Everything is 'waking up'....

What's blooming? lol...lots of Bermuda Buttercup / oxalis. We have far too much of it to even begin to think of trying to eradicate it, so I just remind myself that it is pretty and the bees do like it.....

LOL! I agree, Sherry. I do try to keep it out of the tiny patch of lawn, and the pots though. I've got enough of the creeping oxalis in them to keep me occupied. I mostly leave the pink oxalis in the beds too.

I read posts where everyone is busy weeding the oxalis...that would be a career here...lol..

Common, but still awfully pretty, wending its way through the ferns.....variegated vinca / Periwinkle...

I find it very disconcerting to have written a long post...and go to 'scroll' and 'float' over an ad on the side that pops up with an ad for coconut tea or some such that takes over and I've somehow lost the post.......

Ah well.....it was a rather rambling soliloquy on the nature of 'red' and how I don't like it......and then yesterday found this 'in your face' red geranium down with others that had been set out to naturalize...only one I have, so I'd best pot it up to 'take with'...set it over by the house and son-of-a-gun if I don't like it....

You know you're getting old and need more coffee when your brain means 'agapanthus', but all you can think of is 'ailanthus'....lol..

Salvia brandegeei....

Love the fern and periwinkle shot Sherry and yes, just a bit of red here and there is nice and you should take that geranium, very nice.

The red geranium has become a 'greeter', sitting by a white gatepost....very 'crisp' looking.

Must correct myself...I do have another bright geranium...the 'Indian Dunes', but it's more in orange tones....not as 'Wow' as the red one.

How come there are so many plants that I don't have...and how can I get them all?

Just a photo update of my Kniphofia sarmentosa, Bloom show in progress with a secondary baby bloom showing as well for this year.




Close-up of the baby bloom:

Love all the kniphofias...I will really need to get more of those. The ones I have (few) disappeared..perhaps gophers, though they would have been planted in wire....

One of my very favorite plants ...tagetes lemmonii...I love this tough plant...love the scent, though some find it objectionable.

I love the tagetes lemmonii too, Sherry - they bloom when most of the other perennials are asleep & are so cheerful. When I pruned mine a while back, I dropped trimmings around the yard, hoping some seeds would grow - we'll see.

Zuzu, I have to mention that the fuchsias that I bought, per your recommendation from Earthworks, are very happy little plants! They've been sitting in my kitchen window all winter. I transplanted them into 4" pots about a month ago & they liked the extra space & were starting to get some blooms, so I cut them back - we'll see if any of the trimmings root. Thanks for the recommendation!

I'm glad to hear that, Liz. I transplanted mine into gallon pots right away and I'll be transferring them to the ground sometime in the next week or so. I left all of the potted ones outside this year, except for two trailing ones, but even they would have been fine outside, I think.

I did bring in about 70 or 80 tropical plants -- hibiscus, kalanchoe, mandevilla, plumeria, etc. I lovingly brought them inside in the beginning of November and treated them with the utmost care for the first couple of months. I grew so sick of seeing them inside, however, that I put them all back outside a week ago and now I barely care whether they live or die. Much more trouble than they're worth!

My tagetes really should be whacked back, but it's so hard for me to do that when they're blooming and they're always blooming. I won't grow anything anymore that can't make it outside on its own....bringing a lot more reality and a lot more laziness into my life....

Sherry, my tagetes seem to bloom in the spring & the fall, so after the spring bloom is done, I'll cut them way back - they're too leggy now. Reality/laziness is definitely appropriate as we age!

Zuzu, sounds like I should have planted the fuchsias in bigger pots! I'm learning that fuchsias do not like to be root bound. I don't do many tropicals - too much work and fortunately, most of my plants have gotten big enough that they seem to keep themselves warm - ie. tibouchina & albutilon. The mandevilla got frostbitten at the ends, but easy to trim those. I'm already thinking ahead to when we'll be living in your area & knowing that some plant may not make it - ie. brugmansias, because I don't think I'll be able to talk my husband into moving them inside. What about hydrangea - do they survive the cold in your area?

Hydrangeas most definitely survive the cold, but brugmansias often don't.