Brodiaea Blooming

Brodiaea laxa - ‘Queen Fabiola’
other common names: Brodiaea, Long Rayed Triteleia, Pretty Face, Grass, Triplet Lily, Wild Hyacinth

These guys come back year after year and give me weeks of happy little blooms in between when the spring bulbss are dying back and the summer bulbs bloom.

Early-summer blooming. A wonderful native wildflower bulb valued for its clusters of violet-blue, upward-facing flowers. 'Queen Fabiola' flowers in very late spring (June) and lasts for 2-3 weeks. Plants are 15-20 inches tall. makes a long lasting cut flower. Easily grown in sunny beds with well-drained soils; great companion for Allium. Origin of species: Northern California, Tolerates summer drought. Keep moist during growing season.

Zones 5-9, 1990 USDA Climatic Zones 5 to 6 with mulch, Zones 7 to 8 without mulch.

New pottery

I went to Sloat in Danville the weekend before last and got these four pots during their BOGO sale. I was really happy to see that they had some green colored pots.

I planted the Guara I bought a few weeks ago, and the silver

something is eating the Dichondra...

something is either eating the dichondra, or someone thought it needed a haircut. Anyone know if dichondra is tasty to critters?

 

Here's what it looked like when I planted it:

Honesty, Lunaria annua

I think I picked a seed pod on a hike and planted this one. I remember seeing this awesome seed pod on the hike, and I don't remember buying a plant that looked like this one. It bloomed out of a 4" pot this spring that was in my plant hospital. I thought it was a random weed, but then when it bloomed I saw a gorgeous purple bloom. This is why I like to wait a season before getting rid of a pot or plant.

I posted about it when it was blooming, and I got a response from @boomerangutang that is was an Honesty, 'Lunaria annua'

As part of the mustard family, this plant is also known as: Annual Honesty, Bolbonac, Honesty, Money Plant, Moonwort, Silver Dollar
Native to Europe
Blooms in April/May
It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade.
Can tolerate drought.
A good bee and butterfly plant.

transplant weekend

This weekend I finally transplanted the herbs out of their small shallow bowl, into a medium shallow bowl. They are much happier here. If I had known what I know now about herbs, I would not have planted the rosemary and lavender in this pot since they get pretty large.

Then I took the small shallow bowl and planted some annuals I got at the nursery.

Parrots Beak

Lotus berthelotii or Parrots Beak

My grandmother send me some cash in my birthday card, which I pretty much immediately ran out and spent on this plant and the orange pot it's in.

These guys are supposed to be sensitive to cold, so when I bought it a few months ago, when it was still cold at night, I kept it in the house on the sill of a south facing window. and when it warmed up I moved it outside. It grew a lot when I re-potted it, and this week it started blooming!

Most Lotus need 40° F nights to induce bloom, but not this vibrant-hued variety. Night temperatures can be as high as 55 - 60° F.

Parrot's Beak or Lotus Vine is a great plant that fills the needs for a silver, soft-foliaged plant, as well as a trailing silver plant that flowers. However, the flowering part is short lived, based upon where you live and how fast the temperature rises in the spring. Parrot's Beak needs cool temperatures in order to initiate flowers, and will start and continue to bloom only if the spring temperatures do not climb too fast or spike (when there really is no spring and you fast forward to summer.) If you have warm night temperatures the plant will quickly go out of flower.

In warm-winter areas, lotus is a striking evergreen perennial groundcover. It grows best in full sun with well-drained soil.

Light:
Sun
Zones:
10-11
Plant Type:
Annual,Perennial
Plant Height:
To 8 inches tall
Plant Width:
To 2 feet wide
Landscape Uses:
Containers,Beds & Borders,Privacy,Slopes,Groundcover
Special Features:
Flowers,Attractive Foliage,Easy to Grow

Annuals

I planted some annuals in a couple of containers to place on the windowsills in front of the house, they are doing pretty well...

Here they were a week or so ago before the bloomed

Here they are when I first planted them.

Flea Market Find

At the Antique Fair in Sacramento, CA this weekend I found this little book which is much like Sunset's Western Garden Book, but published in London in 1846. It lists all plants and garden topics, in a dictionary style, and even has a little section in the back with garden plans. Funniest part is that since the topic is plants, the info hasn't changed much.

Scarlet Monkey Flower Blooms

Today, I got the pleasant surprise of the Scarlet Monkey Flower blooming! Here it is shown with the Yellow Milkweed.

Bugs

what is this?

some eggs on the underside of fava bean leaves.