Succulents with Flowers

Posted on by capentalc

Around this time of the year many succulents are blooming or growing babies. I found a few of these adorable Echeverias at my local Walmart Garden Center. They have tags on these pots but I’m not sure I can trust Walmart’s labeling. Anyone interested in the actual names written on the pots let me know and I will find out for you.

I’m not an expert on these plants but it appears winter is their time to flower and shine as you can see here. This one below is so adorable and its flowers are in my favorite yellows and pinks. Echeverias tend to shoot out 8-12 inches tall flowering shoots like this. The flowers last about a week or more. They don’t require much water in winter but definitely more in the hot summers, maybe once a week in extreme Southern California heat. They like morning sun and afternoon shade. Too much sun especially in the summer will scorch their leaves.

This one below is also very beautiful. I love these shades of pinks and yellows. I especially like that the plant has these colorful petals. My camera skill is not so great in capturing flowers up close, as you can see the flowers looked a little blurry.

Another Echeveria below with light blue green leaves.

The pink succulent below is an aurora borealis kalanchoe. It is so pretty with green, pink, and cream leaves. In late fall and winter it shoots out 7 inches long stem of pink flowers. Super adorable! These flowers are bell-shaped.

I cannot remember the name of this orange succulent below. I’ve had this for a while but this is the first time I’ve seen it bloom white flowers.

The awesome pink plant below is a “cobweb” Hens and Chicks succulent. It sprouted these adorable pink flower stems and I believe these last almost a month. It has white cobwebs on top of the plant as you can see. Very unique!

As usual, I’d like to end it with other highlight blooms from this week. Here are some amazing blooms from my Red Baron and Babcock peach trees. The Red Baron will eventually have reddish leaves in the fall and that is one of the main reasons I purchased this tree last year. This tree is the closest thing to a red maple which is what I wanted originally. After seeing these beautiful reddish pink blooms, I think I made the right choice in choosing this tree because those flowers will turn into peaches!

The Babcock peach tree’s blossoms look like cherry blossoms from far away. They are so pretty and delicate. The inside of that flower looks like a butterfly landed right in the center.

My bearded irises are blooming like crazy too and it is about three times more abundant than last year. I also inherited a purple iris from my father-in-law who passed away a couple of weeks ago. It bloomed the day after I brought it home from his house.

Anemones, Passion Flowers, and Alstroemerias

Posted on by capentalc

The weather has been warming up a bit in Southern California this week and I am seeing some pretty amazing flowers out in my backyard. This time I have the prettiest anemones, passion flowers, and alstroemerias in the greatest shades of purples and pinks.

Bluish purple anemones
Magenta-like shades of purple anemones in the early stage of bloom
Anemone changed to lavender colors by the next day or so.

Anemones is my new favorite flower this year. I recently discovered these delicate poppy-like flowers earlier this January. I bought the two above purple and pink anemones from my local Walmart a few weeks ago. The roots were root-bound and the leaves were yellowing from neglect but I am happy to say I was able to save those two. They seemed to be very happy and flowering. The pink is dark pink before it opens up but changed to lighter colors of purples and pinks as time goes by after it bloomed.

The passion flower plant vigorously climbing on a trellis entrance leading to my garden.

The above pictures are my purple passion flower plant. Isn’t that a magnificent and unusual flower? These pictures are from my first flower from that plant. The rest of the bulbs are coming but it has been several days and they haven’t made an appearance. I can’t wait for them all to pop out and eventually turn to fruit. I’m not quite sure how that works yet whether the flower turns to fruit later on or does it require another passion flower to pollinate. I will post later on if it ever becomes a fruit.

The above picture is my purple alstroemeria. I love this color of alstroemeria. It is truly that vibrant and stunning in the garden. This is the first time I’ve seen it flower and I’ve had it for at least one year.

I will leave you with a collection of some of my other favorite plants and flowers that did not managed to get a full post on its own.

Two beautiful hibiscus plants above: orange hibiscus and a deep red hibiscus.

Picotee amaryllis

Strawberry pot
Flower buds from my Red Baron peach tree

Pre-Spring Blooms

Posted on by capentalc

There are a few unique and interesting flowers that appeared this past week I wanted to share. A few were unexpected surprises because they haven’t bloomed much in the past. This year started out with some BEAUTIFUL blooms that I haven’t seen before.

The above picture is my muscari plant. They grew from tiny little bulbs and spread themselves all over my garden. I had planted them over eight years ago and each year around this time they would make an appearance. The last two years I haven’t seen much of them but I guess the weather must have been good for them this year. They are only about 6-7 inches tall but each clump has about this many flowers. I regret not getting a side view of these beauties for the blog. Their tiny bulbs have spread out over the years so I actually have over 12 clumps of these flowers in one area of my garden.

These white flowers are so darn cute and I don’t remember ever growing them. I have never seen them before (I think) and I don’t know what they are! If anyone out there recognizes them, do tell. They looked like they came from bulbs. There are several of these in my yard in a couple of places. I must have gotten them years ago because another plant that looks similar to this one appeared nearby. This pinkish red flower below is so pretty and vibrant. The flowers are only about 2 inches wide but they are so adorable and unique in my garden.

This adorable pink hibiscus below just bloomed this week. The flower is about 5 inches wide and it is a complete showstopper! I need to figure out how to get this hibiscus to bloom more because for the past three years it would only eek out two or three flowers a YEAR, one at a time! Talk about stinginess!

My aeonium Sunburst succulent also started growing new babies this winter. See them growing on the sides there? Absolutely the cutest! The mother plant is almost 2 feet tall with a face about 18 inches wide (yes, she’s a big one!). I believe she has been in the ground for about 2 years. She was only about 6 inches tall when I put here there originally.

Below is a beautiful but a little bit neglected geranium. I love these beautiful purple maroon flowers and it is so low maintenance. I grew these on a partial shade side of the house but it doesn’t have any trouble flowering as you can see. It does look a wee bit dry from lack of watering but it’s a knockout in the garden. It spreads its roots out over time and you can pluck them out to give away or plant in other places.

Lastly, these pretty bright orange and purple daisies are just screaming for attention in my garden! They are wickedly pretty! I love their bold colors!