June swoon

Hard to believe it's almost June but then again here in the Bay Area a bit cooler weather and more than our share of rain this year pales compared to the dire situation in the midwest. Our gardens march along, finding their own rhythm. That's one thing I appreciate about gardening - that bit of wildness that our gardens will follow their own timetable, weather and available moisture figuring in to some unknowable timetable that keeps shifting.
This is still bulb season for me, though of course the spring bulb season is done. Gone are the tulips and daffodils and crocus and freesias. Now it's lilies, gladiolas, dahlias and begonias, among other things. As many of you know, I'm a big fan of lilies and have two dozen different varieties in my garden. That show is just starting. I like lilies not just because they're colorful and showy but because they're usually very reliable, coming back each year.
Here are the photos from this week's activities. Enjoy!

Corydalis Blue Line. These flowers always remind me of little seahorses. Love that color too. I haven't always had luck with getting Corydalis to rebloom so am happy to see this one do so.

Brodiaea 'Rudy.' This CA native bulb offers up flowers in a spectrum of purples (and white too). It may be hard to gauge from this photo but Rudy has some of the largest flowers in the genus. 

One of the earlier lilies in my garden, this oriental type Black Eye is one of my favorites. The burgundy center is so dark it's almost black. Like many orientals, it's prolific. 

This gorgeous Pelargonium 'Claire' comes courtesy of a friend and I love its dark beauty. It may not be apparent from the photo but the upper two petals are a dark burgundy, with the lower three petals a rich red.

"He's baaaack." That would be my Dicentra scandens, with the nodding bleeding heart flowers.

Papaver atlanticum Flore Pleno. This species poppy is a deciduous perennial and one tough, adaptable plant. Rain or shine, sun or shade, it soldiers on. This variety offers up semi-double petals, adding another dimension to the crinkled taffeta-like petals.

Nigellas are famous for self-seeding and I'm happy to report that this N. Persian Jewels variety has done that in its sunny front yard bed. Much darker (and more purple) than the regular Mrs. Jekyl!

Salvia chamaedroides Marine Blue. One of my favorite sages, largely due to its pretty two-lipped flowers.

Phacelia viscida. This year's specimen is doing better than last year, I think in part because I'm giving it drier conditions. A CA native you sometimes find in Briones park, it offers up those fantastic gentian blue flowers. 

This new Holy Smokes calibrachoa is a real beauty! I've paired it with a Mina lobata vine. The combo should provide lots of color all summer.

When I removed a sprawling honeysuckle bush near the front steps, it opened up this little alcove, a perfect place for a potted plant. I chose a Rhodocoma capensis, a type of restio. Looks good there!

One of the few Campanulas to reliably self-seed (and send out underground rhizomes), this C. punctata offers up pinkish-purple nodding bell-shaped flowers. Tough as nails and drought tolerant, it acts as a kind of ground cover for me in a house wall bed.

It took 4 years for my Tillandsia tectorum to bloom and then ... just these tiny white flowers. Pooh! But the red bracts are attractive and the silvery foliage is terrific.

Although a dark photo, here's a shot of my Arisaema triphyllum. One of the easier Jack-in-the-Pulpits to grow, it has a chocolate inside to the spathe, with the typical veining.

Better Late than Never

I guess spring has decided to 'drop by.' Let's hope it stays. The rain certainly has helped, especially now that some sun has come our way. Full speed ahead!
Lots of photos today, as things finally are coming in to bloom. Enjoy!

Summer Garden asiatic lily mix + Dicentra scandens climbing the trellis. Of the four main lily types - Asiatic, Oriental, various Tiger lily species and Trumpet - the Asiatics are usually the first to bloom. They offer the greatest range in color, usually produce multiple flowers per stem and are good repeat bloomers. Only one downside and that's they are not fragrant. Dicentra scandens, seemingly gone from the trade, is a vigorous bleeding heart vine with pure yellow flowers. Lovely.

Layia platyglossa, better known as Tidy Tips. This CA native annual tends to wander a bit, as you can see from this photo.

Here's my 3 year old calico cat Phoebe, keeping an eye on things.

Though it's only May, and given our weather more like April, my Eucomis Sparkling Burgundy is already up. The waxy pink flowers are pretty but I chose it for its striking foliage.  

Cuphea Strybing Sunset. This 'cigar' cuphea features little orange flowers that hummingbirds especially like.

This unusual plant is Fabiana imbricata violacea. It features heather-like foliage and pale lavender tubular flowers. Hard to find!

Papaver Drama Queen. I always grow 2 or 3 breadseed poppies each year and in 2019 one was this dramatic fringed poppy. The key is lots of water, extra bloom fertilizer and immediate deadheading.

Some of you will remember that I wrote an article on interesting seedpods for Pacific Horticulture magazine. This seedpod for Asclepias cancellata (Wild Cotton) certainly makes the list. It looks quite frightful, with its thorny edge, but it isn't sharp. For some reason, this seedpod never split open like the others, to reveal that distinctive fluff that carries away the seeds on the wind.

Calibrachoa Mini-Famous Rose Chai. This variety in the double Mini-Famous series offers pink and apricot colors. 

Speaking of milkweeds (as the aforementioned Asclepias is), here's another member of that group - Tweedia caerulea. That's the star-shaped blue flowers. The yellow and orange poppy is a CA native 'maritime' poppy, this one a perennial unlike most of the annual types.

Callistemon viminalis. This dwarf, bush-type bottlebrush tree only gets ~ 5' tall but has the same red bottlebrushes. They provide a good nectar source for hummers and bees.

I've lost the tag but I believe this salvia is S. canariensis var. candidissima. Love the silvery foliage!

This pot holds uncommon species/varieties of two common plants. The plant in the rear, just starting to produce lavender flowers is a Phacelia but one that many haven't heard of (I hadn't). It's P. divaricata and is lovely. In the foreground is a Teucrium (germander) Summer Sunshine. Its claim to fame is its golden foliage. Very lovely!

Also pairing up is my rebounding Epilobium canum (CA fuchsia) and a pink-flowering Mimulus. Both are CA natives, drought tolerant, long blooming and a favorite of bees and hummers.

Not the best photo but sometimes the Papaver Orange Chiffon flowers are so orange that the camera has a hard time processing that in full sun. It's something I grow every year, as I love that color.

I had an unexpected visitor yesterday, a bee I'd never seen. It looked like a very large, fuzzy, golden bumblebee. I googled it and it turns out to be a Valley Carpenter bee (a male). He's gathering nectar from the Lathyrus Blue Shift sweet pea. This bee is reported to be California's largest bee and has the unique ability to regulate its body temperature - cooling itself on hot days and warming itself on chilly days.

It's true, there really is a purple Thunbergia (T. battiscombei). Vivid purple trumpets have yellow throats, on the bush form of what is normally a vine. Vivid!

Anagallis monellii. This CA native annual has remarkable gentian-blue flowers and while it doesn't have a long bloom season it makes the most of it!

Most people associate Bidens with smallish yellow flowers but lately more and more of the bi-colored varieties are making it to market. This one is B. Bidy Bop Blaze. 

Echinopsis chamaecereus may not ring a bell but perhaps Peanut Cactus does. In any case, it produces dramatic (and large) reddish-orange flowers in summer.

I can't seem to get a good photo of a new Pelargonium that a friend gifted me. It's P. Claire and as you can see it has burgundy upper petals and bright red lower petals. Striking. 

It's not a jungle, it just looks like it. This is the walkwasy to my back yard, with Philadelphus bushes on each side, a Lonicera sempervirens climbing over the arch and a very floriferous Cuphea oreophila on the left, sporting orange tubular blooms. 

Here's another of the Summer Garden asiatic lilies. They usually feature spotting on the petals as this one does.

Sphaeralcea Newleaze Coral. This member of the mallow family has 1' flowers that are, yes, coral red. Scalloped leaves are a plus too.

Many of you are familiar with Love-in-a-Mist, most commonly Nigella Ms Jekyll. This variety, Persian Jewels, produces a darker flower.

Though it's in a bit more shade than would be ideal for the photo, this Diascia Picadilly Appleblossom is in full bloom. Similar to Nemesias, Diascias are short-lived but prolific bloomers.

Sweet Smell of Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle is such a popular garden plant - who doesn't love that delicious fragrance? - that it may surprise some to know that there is a whole world of honeysuckles out there, including some that aren't even fragrant. The genus Lonicera is comprised of 180 species scattered throughout the world. The most common one is Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle), with its familiar butter yellow and white flowers. Two European species are popular, L. periclymenum (Common or Dutch honeysuckle) and L. x americana. Both feature bright pink buds, with the latter opening to pale yellow flowers and the latter having a multitude of colorful varieties. Vining and fragrant, like most honeysuckles, they are sun lovers that have long bloom seasons. America is represented by L. semeprvirens, a honeysuckle native to the east coast. Called coral honeysuckle due to its vivid Coral-red flowers, the trumpet shaped flowers also feature golden throats. This is one of the non-fragrant species but is so lovely I wanted it in my garden anyway.
Want to go big? L. hildebrandiana (Giant Burmese honeysuckle) sports yellow flowers that can reach an incredible six inches. My neighbor has it growing up on top of his carport and it's quite the sight when in bloom. Want something rare and beautiful? Annie's Annuals is selling Lonicera pilosa 'Strybing Honeysuckle,' an exceptionally colorful species hailing from Mexico. Huge clusters of slender red trumpets open up to golden-orange flowers. Long blooming like many honeysuckles, it blooms from spring to fall.
And just when you think you know everything about honeysuckles, along comes the bush type L. caerulea. Its calling card is the fact that it produces edible blue berries! Wow.
So, after that quickie tour around the world of honeysuckles, here are some photos from my garden, capturing another moment in time.

Mitraria coccinea. This woody climbing shrub hailing from Chile offers up bright green foliage and in late winter through early summer little orange tubular flowers. Totally charming.

For such a small succulent, this peanut cactus sure puts out large showy orange flowers. 

It's the start of lily season in my garden. I have over two dozen different varieties and usually the first to bloom are the Asiatic types. Though they are not fragrant like the Orientals, the color range is fantastic. This raspberry-colored one is part of what's called the Summer Garden mix from Easy to Grow Bulbs.

The yellow flowers are my Calibrachoa Lemon Slice, while the red ones belong to Pelargonium Fireworks Red & White. Both are happy campers it would seem.

 CA native Phacelia viscida isn't long blooming but does offer up vivid gentian blue flowers when in bloom. They contrast nicely with everything around them.

Speaking of lilies (and unusual flowers), this Lilium Apricot Fudge has a funny name and odd flowers to match. Yes, that's a lily. It's an Asiatic type as well but very unique.

Neoregelia Morcom. This easy to grow bromeliad is on its way to acquiring its red-spotted golden form. One reason neoregelias are popular is that they're beautiful even when not in bloom.

Alstromerias may be common but they are nonetheless beautiful and always remind me of spring.

Here's another photo of my Thunbergia battescombei. Sometimes known as Blue Clock vine, it actually grows as a shrub, producing curving, flared trumpet-shaped flowers. One of the most intensely purple flowers out there!

I pruned my smoke bush back hard last fall and then held my breath. Though it was late leafing out this spring (so was everything), it has come back nice and bushy, with good leaf color and now the first wave of 'smoke' flowers.

One would be hard pressed to identify this plant as a Wisteria but that's what it is. W. 'Kofuji' is a dwarf bush-type wisteria. No blooms yet but I love the foliage and its sprawling habit. 

I don't seem to have much luck with regular (hybrid) Gladiolas but have discovered a wealth of species glads. Here's G. 'Halley' and its sporting its distinctive red splashed on white flowers.

Gazanias are a dime a dozen but this double form is a bit trickier to find. It's proven just as hardy and long blooming as the single types. 

Here's the more typical Thunbergia, this one T. 'Arizona Red', and as you can see it's taking over my east facing fence. It's supposed to offer the darkest of the 'red' varieties.

Cuphea oreophila. This much larger bush cuphea hails from Chiapis Mexico and can easily get to 5' tall and wide. Now that it's settled in, it's blooming nearly year round.