White Blooms

 Spring is a lovely time of year in the Moonlight Garden. With so many white blooming plants in addition to the variations of green foliage, everything kind of sparkles. And yes, those are blue blooms on the rosemary, but I am obviously not a perfectionist!

 The rice flower shrub blooms for months and is kind of huge. It definitely makes a statement and makes up for the bare spot nearby where a white flowered blue hybiscus died suddenly for no apparent reason last year, left a large empy space.

 I do have to replenish the annuals and small perennials in this area a few times a year due to the hungry bunny population that considers this a smorgasbord. 

 The white camellias and azaleas are just starting to wrap up their bloom season.

 Cistus or rock rose is a reliable California native that I should remember to plant more of in the near future.

 I am so happy that the ornamental grasses are coming back after their seasonal cut back that leaves them looking less-than-lovely for a few months. They add movement to the garden that can easily get too stiff.

It is important to me that there is a lot of visual interest, scents, sounds and textures in my gardens and I think this garden covers all those requirements quite nicely this time of year!

Preparing for Easter

Clivia

 Easter is a big day in the gardens. We have been having an Easter Egg Hunt for as long as I've had a garden to hide eggs in and one of my favorite things is watching the gardens filled with kids hunting over, under and around all the beautiful plants. Throughout the years there are typically anywhere from five to ten little ones doing the hunting and the older kids do the hiding. It started in my Laguna gardens and then moved to the back yard in SJC and now we do it in the Moonlight Garden where the adults can see the fun from the seating area.

Indian Hawthorn

 Because Easter is early this year, the gardens will be in their Spring peak I'm hoping. The scents of flowers is heady and the early spring blooms are really prolific this year.

Wisteria

 I'm hoping the climbing roses and wisteria hang on for another week, although they have been blooming for weeks already.

Heliotrope

 One of the most fragrant plants in the Moonlight Garden is the white heliotrope. I planted a number of plants years ago and they just thrive and bloom all year round. They are rather easy to overlook, until you catch a whiff of the cherry pie scent!

Azalea

The camellias and azaleas are almost done with their show, but the roses starting to open, so it will definitely be a lovely day for everyone!

'Evelyn' rose

Sun and Shade

 Here is another view of the white climbing roses from the last post showing just how beautiful and full they are during March facing the early morning sun! I don't even think they get fertilized!

I have been struggling with trying to fill in this bed under the fast growing California peppers trees.  The trees prefer not too much water or they get root rot, so shade and dry loving perennials were my only choices. There is some late day sun that creeps into one side of the bed in the afternoon which evidently is enough to sustain the purple lantana, the tagetes lemmonii and an 'Easter Basket' rose bush. The plants facing the other way have to be shade lovers or, like the daylilies from years ago that linger there, they may hang on, but never bloom.

My garden helper does not really pay any attention to sun and shade requirements and propagates plants all the time and puts them in where ever they are needed like these Margarete daisies. They need full sun, but seem to be blooming like crazy in this dappled shade. Years ago this bed was filled with beautiful calla lilies that I thought disappeared during the last few dry years, but it looks like they are making an appearance again after staying on the low down until the rains came back. What do I know?

Spring Awakenings

Green Agave

 With this rain we've been having has also come some crazy weather. A couple weeks ago he actually had hail, thunder and lightening, an event that takes place rarely around here. It has happened once before while we have lived in SJC with the same results - damage to the green agaves in the form of pits. It will take a few years for it to completely disappear.

Rice Flower

 I have forgotten how many wonderful spring blooming shrubs I have like this rice flower plant in the Moonlight Garden. I have to confess that I have been to a number of nurseries in the past few weeks and have left with nothing in my car. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at what needs to be added or replaced in the gardens. I finally decided I have to get busy before I am too crazy busy with other projects in my life to focus on the gardens so I did load up the car last week with a few basics that I can always tuck in somewhere.

Milkweed

 Milkweed is a must to keep the monarch butterflies happy. They struggle through after being decimated by the caterpillars every year, but a few more never hurts.

Right now the scents from the gardens at sunset are amazing and this combination of pink jasmine and Indian hawthorn are partly responsible along with the citrus blooms. Makes me giddy!

The white roses (rosa spinosissima) and wisteria are waking up in the front driveway. I was afraid the hail would ruin the blooms, but there were enough new ones opening up that they took it all without missing a beat. Even though the roses only bloom for about one month out of the year, I couldn't ask for a more prolific rose with no disease or bug problems.

The wisteria here is about a month behind the wisteria in Laguna, probably due to different micro-climates because they are the same hybrid.

Finally!

 Finally! After some unexpected rain yesterday I got out and wandered through the gardens and to my delight, there is a collective sigh of relief from all the foliage! Even the drought tolerant plants were getting really tired of having to be so tolerant of years of no significant, deep soaking rain and were showing signs of stress and lethargy.
 

 But finally there is a bout of growth spurred by the weekly rain we have been having and upcoming spring weather that can't be denied. Even the groundcovers that were the first to give up due to the dry weather have started to reappear.

 Shrubs that I planted years ago that never showed much growth are starting to take off - finally!

 I have planted so many perennials that just kind of dwindled away even though they supposedly tolerated dry conditions that are now bursting with life. 

This is how I think of early spring, flush with new growth and lush, deep colors of green! Finally!

A Little of This and That

 I just wanted to share some gardening successes I've had over the winter and some other random stuff! 

First is the abundance of lemons on my little potted lemon tree that sits right where I park my car every day. It always makes me smile when I pull in the driveway with the beautiful shades of green and yellows. I need to make sure to fertilize it this week because there is a big difference in the crops I get from my citrus when I stick to the recommended feeding schedule of four times a year. You can see by the leached coloring in the foliage that it is need of iron. I use an organic fertilizer for citrus.

 I actually followed through with forcing some bulbs this year and they were a delight for weeks!

 One of the first signs of spring is the blooming ornamental pear tree in the Moonlight Garden. It is always a surprise in the middle of winter and it only blooms for about a week so it can be easily missed if I get too busy to wander the gardens in the cool weather.

 Our key lime tree was very prolific this year with lots of fruit to harvest from the ground around the tree.

One of the favorite plants for the bees is rosemary. This large shrub is always buzzing this time of year. It is actually in the Moonlight Garden and breaks the all-white rule, but I let it slide because I love it so.

Late Winter Blooms

 It is hard to believe that spring is just a few days away. This winter has flown by with so many family happenings as well as personal events that took over much of my focus and time. 

 The big El Nino we were counting on to bring us relief from the long drought has been rather winpy to say the least, but there is still more rain in the forecast and the mountain tops are covered with snow, a good sign.

I haven't spent any time in the gardens up until this week, but they have been soaking up the rain and the record breaking heat in February and there are signs of growth everywhere. I am delighted that the abutilons I searched for all over last year have settled in and are blooming like crazy in all the shady gardens that were so bare. I absolutely love their charming blooms as do the hummingbirds. Their structure is a bit leggy and sparse still, but I am hoping they will fill in this spring. I learned the hard way not to prune them too hard because they are slow growers so I am just leaving them alone to allow them to spread out in their light and airy fashion. Because they prefer the shade, they don't seem too bothered by the lack of rain last year and are good sports almost everywhere I have planted them. I am going to figure out how to cut some branches and bring them in the house too.