Well and truly Spring in California...

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1073859/#new

It's on the doorstep of summer here. The orioles are back and the epiphyllums are full of buds.

My roses were pruned in late January and are already starting to bloom - this is the wonderfully fragrant Double Delight:

The nasturtiums, half of which I pull out because they've reseeded someplace I don't want them, are just starting their full flush:

This Western redbud is a city tree, planted for free. I'm not in love with it - would have preferred something evergreen - but it's very pretty in bloom:

Looking downwards from my front porch into the shady north-facing side yard. The Japanese maple 'Emperor 1' goes from bare to fully leafed-out in what seems like less than two weeks:

Your iris are blooming too jkom. Beautiful!

Dang! Wish our redbud did that. We get just a few buds each year - probably not cold enough long enough here.

KaperC - you may be right about the zone. In 9b, it does get cold enough and they must be easy to maintain here because they are planted along the highways.

Spring and peonies - one of the reasons it is one of my favorite seasons. My tree peony in full bloom. It is about two weeks early this year.

OK, it's all your fault, all you gardeners. I've finally become aware, I mean truly aware, of seasonal changes.

Today I drove down Cedar Avenue from the fwy and saw trees which were "bare" on Friday and are now leafing out, green little spikes of color all along the branches. And there's a tree by my office which didn't lose it's leaves in the fall, but is now losing them. Not all of them, but probably 15-or-so-percent of them (??LOL) turning dark and dropping, the remaining remain green.

There were other subtle changes I've not noticed before and if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be driving down the streets looking at the trees instead of the center lines.

It was fascinating to spot the subtlety. Thank-you all for that!

Linda

And now the rain is coming again I hope it does not freak all the plants out its been so nice here lately.

Ahhh....tree peonies won't grow here, either. Beautiful flowers.

This Liquidambr never did lose her leaves and now she's wearing new ones...very odd.

I had a couple that did the same thing this year. Our winter was much milder than last year so maybe that's why Sherry.

This message was edited Mar 30, 2010 8:52 AM

All our deciduous trees went buck naked - what a difference a few miles - or type of tree? - can make.

DH kept asking me if the desert willow was dead, but it's greening up, and the Chitalpas are starting, too.

A very mild winter, I still have some things blooming out of season.
Also a real surprise. I went up the hill where I sowed all those CA poppy seeds, and discovered a bunch of lupine growing where the poppies had been sown. Either someone is playing a cosmic joke on me (DAD!),or the package was mislabled. I got to tell you they sure looked like CA poppy seeds.
Surprise! And I was so worried about saving the lupine. BTW, they have never grown here before, so I'm giving Dad the credit. LOL! : - )
WIB,
SW

It looks like you have collar lupine (Lupinus truncatus), rather than the kind that grows along roads. They will come up most often after a fire but can be found in smaller numbers here and there.

A pink kurume azalea and some yellow pacific coast iris

Spring flowers on the clematis montana ruebens.

Spring foliage on a Japanese maple 'Crimson Queen'

Kurume azaleas and hellebores

Blossoms on a flowering crabapple tree. THat's it for now. :-)

Beautiful doss. I really like that Pacific Coast Iris!! Any idea where I could find one??

DP, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden has them. They are having a sale this weekend and I would love to go, but don't think I can.

Very nice spring show, Doss.

DH & I am up in Shasta, staying with the grand kids all week while their parents are away. Guess they didn't get the word that it's spring! It's been snowing steady all morning, no sign up let up.

Good grief!

Most of the nurseries will have Pacific Coast iris right now.
Here's a mail order place
http://wildwoodgardens.net/pacific_coast.htm
here's the watchdog scoop on them
http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/317/

Believe it or not, Doss, they are not that easy to find way down here. We don't have that many nurseries that carry a variety of CA native plants. Even Las Pilitas rarely has more than a couple of irises.

OK, I finally went out and took a few pictures today. Here is the one that is just blowing my mind every morning because I can see it from the kitchen window. The photo still doesn't catch the electric blue.

Ceanothus Wheeler Canyon

C. Snowball

This one is about 5 feet tall by eight feet wide.

Lady Banks rose. It smells heavenly.

Cammisonia bistorta - it's an annual, but reseeds each year. So cheery.

Bletilla striata just starting to bloom

Mimulus by the stream. We just let it spread.

Our scented geranium box. Thanks to Sherry and Louise, I finally have something to look at in this spot.

This is a nice lavender - don't remember the name of it. Takes very little trimming to look nice.

Salvia Anthony Parker

Beautiful Kaperc - my lavender needs to be replaced every so often when it gets leggy. That's a really nice one.

Yes, I have one of those that probably should be replaced, too. I wish I remembered what this one was, because it really likes it here!

I read this and thought I should pass the word to you animal lovers out there

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1083526/