The past few weeks have been pretty cold for me to go outside to do gardening. When I say cold, I meant the low 40s and 50s degree Fahrenheit. I went outside last week and found all kinds of flowers in my garden. I was glad to see spring signaling that it is around the corner again.
This week my daffodils flowered and multiplied.
These stock flowers were planted last spring from seeds but this winter is when they have really taken off. The white was quick to bloom last fall but the purple one just started a few weeks ago.
Also the white stock plants are sprawling on the ground while the purple one is standing tall. I don’t know why.
Right on time for the Lunar New Year is this yellow jasmine vine. I trimmed this one back quite a bit and see how beautifully it flowered?
My “Blushing Belle ” abutilon below is blooming again. I rarely have great looking plants in a pot but this one is doing really well. Nice and delicate bell shaped flowers!
These desert roses have been blooming inside for over a couple of months. The trick to growing them inside the house (I discovered accidentally) with the heater running and all is not to water them for at least a month or two. If it wilts that means it needs water. I am beginning to understand desert roses better now.
This desert Rose’s branch was held up by a stake when it wilted. Once I watered it, it perked up again without support.
Other plants that are continuing to bloom are ornamental kale and purple iochromas.
That is all this week! I hope you enjoy your weekend! See you soon!
Several things are budding or flowering this week. Here in Southern California we have a warmer winter than many places in the U.S. so many plants like hibiscuses, roses, and nasturtiums are growing happily this winter.
I don’t know much about reblooming bearded irises in other parts of the U.S, here in my area they have budded or are blooming. Come see some new pics of my colorful garden!
First row: scabiosa, “Crown Jellyfish” Hibiscus. Second row: ornamental kale
This reblooming bearded iris is a true work of art! Such beautiful shading and blending of colors, a truly remarkable masterpiece that is God’s creation! My photos are NEVER Photoshop-ped or altered in anyway. Colors are original.
My dog photo-bombed this bearded iris picture. I apologize for his choppy haircut. I was trying to cut all the tangled hair, not to make him handsome. I think he is a mix of Maltese and cockapoo. We got this “Lord Waggles” from a friend who got it from another friend. Our family voted on his name but I was the one who wanted a pet cat or dog to be named “Lord Waggles”. Imagine the veterinarian who reads his name out loud. Ha ha ha! I can’t understand why anyone would want to give him up!
The flowers below are some old favorites that are coming back again, the only new plant is the green “feverfew” moss. Those feverfew were grown from seeds last spring and are growing abundantly now. My mini roses are blooming quite early this winter as you can see below. So many tiny one-inch roses. The pink Strybing I thought was dormant came back after I trimmed it but it was the new growth from the trunk that flowered. Nasturtiums are spreading like wildfires and growing surprisingly tall about 12 inches and larger leaves. Is that normal? I’ve had them for three years now and have never seen their leaves so large, about 2-3 inches wide. They re-seeded like weeds here but it’s ok, I like their orange and yellow flowers and they are edible. Borage below is also a beautiful re-seeding plant. Its flowers are beautiful blues and purples and bees love them. The leaves are edible and spiky but tastes like a cucumber.
Clockwise top left: mini roses, Strybing Second row: feverfew, nasturtiums Third row: borage
Budded Plants
A few plants are getting ready to bloom in a few months. Peonies are getting their buds ready. Strange that one dead-looking peony branch looks like it had red buds on them. Daffodils have one bloom so far, the others are peeking through.
First row: peony buds, daffodils. Second row: hyacinth, daffodils buds. Third row: camellias
These kalanchoes are my favorite succulents. I have them in a pot but they grew out of it and are spreading on the ground. It is flowering happily even though the ground was saturated with rain for all of last week. I love all the colors of this plant.
This Burr. Francine “Roseglow” orchid is beautiful! One of my favorites and have been flowering for almost three months. I took many shots of this because I loved what is presented in each but I was trying to zoom into that unusual center of this orchid. Did you notice the center looks like a monkey or a dude is sitting in the center? Strange and adorable for sure. Flowers are starting to die today though. This plant is a masterpiece!
Well, that’s all I have this morning. Goodbye for now. I hope you have a great weekend. We are getting three days of rain starting this morning. We need this rain even though we had rain all of last week.
This weekend I wanted to share some pictures of my desert roses and bearded irises. While not many things are blooming outside in my garden, desert roses and bearded irises are making a big scene this week.
I’ve been in love with desert roses (also called adeniums) for a long time. Years ago I tried growing them from seeds and was successful for a few months after they grew to about 1 inch and then killed it. Later, I bought a very expensive grown plant like the ones below and killed it by too much watering. This time, I think I got it??? It’s been a live for at least four months.
Here’s what I learned about keeping it alive: NO WATER in the winter; warm and sunny location; ignore it altogether. I took it indoors and sat it on a south-facing bay window. I think these were meant to bloom in the spring but maybe it was confused by the season since it came from Thailand and have been fertilized to bloom right now. I bought them a few months back with tiny buds on. I bought another set of white adeniums and they all dropped their leaves which I assumed from stress during shipping.
I believe if I pinched off some of the flowers here, I could get ONE really big 2-3 inch flower. I hate to kill things off like that, seems too cruel. I will just keep these going like that for now.
Another desert rose plant is getting ready to bloom below, it is supposed to be red. The other ones above were supposed to be white with some red center. They don’t look like their nursery tags at all so I have no confidence in them looking like the nursery picture.
Here in this window are three desert roses. One is tall and lost the buds while being transported from the local garden center to my house. It had about 4-6 buds when I picked it out. I dropped it on the floor and ever since then the plant must have gone to shock and dried up their buds.
Outside, a few new bearded irises bloomed last week while we had a huge rainstorm. I planted in the spring last year, I believe. I love the colors! Check them out!
I’m not sure what the purple iris is but the orange iris is called “Main Street”. There are several flowers but the rain beat them down so much some petals got mushy but I managed to get one fully opened here.
That’s all about desert roses and bearded irises for now. I hope you enjoyed them. Have a great week ahead.
Verdant Garden 