Just Enjoying The Flowers

Hydrangea

 I think every gardener has a critical eye when it comes to their own garden. I know I do. As I walk through the beds I focus on the bare spots, the plants that could be doing better, a bit of insect damage here and there and a number of other blemishes that mostly only we can see.

Duranta

 But it is important to learn to look past those imperfections and focus on the amazing beauty that the gardens offer up this time of year.

Bearded Iris

 Sometimes we are the only ones that see the pretty scenes in our gardens too. Visitors may take in the big picture or see only the plants that they are interested in personally.

Verbascum

 Allow me to indulge in some of the amazing blooms that are decorating my gardens this time of year. All of them are my favorites that are putting on a lovely show during our dreary weather.

Rose

Alstromeria

Clematis

Statice

Some Vegetables, Ollas, and Flowers

 It has been a crazy busy spring around out house, so I haven't done much blogging. I have been busy in the gardens. 

 Once again the fresh food from the garden bug has got me and although my dream is to try once again to create a big beautiful kitchen garden, it is just going to have to wait. Summer is just around the corner and I try to wind down my projects and focus on relaxing and enjoying the fruits of my labors in the summer. I always have some vegetables growing here and there and the fruit trees just carry on all summer without too much attention so I can't complain too much. I got some onions in the ground finally, better late then never!

 Thanks to my sister I have quite a few tomato plants this year. I planted some in pots outside the kitchen, but about a dozen went into an empty raised bed. I added ollas to see how they worked. Ollas (pronounced “oy-yahs”) are unglazed clay/terra-cotta pots with a bottle or tapered shape that are buried in the ground with the top/neck exposed above ground that are filled with water for underground irrigation.

We couldn't find any large ones so we went with a bunch of smaller ones. Usually tomato plants require a lot of water, although with our gloomy weather I guess I should be more worried about mildew than wilting! The tomatoes are bred to handle the May Gray and June Gloom we typically get this type of year so we'll see how they do. So far so good.

 

 I also put in some squash mainly because the rabbits leave them alone. I think the trick to enjoying squash is to plant a number of plants and harvest them when they are small and tender. Anyone who has ever grown zucchini knows they can grow to scary proportions overnight! A bowl of tiny squash with grated cheese is a meal for me. I haven't tried frying the flowers, but who knows?

 The rest of the garden is looking especially nice this year (mostly) due to the rain that we have had. It's not enough to say the drought is over, but my garden is certainly basking in the bit of extra percipitation.

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.