Picture Day

Posted on by capentalc

Odd title to start today isn’t it? I like to be very unconventional. What I really had in mind for the title is “Wordless Sunday” because I don’t feel like saying much just…wordless Sunday.

I opted for the title “Picture Day” because essentially that’s what my flowers do every day, waiting to get their pictures taken. These last few weeks have been so cold outside that I couldn’t do much of anything but to go out and take pictures. Things are starting to wake up and bloom.

A great tip for all you gardeners if you don’t know already: get free compost from your local landfill! I’m sure they have some kind of composting program. I recently found my local landfill had free compost and mulch, not only that but they are quality compost, apparently STA certified by the U.S. Compost Council (who knew there is a council that does that!). They were indeed quality and I have made two trips in the last month. I was telling my family that it is “STD certified” because I couldn’t remember the exact acronym but I knew the first two letters were “ST”. I said STD because it sounded funnier. Guffaw! For those who don’t know, STD stands for Sexually Transmitted Disease.

Anyway, I went today to get some with my husband. We got out of our car and loaded the compost in less than 10 minutes but I saw three other cars there filling up theirs very slowly. I didn’t look very carefully but it seemed like they were sorting through compost as if they were picking out the best ones (???) I am baffled by how long it took those people to load up, I mean what THE HECK are they doing that’s taking so long? I don’t know why that annoyed me to see them picking through it! It’s all the same!

Anyway, enough ranting, here are my flowers’ best pictures this week:

California Poppy “Alba”

Anemone “De Caan”

Anemone “Italian Mistral Plus Rarity”

I keep missing their blooms. All I got are these half-closed flower petals. They do look pretty though!

Blueberry tree with flowers turning into berries. I will have to put nets on these soon or the birds and my dog will eat them. Aren’t they gorgeous? I love growing blueberries.

Hmmm, I wonder what these ladybugs are doing? They flew away right after I took their picture.

Gladiolus “Galaxian”

“Dark and Handsome” Hellebores

Alyogyne huegelii “Blue Hibiscus”

Daffodil “Flower Surprise”

NO ID Pink Camellia

Geranium “Aurelia”

I asked my husband if he enjoyed my blog and he said yes. He said because the blog helps him to see the flowers I grew. He has no idea what I grow back there if it wasn’t for my blog.

Well, that’s all I have for today. I hope all goes well for you in your week ahead.

Red Flowers

Posted on by capentalc

Today is a day about red flowers and I’ve got a few! Years ago I never thought I would love red flowers or anything red but just last year I really started “digging” red flowers! Red was too loud, screaming for attention, I thought. Well, not anymore. I like screaming for attention IN RED. Today, in fact, I wore a red jacket to work. It is nice to STAND OUT sometimes. That’s what the flowers in my garden are doing now, standing out, screaming to get their pictures taken.

Red Quince

“Dark Night” Rose

Red Anemone

Flowering Peach Blossoms

This tree is a bit more unique because the buds are dark pink, bordering red color. Some buds opened up into a “peppermint” color flower.

See below, the very same tree has peppermint-colored flowers. So pretty, isn’t it?

This below is another flowering peach tree. It is a red colored flower but in this picture it looks very pink. I love the vibrancy of these flowers.

Ok, you are in for a TREAT with the remaining pictures! First, my garden looked great after the rain, it made everything green and clean! Only my dog is not clean and you’ll see why when you scroll down. Second, the lighting when it is partly cloudy outside makes for great pictures. Third, my dogs are so CUTE in these pictures.

Look at my dog, Hunter walking in the garden looking for puddles and slugs to eat.

Then, there is Lord Waggles below. He was digging for slugs in a super muddy area after the rain. His eyes are not that brown like the picture. He kind of looked like a demon dog, not my cute little Maltese-looking-whatever he is. Did you notice the background? SO PRETTY!

So cute and so yucky at the same time!

The picture of the hyacinth below is also beautiful! I love the pink and yellow together. So vibrant! My Samsung camera takes great pictures.

Finally, this picture below is the best that I’ve ever seen in my garden picture collections. Beautiful colors with the blue skies, blue house, greens and yellows, with some pinks and reds and a white dog! WOW!!! I just love that picture and the way my dog was looking up in the sky. Also, if you remember last weekend I posted about that trellis that fell down? I erected it a few days ago but it is hanging by its chinny-chin-chin broken leg, tied to a flimsy stake, and supported by that big blue pot. If a big gust of wind come through right now, that will be toast!

That’s all for this happy Wednesday! I hope you enjoyed these wonderful pictures! I should have more this coming weekend. I hope I have time to share them. I’ll try!

Plants that Naturalize

Posted on by capentalc

As promised,  this post is all about plants that naturalize or multiply.  With these plants you will never have to buy again.

Cerinthe Major or Honeywort below just needed to be planted once and let the seeds spread once the plants die at the end of spring. In late fall here in Southern California, the seedlings come up all around the mother plant. I usually dig them up and re-planted them in other parts of the garden. They have lovely leaves and awesome purple/blue clusters of bell-shaped flowers.

These “Caribbean Cocktail” nasturtiums took over this whole area. Under these leaves are large seeds that can be planted elsewhere. They don’t care if you don’t cover them up or give them water regularly.  The leaves and flowers are edible but I don’t like the taste.

Aeonium “Kiwi” are these adorable green and yellow succulents.  If they get more sun exposure they change to orange and pink colors.

These kalanchoe succulents are one of my favorites! I love their colors. They tend to bloom in winter and grow on branches unlike other kalanchoes that grow flowers from fleshy leaves.

Borage re-seeds like crazy! The very first seed was planted about 3 years ago. They sprout everywhere in all seasons. This one grew from last summer. It swallowed up my dormant hibiscus underneath.

The leaves are scratchy, delicious, and dinosaur-large. I imagined large dinosaurs eating these and not be bothered by the spiky hair on its leaves. I do enjoy snipping these off the plant and munch on them while I’m outdoors.  Some other creatures must be liking them too because the leaves are always chewed off.

Borage have beautiful blue and sometimes pink flowers.  They are usually in full bloom in the spring.

Bearded irises are great spreaders too. New bulbs magically appear next to the mother plant each year.  They are so easy to grow. I have many in my garden that I am waiting to bloom for the first time this year.

My Yellow Jessamine vine flowers in late winter and our Asian culture love to display them in the homes around the Lunar New Year.  The branches grow long but if it touches the ground, then it grows roots.  I dug this one out once it rooted and cut it off from the mother plant.  I have two of these baby plants in other parts of my yard.  They brighten up the winter days for sure!

A few days ago we had a terrible 70 mph windstorm come through and knocked down my trellis. I haven’t been able to get out there to erect the trellis yet. I hope the trellis is still salvageable. The only thing holding it up are my jasmine vines.

Before picture of my trellis
After the windstorm

Below is the pink and white jasmine holding it up. I am so upset as this is my only trellis left. I had another one on the other side of my garden that got knocked down by Santa Ana winds a few years ago. I never replaced it. I do love a trellis to frame my garden so I may replace this one eventually.

That’s all for the week. I hope you have a nice weekend.