So this will probably be my last bloom day from here in the Essex house. Though I'm thinking I'll have to come by to take some pics in mid-April just to see if anything is blooming. I'm moving on to different if not greener pastures (see my previous blog post for details on that.)
So though I'm sad about leaving this wonderful garden many plants have decided to say goodbye in a showy fashion. The most exciting of which is this, my sacred flower of the incas plant (Cantua buxifolia). It's been in the ground for a year and a half and just started blooming a few days ago. Only one fully opened flower so far, but I'm so excited. I didn't think I'd get to see it. Strange how the aggressive, phallic buds, turn into a swirling, elegant, skirt-like flower.
Sisyrinchium bellum, or blue-eyed grass, one of my favorite CA wildflowers. They've been blooming since January, but I haven't gotten any good pictures until now. And they have just exploded.
As have the hardenbergia and ceanothus.
The Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa) in front are now competing with those in back.
Here's my Salvia bees' bliss. This triangle of dirt is usually overflowing with wildflowers this time of year, but my housemates planted some veggies here last summer and they didn't come back. The salvia is really happy though and will take over most of the area. I couldn't get a good pic of it, but I did have fun watching this ladybug zoom around.
Quite a few white flowers. The redwood sorrel (Oxalis oregana) has some beautiful white flowers shyly poking out just in time for St. Patty's day.
And the snow-in-summer has sent up a few flowers, as it has been doing since January. It keeps hoping for summer.
And this wild onion, has truly beautiful flowers (here contrasted against a fuchsia. But they are horribly invasive, and since I won't be here to keep them under control, I pulled this one out right after the photo.
A happy bloom day to you all. Hopefully spring is at least on its way for those of you in colder climes. And thanks to Carol over at
May Dreams Gardens for hosting this show.
Yep! That's what March looks like. I've had Cantua buxifolia in the ground for about as long as you but mine has no sign of buds. I think it's because of all the pruning I give it. That shrub wants to be a vine.
ReplyDeletealoha,
ReplyDeletewow, i love that first plant, the cantua, i haven't seen that before...gorgeous and the long flowers are beautiful...looks like a fushia or salvia.
For the first time ever, I saw a Cantua over in Half Moon Bay that was just stunning - I'm so sorry you have to leave yours - they're truly a gorgeous flower!
ReplyDeleteYes, my oxalis is quite pink. That's how it came. Given a choice, I might have picked the white, but now it's so well established... It's an oxalis, after all.
ReplyDeleteI hope the next renters won't tear up the garden or overwater everything, I'm kind of glad I can't go back to the previous garden where I planted natives...
Wow, you have a ton of blue-eyed grass flowers! Do you know what species of onion that is? I've been growing Allium hyalinum for the first time this year, but it hasn't bloomed yet.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful send-off the garden is giving you! I don't know what your secret is, but you seem to get blooms months before I do- and you're probably a mile or so away!
ReplyDeleteQuite a spectacular spring show! The flowers of Cantua are quite intriguing. I love blue-eyed grass, and have considered growing it here. I'm a little dismayed by the wild onion though. I just caught some growing here. It's so pretty, and seems so unassuming, but now it seems I should dash out and dig it up!
ReplyDeleteLovely - it's must be so hard to leave it all behind - but what a send off!
ReplyDeleteWe have that wild onion too a few block away from the house. Pretty--and pretty invasive, as you point out. I like the blue-eyed grass a lot. Even though I'm farther south, yours are a couple weeks ahead of mine. It's good that you got this great farewell from the garden!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of flowers to send you on your way. Great collection of photos, especially that sacred flower. Maybe you should take some of that oxalis with you. It's really pretty.
ReplyDelete@chuck: I just learned (yesterday looking up the latin name) that Cantua buxifolia only blooms on last years wood, so pruning it would stop the blooms. I also pruned mine, but let one long branch tucked behind some salvia and ribes live. That's the one that survived.
ReplyDelete@queerbychoice: I can't remember the name off hand, but it's the wild onion here in the bay area, considered a weed. It's not one of the native alliums that people plant.
i loved visiting your blog maybe because our climates do not differ alot. all the blooms are very pretty and you have shot them near to perfection. isn't it sad that hardenbergia is not grown here although it is very adaptable to my climate.i love oxalis and i gerw 2 varieties this year the purp. and buttercup oxalis. I also liked your blog because i like native and wild flowers although i cannot grow the wild ones due to limited space. happy posting.
ReplyDeleteI believe the mystery non-native onion is 'Allium triquetrum', also known as the white flowered onion, or three-cornered leek.
ReplyDelete