Bloom Day, the big picture - March 2025

My Bloom Day posts can be obnoxious even during the less flowerful times of the year.  In spring, it's hard to keep up with the new arrivals.  Since the end of February, I've been highlighting these in shorter posts, which you can find here, here, and here.  Instead of covering the same ground all over again, I've chosen to celebrate Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day using wide shots that place many of my flowering plants in context.  It doesn't cover everything currently in bloom but it's good enough.

As with my quarterly wide shot posts, I'll start with the back garden and move clockwise around the house.  My photos were taken between rainstorms this week so the skies were blue in some cases and gray in others.

View from the back door looking southeast toward the Port of Los Angeles

View from the back patio  looking south

Prominent blooms in the views above include Freesia, Iris hollandica 'Sapphire Blue', and a noID Narcissus 

A broader view of the mid-sections of both borders surrounding the flagstone path that cuts through the area

Prominent blooms include:
Top row: noID Ageratum, Arctotis 'Large Marge', and Aristea inaequalis
Middle: noID dwarf Cistus, Osteospermum '4D Pink', and a wide variety of other Osteospermums
Bottom: self-seeded Polygala myrtifolia, Salvia 'Bee's Bliss', and Scilla peruviana

The above photos cover the mid-section of the back garden.  Here's a look at its north end:

View from the back patio looking north

Prominent blooms include: Alstroemeria 'Claire', Lobelia laxiflora, and Leucospermum 'Royal Hawaiian Brandi'.  I didn't highlight other blooms like those of Aeonium arboreum, Ceanothus, Freesias, Lobularia martima (aka alyssum), or Osteospermum. 

Here's a look at the south end of the back garden:

View of the south end of the main border

Prominent flowers include: more Arctotis 'Large Marge', Narcissus 'Beautiful Eyes', and Sparaxis tricolor

Next up is the south-side garden.  It's dominated by succulents but offers some colorful shrubs too.

South-side garden looking west

The same area looking the opposite direction

Clockwise from the upper left, prominent blooms include: Euphorbia rigida, Leucospermum 'High Gold', L. 'Sunrise', and Metrosideros collina 'Springfire'

I've broken up the front garden into segments.

This area at the southeast end of the front garden features Grevillea 'Superb', Cuphea 'Vermillionaire', and Erysimum 'Winter Orchid'

This view shows a corner of the sloped bed adjacent to the driveway

This is a view of the same area from another angle

Clockwise from the upper left, the prominent blooms include: Crassula multicava, Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', Leucadendron 'Cloudbank Ginny', Leucospermum 'Spider Hybrid', Narcissus 'Geranium', and Sparaxis tricolor

This view, taken from the path to the front door, shows the area behind the one featuring Leucadendron 'Cloudbank Ginny'

These are 5 of the 6 barrels surrounding the Magnolia tree.  The flowering plant in the background near the front of the house is Coleonema alba (aka white breath of heaven).

View of the area in front of the garage looking east across the driveway at the the house

Prominent plants flowering in this area include: Arctotis 'Opera Pink', various lavenders, mostly self-seeded Polygala myrtifolia, and masses of Rhodanthemum hosmariense (aka Moroccan daisy)

My cutting garden sits on other side of the garage.

View of the cutting garden looking northwest toward the back end of the garage.  The Camellia 'Taylor's Perfection' growing up against the garage is rapidly dropping its pink flowers,

The raised planter on the left holds seed-sown Calendulas and flowering Ranunculus bulbs; the middle planter holds flowering Anemone coronaria bulbs; and the planter on the right sports a robust crop of white Antirrhinum majus (snapdragons).  Regrettably, the seed-sown sweet peas (Lathyrus), love-in-the-mist (Nigella), and larkspur (Consolida ajacis) aren't doing much this year.

The last area I'll show, my north-side garden, is relatively spare of flowers but there are a few flowering shrubs.

The north-side garden sits on the east side of the fence separating it from the cutting garden

Clockwise from the upper left, the plants currently flowering in this area include: Grevillea sericea, G. 'Scarlet Sprite', Lavandula dentata, and various Osteospermums

I've skipped some areas of the garden, most notably the back slope.  The slope usually produces its most colorful display in April or May.  As it's been abnormally dry this year, it's unclear how much of a splash there will be.  I'm doubtful that I'll see many, if any, calla lilies for example.  The recent rainstorms may help, though.  We've received over two-thirds of an inch of rain this week thus far.  Our water year to date total, counted from October 1st, is close to six inches but that's still less than half of what we'd expect by this time in a "normal" year.  Our rainy season generally comes to an abrupt halt in April.

I'm posting this Garden bloggers' Bloom Day post one day in advance.  For more Bloom Day posts, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, our GBBD host, on March 15th.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party