I was away for a week in Oakland and then Fresno, and came back to find a wealth of spring bloomers.
The penstemon in the Front Border Garden is back. I had not noticed that the blossoms start pale pink and transition to blue.
The older generation salvias – pink and royal blue – are flourishing at their end of the Front Slope Garden. In other news, the magenta salvia at the other end of the Front Border Garden has also begun to bloom.
The variegated geraniums, front and back, are showing white flowers with colored centers. The heucheras in the Box Garden is starting to shoot off scarlet spiked flowers.
The ice plant along the back slope is starting to bloom Jerry’s ice plant in the Corner Garden is a little behind because of shade. I may have thinned the ice plant under the white oleander too much last fall and it is a little pekid, even though the Front Border Garden features plentiful morning sun.
The unidentified succulent in the Back Border Garden has sent off a single deep reddish purple buttercup bloom. Other buds on that plant seem to be making their way up and out.
Never give up hope. The lewisia in the Back Border (succulent) Garden has new blooms. In spite of all odds, it may survive the transplant from the Experimental Box.
This afternoon was hot, 86 degrees by sunset. I spent an hour or so weeding the section of the Front Slope Garden between the calandrina and varietal ceanothus. Glad that I checked because the ground was hard and dry, growing nothing but weeds. I redirected the irrigation feeders, opened bubblers, soaked the area and laid down mulch. If the calandrina can survive until now without water, it should thrive on a drip through the dry season.
A Year at the Snake 