing
February 15th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Wow, I too am lusting after the Aloes around town, so brilliant when everything else is a little dull. But I really have my eyes on that Manzanita of yours, such a beautiful form even without the bloom.
February 15th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Thanks for the comments everyone.
Joco – the aloes are big bloomers here with a long bloom time, starting in December. My neighborhood has a lot of big old ones blooming right now.
Nell Jean – I kind of want an early summer, too, though I know we need the rain.
TownMouse – I’m trying to keep the list, at least for the months like December and February when there are fewer things blooming. I think Zanthan Gardens does it, and she’s able to look back at past years and see what’s different. I’m thinking it will be an interesting record of this garden some day.
Melody – I’m glad I brought them home.
James – I’ve seen those photos of hellebores in the snow too. Tough plants and really pretty. All of the Louis Edmunds that we’ve planted have developed a nice shape without a lot of training.
Brad – The dark hellebores are probably my favorites.
Helen – Thanks. I see the crocosmia like that every morning, and finally decided to take a photo.
Susie – Manzanitas are pretty much my favorites, and I’m really happy with this particular one.
February 15th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
aloha ryan,
i missed california gardens in spring, this is exactly what i remembered would be blooming in this time of the year and lots of crocosmia all over the place…i also loved the wild manzanitas when i used to take hikes up in the sonoma hills…thanks for posting these bloom day shots
February 18th, 2010 at 11:32 am
What gorgeous colors in the garden. They remind me why I loved living in California as a child. I love the rounded leaves of the Columbine and the Aloe is just stunning!
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:01 am
Gotta love aloe this time of year… such a great color.
March 6th, 2010 at 4:42 am
Hey Ryan, nice to see 2 South African plants in 1 post – the Aloe and Crocosmia! It always surprises me to see our native plants on the other side of the world…and to hear people lusting after plants that we take for granted too.