California Gardening: Now arriving: Summer, 1 by jkom51

jkom51 wrote:
OK, I know we may still get some rains (crossed fingers) and a cold spell or two, or three. And those unfortunates who live in Those Chilly Places are still anxiously awaiting signs of official spring....but that's why we live out here, right?

Still, late spring/early summer has arrived in many areas here. There's already a fire danger warning in LA, even. Up here in the SF Bay Area, the orange poppies are in full force battling the oxalis pes-caprae, the magnolias are gaining green leaves to hide their flowers, and brilliantly blue ceanothus are suddenly appearing in the most unlikely places (now blooming at my otherwise boringly unlandscaped Post Office, right off a busy urban street).

The warm weather has brought a full battalion of aphids, slugs and snails; hopefully the "good" bugs will catch up soon to take care of the first, and I threw a gallon of Sluggo around today to take care of the last two. My roses, pruned to bare sticks in late January, are already forming their new buds. The Tibouchinas, burned in the frosts, are putting out new leaves again with a vengeance.

Here the pelargonium 'Occold Gold', one of my favorites, just bloomed between a purple bearded iris and a pink coleonema. Happy gardening!