The approaching solstice

Hard to believe we're but 3 weeks from the Summer Solstice. Wasn't it early March last week? Maybe it's the sheltering. And the longer days are so welcome we begin taking them for granted.
Here is more visual bounty from my garden. The first of the lilies are opening and many of the perennials have burst into bloom.
I want to put in an unsolicited plug here for Moraga Garden Center. I was out there yesterday and one can best describe it as having a funky charm. There is less of a focus on neat symmetrical displays and more of an emphasis on a great variety of plants. It's pure heaven for plantaholics like myself. One of the gems I came away with was a Pomegranate called Legrellii. A photo of it from the web leads off the collection of photos. Enjoy!

Here's a closeup of the pomegranate flower. The color and form may surprise some but in truth there is quite a variance in pomegranate flowers.

Here's what all the 'shouting' was about, the weird (and somewhat smelly) spathe on my Amorphophallus henryi. 

This is a photo of ... what exactly? Well, it's the seedpod on my Scabiosa stellata. While the flowers are pretty, it's these honeycomb seedpods that are the real attraction. 

My Allium Red Mohican continues to change. Here, some of the tiny florets are beginning to stand out from the head.

There's purple and then there's Thunbergia battescombei purple. Vivid!

Ornithogalum Lemon Custard. Love the variety name! Hmm, is it lunch time?

Scabiosa Fama Blue. This is one of the 'flat' flower types for this genus. Love that color!

Though they're small and still growing, I'm very excited about the eventful flowers to come on my Grevillea victoriae. This hard to come by Grevillea is tougher than it looks.

On the other spectrum, my Begonia Belleconia IS delicate but a reliable bloomer. 

Brodiaea 'Rudy.' This California native bulb offers simple purple flowers and colonizes nicely.

The two Calibrachoas and the one Petunia are doing their best to overrun each other but the real winner is all who get a look.

Lily Black Eye. Another shot of this early blooming Asiatic lily.

Convolvulus tricolor. A pretty scrambler in the morning glory family.

Here are the last of my Papaver 'Danebrog' flowers. 

One of the new lilies in my garden this year was labeled simply as Asiatic Mix. This first flower from that mix is a golden-orange with red tips. Beautiful!

Another shot of my Scabiosa Fama Blue.

My Sideritis cypria went wild this year but oh so lovely.

Japanese lace fern. This new addition to my shady back yard is a beaut.

Nicotiana mutabilis. The species name derives from the fact that this plant's flowers change from white to pink, thus 'mutable'!

Here's a new addition to my collection of lilies - Fifty-Fifty. Not sure where it gets its name but if you look closely you'll see red spots deep in its throat.