Spring flowers part 2

As promised, here's the second batch of photos, taken over the last week or so, Despite the chilly weather, things are bursting into bloom.
Okay, the photos. Due to the volume, I'll mostly just provide the botanical ID and skip an explanation or story.

Above, a pure orange Sparaxis. Here, my Daphne Lawrence Crocker. Such a fabulous sweet and spicy scent.

This 4" snapdragon has gone crazy in the blooming dept. I have it out front for all to enjoy.

My cat Phoebe. She's an indoor/outdoor cat so she eats the regular grass outside for her stomach health.

My Eremophila hygrophana continues to bloom and to prosper.

Melaleuca incana. Love those alabaster-colored fuzzy flowers.

Silene Clifford Moor. Thought I'd spice up this shady bed with a variegated Silene.

The star of my early spring garden so far is my yellow Banksia rose. It's scrambling through and above my Laburnum tree, and blooming its heart out.

Here's another photo of my Eutaxia, written about in the last blog post.

Fuchsia Sarah.

Here's the first flower on my rare Impatiens apiculata. Simple but a pretty good size.

Hibiscus trionum. This bushy, self-seeding Hibiscus has the sweetest flowers, even though I have yet to shoot a photo that captures both its true color and its beauty. 

Sweet pea North Shore. One of Annie's selections, this bicolored variety has plenty of wow and it really pops in front of the golden ninebark bush.

Everybody loves Dutch iris, as do I.

My Kangaroo Paw keeps on blooming and that little green 'paw' is actually the flower.

My Grevillea Superb is just finishing up blooming. Over too quickly!

There's nothing quite like the waxy fan flowers of Calothamnus villosus. They look delicate until you feel them.

Here's an exciting new addition to my garden - Darwinia taxifolia. Native to New South Wales, it's a low growing shrub, only getting to about 3' high.

Physocarpus Amber Jubilee. Love the ginger-colored new growth!

Tulipa hageri cross. Part of a newly planted species tulip mix.

Aloe striata in full bloom. Awesome!

It took 2 years for my marmalade bush to recover after a major pruning. Glad to have it back!

Freesia Lavender.

This freebia Oxalis, thrown in with a bulb order, has a nice combo of mint green leaves and pure white flowers.

I normally don't buy hybrid tulips but ordered this pre-chilled T. Cummins Fringed variety and so far it's put out one perfect flower after another.

It took awhile but my Rehmannia is finally beginning to flower.

Added my first two Calibrachoas to my spring garden, including this Cabaret Orange.

More Sparaxis. 

Babiana stricta. 

Did I mention I have lots of Sparaxis in my garden ...

Dutch iris Apollo. This yellow and pale lavender variety has returned faithfully since 2014.

Advance guard. Here's the first flower on my CA native Layia platyglossa. Sweet. 

The auto setting couldn't quite zero in on the hundreds of tiny flowers on my new Corylopsis pauciflora but they're fabulous.

A new Raspberry-colored Nemesia. 

My relatively new Abutilon Tiger Eye is putting out its first flowers. Love that pronounced veining.

Here's another shot of my Tulipa hageri cross. Again it was part of a species mix, one that didn't itemize all its selections.

IFerraria crispa variety. You never quite know exactly how any new F. crispa added to your garden will turn out. Love the colors on this new one.

Rhodie Sappho. Still my favorite Rhodie, picked up at Sonoma Hort nursery.

Spring flowers part one

I went to start this post today and knew I had lots of photos of spring flowers in my garden but oh, wow, I have a LOT! So I'll divide them among two posts. This first batch were taken on March 3rd and 5th. Most of these are common - especially lots of bulbs - so won't go into a long explanation.
The first plant however, Eutaxia obovata, deserves a bit more of an introduction. It's an Aussie native and it has two very distinctive qualities about it. The flowers are very tiny but curiously shaped like sweet pea flowers. And of greater interest is the fact that these flowers line each branch along its length. Hundreds upon hundreds of them. It's the plant of the year so far in my garden.

The aforementioned Eutaxia obovata. It has since produced even MORE flowers, so many that it's smothered the plant!

Some of you may know that many of the common gladiolas on the market today are hybrids of species glads. Many of those species glads hail from S. Africa, as does this lovely G. huttonii.

Scilla violacea. This super easy to grow bulb puts out lots of nodding purplish-blue bell-shaped flowers in early spring. 

People are finally discovering Harlequin flowers (Sparaxis). The hybrids, like this more simple orange one,  come in a variety of colors, most with a dramatic inner ring of a different color.

Everyone loves the sweet smell of Freesia. Super easy to grow, comes in a variety of colors and readily naturalizes in your garden.

This snapdragon was advertised as orange but instead is a vibrant red. It got off to a slow start but is blooming away now.

Here's another shot of my lovely Trochetiopsis ebenus (say that real fast 10 times). Simple pure white flowers that about 4" in diameter.

Daffodil Dick Wilden. One of the new Daffodils I planted this year.

Ipheion variety. Can't remember after all these years which variety this is but it now produces hundreds of flowers in a sunny front yard bed.

Speaking of rare Aussie natives, this is Freylinia undulata. Tubular purple flowers are tiny but somehow that only makes them more charming. 

Fuchsia Delta Sarah. Lovely combo of deep purple and pure white.

This Passiflora Oaklandii has climbed up into my very tall apple tree, giving it the support to flower its head off!

Not my best photo but you get an idea of the variegation in the flowers of this Camellia Anticipation Variegated. Right now, it's my favorite camellia of the dozen I have in my garden.

Again not the best photo of this Iris reticulata but the flowers only stay open a day or two and I didn't want to miss it. Came out a lighter blue than most retics, which are a deeper purple.

This deceptively simple flower is a Moraea collina. Moraeas run the whole gamut from very simple to the extravagant and aptly named Peacock Moraea. 

Another shot of my Gladiolus huttonii. Though they didn't have the more dramatic red splashes that the grower showed on their site, they were still pretty and they bloomed the first year!

Eremophila hygrophana.  Known as Aussie Blue Bells. It's proved sturdy and a long bloomer, plus individual flowers stay open a long time.

I was wondering whether I might have been better off choosing a different variety of Daphne as my second. Until this Lawrence Crocker began blooming. Wow. It has a spicy sweetness to it. Fabulous. 

Here's the more usual Sparaxis, with the dark ring and yellow center. They bloom freely in spring.

This charming guy is a Tulipa saxatilis, one of the more readily available species tulips out there. And 'readily' also describes its blooming!

Rhododendron Donatella. Wish the light was better but this is the best shot I've come up with so far. Lovely flowers and quite large for a Rhodie.

Also wish the light was better for this shot of my Helleborus Double Ellen Purple. Love that color and the semi-double almost fringed form.

For something a little different, here's a shot of my Pinus thunbergii (Japanese black pine). It's still shooting up and not filling out quite yet. But it started small, from a one gallon container, and has made steady progress.

Ferraria crispa Dark Form. I call this my Chocolate ferraria because of its color. Slow to establish but once they do they bloom consistently and colonize.

Dicentra scandens. I've spoken of this bleeding heart a great deal so just enjoy its lovely lemon-colored flowers.

Wonga Wonga vine has got to make the Top Ten list of the coolest common names. Ever. It's Pandorea pandorana but that's such a dull moniker for such a groovy flower.