Despite our abysmally low rainfall, the garden is full of flowers this month. And by that, I mean it's bordering on crazy, even by my standards. As I knew I had a busy week coming up, I started taking my Bloom Day photos last week. Every time I walked through the garden I saw something I'd missed and snapped more photos until I had to declare that enough was enough and call a halt to that. As it was, I ended up dropping most of the photos I'd collected into collages just to manage their volume. To make up for the photo overload, I've mostly limited commentary to plant identifications.
Here we go with this month's main floral contributors:
 |
| Echium webbii is currently in full flower, much to the delight of the bees. Echium handiense in the background still has some blooms too. |
 |
| The Dutch Iris peaked early this month and quickly began to wane when we had a stretch of very warm weather. The varieties shown here are 'Sapphire Beauty' (top right) and 'Mystic Beauty' (bottom right). |
 |
| Pacific Coast Iris douglasiana 'Santa Lucia' |
 |
| The blooms of Ceanothus arboreus 'Cliff Schmidt' are declining but still beautiful |
 |
| Limonium perezii is tough and relatively common here but it's a great performer |
 |
| Ageratum corymbosum with its "ever-purple" foliage |
 |
| Cercis occidentalis |
 |
| Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' |
The next photos feature plant genera that are putting on a good show in spots throughout the garden.
 |
| Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Claire', 'Inca Vienna', 'Inca Sundance', 'Indian Summer', and two noID varieties inherited with the garden |
 |
| Snapdragons: Antirrhinum majus 'Chantilly Bronze' and 'Chantilly Peach' are first and second from the upper left. The half-barrel shown in the upper right contains a mix grown from a 6-pack of plugs and the pink ones in the lath house window box are a noID dwarf variety. |
 |
| Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' and 'Large Marge' (yellow variety). A third variety, 'Opera Pink', missed her photo opportunity. |
 |
| Clockwise from the upper left: Cistus 'Second Honeymoon', 'Grayswood Pink', 'Sunset', and skanbergii |
 |
| Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold' (left and top right) and Coleonema album (lower right). Collectively, these plants are commonly known as Breath of Heaven. |
 |
| Clockwise from the upper left: Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow', 'Black Pearl', 'Dean's Hybrid', and rigida |
 |
Top row: the large-flowered Grevilleas 'Ned Kelly', 'Peaches & Cream', and 'Superb'
Bottom: small-flowered Grevillea lavandulacea 'Penola', sericea, and 'Scarlet Sprite' |
 |
| Hellebores, clockwise from the upper left: Helleborus 'Anna's Red', 'Phoebe', 'Pacific Frost', and 'Red Lady'. 'Blue Lady' didn't show up well in her photo. |
 |
| Lavandula dentata, multifida, and stoechas |
 |
| Because I love them so, the Leucospermums each got their own collages. This is 'Brandi'. |
 |
| Leucospermum 'Goldie' |
 |
| Leucospermum 'Hybrid Spider' |
 |
Tow row: Osteospermum 'Berry White', 'Summertime Kardinal', and 'Purple Spoon'
Middle row: Osteospermum 'Double Moonglow', 'Sunshine Beauty', and 'Zion Copper Amethyst'
Bottom row: noID self-seeded Osteospermum and O. 'Violet Ice' |
 |
| Clockwise from the upper left: Pelargonium cucculatum 'Flore Pleno', 'Lemona', 'Lady Plymouth', 'Tweedle Dee', and 'White Lady' |
 |
| Pelargonium peltatum aka ivy geraniums |
 |
| My first roses of the year: 'Joseph's Coat', 'Pink Meidiland', and noID |
 |
| Salvias originating from Africa: S. lanceolata and S. lutea |
 |
| There's actually just one of these. Not just one member of the Zantedeschia genus: just a single white calla lily (Z. aethiopica). I usually have dozens of these at this time of year but the low rainfall combined with a stretch of excessive heat has crushed these plants at the bottom of my lightly irrigated back slope. I miss them but I hope they (and the rain) will be back next year. |
I'll close as usual with the best of the rest, organized by color.
 |
Top row: Anemone coronaria 'Lord Lieutenant', Babiana rubrocyanea, and Campanula poscharskyana
Middle row: Felicia aethiopica, Geranium 'Tiny Monster', and noID dwarf bearded Iris
Bottom row: Plectranthus neochilus, Polygala fruticosa, and noID Scaevola |
 |
Top row: Anemone coronaria 'Rosa Chiaro', Argyranthemum 'Angelic Pink', and Centranthus ruber
Middle row: Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', Digitalis purpurea, and Hebe 'Wiri Blush'
Bottom row: noID Nemesia, noID Prunus (peach tree), and Scabiosa 'Flutter Rose Pink' |
 |
Tow row: Argyranthemum frutescens 'Everest', Centranthus ruber 'Albus', and Freesia
Middle row: Mimulus bifidus, Nandina domestica, and Narcissus 'Geranium'
Bottom row: orange blossoms, Pyrethropsis hosmariense, and Westringia 'Morning Light'
|
 |
Top row: gift Berlandiera lyrata (thanks Kay!), Cotula lineariloba, and Euryops chrysanthemoides 'Sonnenschein'
Middle row: Gazania (one of many varieties), Lantana 'Lucky Yellow', and Primula polyanthus
Bottom row: Ranunculus californicus, Senna artemisioides, and Tulipa clusiana 'Cynthia' |
 |
| Left to right: Anagallis 'Wildcat Mandarin', Arbutus 'Marina', and Digitalis 'Dalmatian Peach' |
 |
Top row: Anemone coronaria 'Bi-color' and noID red and Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy'
Middle row: Lobelia laxiflora, Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset', and Metrosideros collina 'Springfire'
Bottom row: Melianthus major and Calliandra haematocephala |
If you made it this far, thanks for hanging in there! You can find more of what's flowering elsewhere in the country and the larger world by checking in with Carol, our Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day host,
at May Dreams Gardens.
All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Wow, what an abundance of bloom! I imagine strolling in your garden can be dizzying (in a good way!), especially when passing by the orange blossoms. There is something I love in each group... Ageratum corymbosum has such fun blooms (great contrast with the leafs), Cistus 'Second Honeymoon' with the variegated foliage is just perfection (I'm certain I drooled over it before), and since rabbits devoured my Gazania last year, I will try Pelargonium cucculatum 'Lemona' this year; fingers crossed it doesn't taste as good to the resident bunny.
ReplyDeleteThe rabbits here seem to have a taste for Gazanias as well. There's no evidence they've munched on any of the scented geraniums. (I hope I haven't just jinxed myself by saying that.)
DeleteGoodness gracious, all the flowers! Thanks for sharing them with us for bloom day!
ReplyDeleteI'm what Annie Hayes of Annie's Annuals & Perennials would call a "flower floozie", Carol. I expect my Bloom Day posts border on the obnoxious but they do provide a great record.
DeleteFabulous inflorescences, Kris! Your BD posts are always a fine sight to see. :)
ReplyDeleteSpring is a little overwhelming, even for me, Eliza.
DeleteYou have so many beautiful flowers, Kris! Thank you for taking the time and energy sorting them into collages. The Nemesia (no ID) you have looks very similar to my Nemesia that was planted in early January and is ‘Premier Rose Yellow’. I love your Mimulus that is pale yellow / cream. Happy Thursday!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the ID, Kay. I've got a pile of plant tags I haven't sorted through but then I don't always bother to record the names of annuals.
DeleteYour garden makes it too hard to pick favorites! Of course, Arctotis 'Pink Sugar'... and your snapdragons are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteArctotis 'Pink Sugar' seems to have a fan club and of course I'm a member too, Lisa.
DeleteYou have Chocolate Flower! I tried growing that perennial, but it did not last through our winters very well and disappeared. I believe I also gave them too much love (good growing conditions.)
ReplyDelete-Ray
The chocolate flower was a gift from my friend, Kay. Although this plant was picked up at a garden center, she's grown a lot of them from seed.
DeleteI can see why it took you a few days to collect your photos !
ReplyDeleteThe light is often an issue with my photographs, Kathy, but, yes, so is the sheer volume of blooms to photograph, especially in spring.
DeleteI always come up to see your GBBD post just to see your flower collages that are treat to my eyes. I have never seen so many stunning varieties of Euphorbia before these are just beautiful . It would be my pleasure if you join my link up party related to Gardening, Nature and birds here at http://jaipurgardening.blogspot.com/2021/04/garden-affair-mesembryanthemum.html
ReplyDeleteThanks Arun. I posted on your link-up yesterday but will double check it.
DeleteWow what a gorgeous display. The garden must be alive with the sound of bees right now. Hopefully your calla recovers. I stored mine differently this past winter and am afraid I have lost it. They are hard to come by here.
ReplyDeleteCalla lilies are common here, Elaine, although I was surprised the first spring 10 years ago when dozens of the plants emerged during our rainy season to flower on the very dry back slope, all from bulbs planted by some prior owner. This is the first year they've flopped but I'm sure it's related to our very low rainfall. I hope the plants absorb enough nutrients to bloom next year - and that we get more rain next year.
DeleteI think you've got more flowers in this post than I have in an entire year's worth of bloomdays.
ReplyDeleteAt this time of year, it's hard to see the plants for the flowers, Loree.
DeleteWow, Kris - that's unbelievable! Equally impressive is how you keep track of all of them - labeling? spreadsheet? both? Do tell! So far, I've been using a spreadsheet & some "maps" on excel. Without those, I would have a difficult time keeping track of what's in my comparatively paltry garden.
ReplyDeleteI keep a digital spreadsheet, started in or around 2012, Margaret. I group the lists by broadly-defined areas, which keeps the list simpler to search, although, as the plant list gets ever-longer, I've begun to wish I'd defined some of those areas more narrowly. I'm haphazard about updating it for plant moves and losses, which also complicates things and of course I entirely forget to log some things (especially bulbs for some reason). However, as I've use a lot of the same plants over and over and as I make a point of labeling them in each of my posts, most names stick in my head. On a long post like this one, I usually only have to check the record for one or two names. The oddest thing is that, as I solidify the botanical names in my memory, I often struggle to recall their common names!
DeleteYes, dazzling!
ReplyDeleteI hope today's heat isn't going to bring a quick end to the display - our temperature reading is currently 87F and the humidity level is below 20%.
DeleteYour blooms are absolutely beautiful, and so many of them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Yvonne!
Delete