Beautiful, Tarev


a couple more NOIDs

Not really exciting but succulents are my thing. I'm not about to slave over an orchid in this climate, no matter how pretty they are.

Aloe vera




Gasteria bloom with Senecio leaves in the background

I was surprised I can grow some orchids here..I thought before I can't with the dismal humidity. Just got to choose which ones. Always trial and error for me. But now I know Dens, Phals, Oncidiums and Zygos are okay here. Phals are my favorites by far, I just have them indoors year round anyways. It does take a lot of discipline in understanding their cultural needs..most of the time it is overwatering that kills them.

April is peony month for me. First to bloom are the tree peonies, then the herbaceous ones, and lastly, the ITOHs though there is some overlap in all three.

A few of the herbaceous ones in the coral color:
Coral Sunset


Coral Charm - both photos are of Coral charm, showing the variations in coloring depending on location and maturity.



Pink Hawaiian Coral

A few of the Other herbaceous peonies:


Possibly Do Tell


Dad


Raspberry Charm


Raspberry Sundae

Interesting...I've never tried to grow the peonies...didn't think they would do well in SoCal, though I did read that the earlier flowering varieties would do okay. Only had peonies when living in Iowa.....

Beautiful.

They only do well at higher elevations in So. Cal. Peonies and lilacs do well around Julian, but we just don't get enough chill down below.

Well...peonies, I see them at a couple of the nurseries lately, I should pick some up, but seem to be on a quest for different things right now....same with lilacs, whine about them for years and now I can grow them here and haven't gotten any....the only ones I've seen available are light lavender and I've fallen for the dark purple one I've seen in a few places around town...want that one. I do have one lilac that was given to me, will have to wait to see what it does. Here I am where I can grow certain things that I couldn't before and what am I wanting?...to replace my Lemon Verbena and my Lemon Tea Tree / leptospermum petersonii...I come up here to grow different stuff and what am I planting?...a lot of Aussies...lol...

Umm. Go with what you know? This will be a new learning curve for you. Us older folks do seem to resist change.

I want it all...lol...

No, actually, it's because I've gotten a lot of plants and seeds, etc. from my friend here who's nuts for Aussies...lol...some of them are things I've grown before and am surprised will do well here, some of them are plants I had not acquired 'down there' and now have them....and as a gardener, I think we're open to almost anything that comes our way. Be adaptable. If it's something that seems it will look 'odd' mixed in with the other plants in the ground, well, stick it in a pot...haven't we noticed how all things in pots will look good sitting around next to each other?...lol....

This is one of the gorgeous Louisiana irises @Calsurf73 sent me last year. Thanks, JD.

yep....absolutely gorgeous!

I got those from Weegy years ago. They weren't in bloom at the time but she said we could take what we wanted.
I had some purple ones, too, but they were all mixed up. When I divided them the purple ones must have gotten sent to other people I traded with...despite my efforts to tag them when they were blooming. Now I only have 2 ! (They weren't the Purple Gamecock...I still have some of those...I "think".)

The cemetery where my folks are buried has a pond and waterfall with these ENORMOUSLY TALL Spuria iris growing around it.
They're well over 6' tall and gorgeous. Saw them at Easter and was very 'tempted" to sneak some...but didn't want to end up in jail !

Normally by now my hydrangeas are full of foliage and have buds. Right now they've barely leafed out...very odd.

Zuzu, mine opened up yesterday too, not sure if they are Black Gamecock or the other dark one Mike sent. Mike said these dark ones were larger than Black Gamecock and mixed in with some that are lavender and lilac with a touch of purple. Looks like that's what you have there Zuzu, the lavender. The ones I had tagged as Black Gamecock were eaten by the gophers the same year I planted them, I didn't catch it soon enough. I'll get a picture later today of this purple one, I have them in two locations.

I used to have an LA iris ('Professor Jim') but it died out. I don't know what went wrong. I had it in a shallow (couple inches) section of the pond.

Kelli said:Not really exciting but succulents are my thing. I'm not about to slave over an orchid in this climate, no matter how pretty they are.

Aloe vera




Gasteria bloom with Senecio leaves in the background

Hi Kelli, Very interesting! Do you have pictures with whole plant showing (maybe just the plant part with less bloom) for the blooming aloe vera and Gasteria? The reason I ask is that I have some big aloe vera and not so big gasteria and I never saw them bloom, so just wonder at what size they may start to bloom? This could be a silly Q? Pls bear with me. Thanks

I don't have pictures on hand but I can get some tomorrow. The aloe is pretty inundated by vinca but maybe you'll get an idea. It's fairly big. It's planted in the ground. My A. vera in a pot doesn't bloom but it might not get enough sun.

I have the pinkish Louisiana Iris. They have spread all over. Snails love to munch on the leaves.

Mike - you would not doing anything wrong. You are just doing some judicious thinning - so is actually doing them a favor.

Here is the dark purple one I got from Mike.