california native flora

What’s Blooming? Early April, 2010

Since the last “What’s Blooming” update a month ago, many new splashes of color have appeared around the garden. Most of the bloomers from the previous month are still with us although the wildflowers are starting to look a little tired. In spite of their youth, we are enjoying flowers on many of our plants. Spring time really is wonderful for California natives.

We are delighted to have our first Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium Bellum) flowers. I’ve previously mentioned how short lived our first two specimens were. The third time is a charm for sure as this plant is showing off its tiny but impressive blooms.

Three brand new plants in the garden came with flower software pre-installed; Purissima Tree Mallow (Lavatera Purissima), Wayne Roderick Seaside Daisy (Erigeron Glauca ‘Wayne Roderick’) and a beautiful PCH Iris called ‘Orchid Eyes’. The Ray Hartman Ceanothus is boasting some pretty blue flower clusters right now and it continues to grow quickly making “Air conditioner corner” look a whole lot nicer.

In non-native news the Bougainvillea Brasiliensis that I heavily pruned in the winter to remove an aphid infestation has bounced back beautifully and right now lots of pretty purple bracts are opening up in the warm spring sunshine. The tiny white flowers are sure to follow.