Spring is here!!

 Well, it seemed to take forever but spring is finally here. Speaking of waits, I took a long break from posting here to attend to other matters. But there were so many flowers bursting in my garden, I just had to share them. So, all the photos here are from my garden, taken on April 16. Leading off here is my white-speckled Fatsia, called Spider's Web. Lovely!

I have many salvias in my garden but the most boisterous is this S. elegans 'Golden Delicious'. The leaves are fragrant too, as well as the red tubular flowers being a hummer magnet.

Top here is a new ornamental onion that has produced a bevy of tiny, pink-flushed white, star-shaped flowers. Directly above is my walkway bed, with all manner of Ixias, Freesias, Dutch iris and ornamental Oxalis.

 

Black foliage is kind of the holy grail in gardening and here is a Leucadendron called 'Ebony.' It's new so I haven't found a place for it in the ground.

Two photos above is a hot pink Ixia (Corn lily). The other colors you see are from a Fressia mix. Directly above is a self-seeded patch of Cerinthe major, one of the most prolific self-seeders around.

 

There are many kinds of Scabiosa (Pincushion plant); here is a low growing beauty called 'Harlequin'. A great plant to attract butterflies to your garden.

My Marmalade bush (Streptosolen jamesonii) always draws lots of attention from passersby. When in bloom, it's spectacular!

Two photos above is one of many Dutch iris and directly above is my gorgeous Leucospermum 'Veldfire'. Bees, hummers and titmice all love the orange flowers.

 

I have numerous Mimulus (Monkey flower) in my garden. Here's one from noted grower Susan Ashley called 'Anton'. 

This unassuming but pretty flower is an Oxalis whose tag I've lost. But I love its salmon color!

One of the more prolific bloomers in my garden is the sturdy Phlomis fruticosa. It's another bee magnet. 

Though the flowers aren't large, my Anisodontea 'Strybing Beauty' is a prolific bloomer, being in flower for 8 months of the year! It's also another bee and hummer favorite.

Another of my favorite South African bulbs is Babiana stricta. Here's a patch of them in a driveway pot.

Two photos above is large-flowering 'pocketbook' called Calceolaria herbeohybrida 'Orange'. Lovely. And directly above is my vigorous and dependable Aloe striata, also known as Coral aloe.

 

My metal arch in the front yard is now smothered in the small yellow flowers of my Banksia climbing rose. The easiest rose you will ever grow, mine requires almost no care.

This lovely white-leaved sage is Salvia 'Desperado'. It's a hybrid of Salvia apiana and S. leucophylla and features the 'stacking' flower clusters of many sages.

I'm pretty sure this flower would stump many a gardener. It looks like a bottlebrush flower doesn't it? Except it's a limey-chartreuse color. Well, it is actually a bottlebrush species - Callistemon pachyphyllus. Beautiful and unusual!

Here's a South African Gladiolus called simply 'Charm'. Great colors, mixing deep and lighter pink plus some white.

Everybody will recognize this flower - Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii). Just the prettiest robin's egg blue color.

This lovely conifer - Cryptomeria 'Sekkan-Sugi' - has bright chartreuse new growth. Lovely.

I put one of my two Staghorn ferns in a tree trunk crevice and it seems happy here.

Here are 3 more dwarf conifers in a mixed bowl. They have made themselves at home.

Abutilon 'Tiger Eye'. One of our most popular flowering maples (as they are called) and the flower striations are partly why. Vigorous!

One more Dutch iris.

My bronze fennel plant is already off and running. I grow it as a host plant for the Anise Swallowtail butterfly.

Speaking of vigorous Salvias, my S. melissodora (Grape-scented sage) seems to bloom nearly year round. True to its species name, it has bees collecting nectar all throughout the day.

My Japanese Painted ferns have returned from being dormant, back as strong as ever.

The light green broad-leaved plant is my Crinum 'Rosea.' When in bloom, it produces large, spectacular pale pink trumpet flowers.