Portulaca on the porch

More amaryllis blooming out of season. I've never had a year like this before. I like to think that my dad, who passed away in March, is sending them.






Crinum didn't bloom much this year because of the drought and mealy bug infestation but I got one flower stalk.

I think you're right, kelli...your Dad is sending them.

Coming Soon!.....my front border echium gentianoides "Tajinaste' will open soon and then I'll be able to tell how I feel about bright blue in the front border. I have 4 of them spread across the front, interspersed with grasses, etc. I had one in the back yard bloom earlier this year, only one and these were set out later. We shall see. I have a lot of things in the ground that may be moved around later or even taken out, but wanted to get them growing in the ground to save seed from.

Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus 'Storm Cloud')




Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Aaron Brown') which is my son's name so I had to buy it!


Garden view from deck, that golden locust tree sure glows!

Echeveria pulvinata

Aha! So that's what that is. Mine just finished blooming.

That, or maybe the 'Pulv-Oliver' cultivar. I don't know what the difference is.

Crocosmia!...and this is funny because chasmanthe was naturalized and wild all over our Fallbrook property and I did not like it, but it was nice that it flowered in Nov-Dec and the hummers loved it, so I left it. Then we get up here and I see that this orange crocosmia has naturalized also and at first I was sorry to see it, then I took a closer look. It is quite dainty and has the touch of yellow also. I have a neighbor who does not know a lot about gardening, in fact does not like to be outside much (she's the one who's OCD about vacuuming...lol..), but she loved the orange crocosmia and took some...so....it's so naturalized around here, that like most plants like that, it becomes un-appreciated, undervalued...we just took a load of prunings to the transfer station, (read "dump")...and there was a big pile of the crocosmia corms.....so I grabbed them for her and she's thrilled. Her husband is getting ready to retire and I think I can work with him to get him around to planting trees, etc. He currently doesn't want anything he has to mow 'around', but has been mumbling maple trees and likes what I'm doing...

I've planted some yellow crocosmia and we'll see how that goes. Bex had dug out a bunch of "Lucifer", but I'm not wild about reds....

I had some red crocosmia once but it only lived a year. Chasmanthe, on the other hand, will gradually take over whatever parts of the yard the vinca doesn't.

My neighbor in FB, who bought our front property, inherited a lot of chasmanthe. We were still having RU's at drdon's and I invited her to go along....wanting to have something to offer, she bagged up a bunch of chasmanthe corms...I told her I did not think that was a good idea, but she loved them...she labeled them crocosmia and Mike took some...lol...He later said as I recall, something like "Why didn't she say they were chasmanthe?" It may have been something much worse that he said...but that's how I'm remembering it...lol..

Crocosmia comes up all over my garden, but only one type, probably the species Crocosmia (Crocosmia masoniorum). I've tried to grow more exciting varieties, but they never last. As for Chasmanthe, it was a long and hard battle, but I think they're finally gone.

The pics by plantladylin and hementia look like what I have so, maybe that's it...pics can vary so much. Bex has had the "Lucifer" spread a lot, I think. She gave me some called "Babylon" that I've just planted and they've not flowered yet, so can't tell, but they also look like that could be what I have....dunno.

I have only one I know the name of:


The others I got from my mom and from Zuzu. The gophers have really loved trying to wipe out the large clumps here and there and one summer there would be hardly anything, the next year, they were back and as full as before, almost like it was renewed to extra vigor.
This clump shot that I brought from my Mom's garden was taken in 2012, it was hit hard by a gopher in 2013/2014 and nothing bloomed the summer of 2014, I figured it was all gone but now it is coming back.

Interesting...I've not bothered to wire basket crocosmias since they never seemed to bother all the chasmanthes...and the ones I see existing here in my yard and all over town don't seem to be eaten, judging by the huge numbers of them...and the gophers are very active in my yard. I'm wondering if they only eat certain ones...and thinking that I have some yellow ones that need to go into the ground and looks like I should wire them....

They spread too fast to cage them and their recovery is remarkably fast too.

This will probably be my last amaryllis of the year.

I have one I got earlier this year from Flowers by the Sea, it's developing a bloom stalk.
http://www.fbts.com/hippeastru...

Nice

I think this is sad...I saw it last year and here I am looking at it again this year and it's still the same.....sad.

Limelight is a stunning hydrangea and I'm sure what they had in mind when planting this was 'stunning'...but without a lot of green around it to set it off, it looks pretty blah to me. I was at a friend's house today and she has one large Limelight and it's surrounded by a lot of dark green and it's really beautiful. This, to me, is kind of a waste and they could have done so many other things there that would have had more impact...

Yes, needs some help, maybe some bright color in front. That's a big row of limelight.