SPRING IS HERE!!!

California wildflowers are always fabulous. Thanks for sharing those photos. I don't get out riding in the valleys anymore and I love the orange and then purple and yellow of the flowers. Spectacular.

Thanks, just really wanted to share what the desert had waiting for us, while our cool evenings and mild days have not yet brought great bloom to our yard yet, it is just starting, but there is this.

You guys are lucky.

Great pictures Dawn, what a gorgeous view!

that is really spectacular !!

Lilac Blue Skies taken Apr 6.

I have L Blue Skies and Angel White which I think are both Descanso lilacs bred to bloom without winter chill. Angel White has been a shorter bush for me, but it had a problem and dropped most of its leaves the first year which could have set it back. The area where they are planted is a dry, hot hillside with some afternoon shade. I do have soaker hoses to them about once per week. Planted in wire baskets to keep the gophers at bay. I feed them once when they have leaf buds and another time after they bloom. They were planted about 3-4 years ago so it has taken a while to reach this size--probably would have been much faster with more water and more nutrients. Still, I am very pleased with the results---the bouquets with early roses like Madame Alfred Carriere are delightfully fragrant.

Chris

Absolutely gorgeous! Do they smell as fabulous as the regular lilacs that don't bloom well in our climate?

really gorgeous - I love lilacs.... how fragrant are they?

Mmmm, can almost smell them! How long do they bloom?

It's hard for me to compare since it was several decades ago since I last smelled the lilacs by our back door in OH where I was born, but the fragrance of Blue Skies is quite strong., e.g.when I cut a branch for a vase in the house I can smell it on the other side of the room. Angel White seems more delicate to me.

Chris

a spring poppy

I've been enjoying my Buddleja salvifolia which has a nice scent somewhat reminiscent of lilacs. Although it's been probably 10 yrs since I sniffed a lilac, so it might be similar to how I think vegetarian "meats" taste like the real things since it's been so long since I tasted the real ones!

Anyway, it has pretty flowers and smells pretty!

I grow some buddleias also, but these smell quite different and more like my lilac soaps and lotion (purchased in a vain attempt to try to recapture my midwest childhood experience)-LOL

Here's another photo of a bouquet of both Lilac Blue Skies and Angel White with Rose Madame Alfred Carriere. I took the photo outside, but as I type this they are sitting on a table about 10 feet away and I can smell them quite well.

Sue: I checked my notes in my garden log books and it looks like the blooms last about 2 -3 weeks. At least I have notes about needing to shape/prune the bushes the last week in April, so the blooms must be faded and done by then.

Chris

Chris, that is so pretty - really beautiful !

In our first house, we had 5 huge lilacs in the backyard (house was built in 1909) I put them everywhere in the house, until my DH came home and had a major sneezing fit - too much for him !!! I love their fragrance.

ecrane, I like smartgrounds for taco's - do you eat much of the soy stuff? We usually stick to Boca's - but we did try "Soyrizo" recently - DH loved it.

I'm impressed with the lilacs. I had a Descanso white that did not do well and I wasn't impressed with it, but my neighbor has one flowering now and it's really nice. It's the first time that it's flowered, though, and it's been there about 10 years. I'm ascribing that to the fact that the previous owner planted it on the north side of the house. I'd thought about going out to see if the nurseries have any once I saw the neighbor's, but now that I've seen yours.......I'm going tomorrow! I love lilacs, miss the ones back east.

Chris--Buddleja salvifolia smells nothing at all like the much more commonly grown B. davidii which is most likely the ones you have. Personally I don't like the scent of B. davidii at all, I think it smells pretty icky. But B. salvifolia smells absolutely gorgeous, maybe not quite like a lilac but that was the first thing that came to mind when mine came into bloom for the first time about a month ago. Buddleja asiatica also smells gorgeous, but not like a lilac. I'm going to be looking for Blue Skies lilac now next time I'm at the nursery--no idea where I'll put it but I love anything fragrant!

RTP--I do eat lots of the soy fake meat...mostly I eat Morningstar farm stuff, they've got a whole bunch of different things and I've probably tried most of them (except the sausages, I didn't like sausage before I became vegetarian so I never felt the need to try the fake one!)

IT"S FINALLY SPRING HERE!!!!!!! oh my roses are waking up!!!! today is gorgeous... 50's so absolutely gorgeous... oh I can't wait for the weekend so I can clean and prune roses....

Yeehaw for you Kassia!

ecrane: You are correct--my experience was with Buddleia davidii. I had not heard of B. salvifolia, but I will put it on my Want list. Fragrance is one of the criteria I use for deciding what to plant. Thanks.
btw I found that the Wayside Spring 2008 catalog has Lilac Blue Skies if you can't find it locally.

Chris

Chris, your lilacs are really beautiful. I didn't know that there were lilacs that would grow here - and you aren't killing them with kindness either.

Here's a Clematis 'Rubens'. It only flowers once and not for long but it's stunning when it's in bloom and while you have to stick your nose in it to smell it, it has a really lovely scent.

Here's clematis "Nelly Moser"

cute clem's - so pretty in bloom !

Beautiful, Doss. Here I am way down south and mine are just waking up. At least my DH finally believes me that it's OK to cut them down to let them regrow. LOL

I had a garden 'helper' trim almost all of mine back to the ground two years ago and they came back fine. Your husband should be comforted. I did lose the spring bloom on the type 2's. Thank goodness he didn't do that to 'Rubens'. It's a montana and only blooms on new wood.

Actually, I cut them back after their first bloom last year, then all the way down in the winter. They are type 3s, and my first clematis, so I just followed directions on the forum here. Got a little bit of re-bloom last time, so I'll try it again this year.

Here's a raphiolepsis standard blooming in the front garden. It puts on quite a show but people walking on the path have to sort of go around it.

It's gorgeous doss!

That's beautiful! I wouldn't mind having to duck under it to get to the door!

Beautiful pictures and gardens everyone. Here is a picture of front yard this Spring. We live on a 7000 ft yard which is mostly hill and pool so not much room for gardens.

abd another pic:

Very pretty!

Wow Doss.

Our roses all have buds and will bloom soon but have not yet but two young LB roses, one white and one yellow.

I got this new rose called Gingersnap and it is so gorgeous and it doesn't seem very fragile, wind has not blown the pedals off it yet and it has been so windy. It has not stopped blooming in 3 weeks.

Hi all!
A few pictures of spring this year in my yard. First is my magnolia Anne, but it was a few weeks ago.

Wisteria, right now

Michelia X Jack Fogg

Pink Jasmine....

Lovely, Plantmum! Your yard must smell wonderful.

Indeed I bet it smells lovely, that Jasmine is monstrous! - I bet the bees love your yard.

The bees on the wisteria sound like something out of a horror movie! I am going to have to whack the wisteria to the ground as soon as it is done blooming, it is wrapping around and choking my 7 ft tall Michelia figo! Im not really a huge wisteria fan anyway..even though it is pretty right now.

Here is my Cestrum, which I think is Cestrum elegans "Smithii". I have had it for over 10 years and dont remember the name exactly but that pops into my head....ignore the junk under it please.

One more for now..
"Sunset" Iochroma with Diascia and Dianthus.