I'm so happy to see it blooming!
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I have wanted and tried to grow this vine from seed so many times I can't even count the attempts. They have always failed, and I had given up. But then I saw it at Annie's annuals this year, and bought it thinking I would probably kill it somehow- like I've killed it so many times in the past, but while I did kill a number of other plants, this one totally thrived.
Also called exotic love vine, firecracker vine and Spanish flag vine, it seems to like to be a bit moist I have it in a container that does not have drainage holes in it. A lot of the other plants in these containers died quickly but this one seemed to thrive in this environment.
I got this iris corm along with 3 others, at least 3, but maybe 4 years ago at a shop in apple hill, near placerville. It's been in a small gallon container that whole time spouting leaves each year then dying back in the winter.
It has finally bloomed, not just a single bloom but three! They have opened in succession, one right after the last and has looked this gorgeous for the last two weeks!
I planted these tomato seeds on April 11, I think that's a little late, but hey - better late than never! I also threw them into some packs that already had dirt in them from whatever I killed last year.
The week I planted them, it rained and I forgot about them, and the soil dried out, and then it rained again, but I really thought I killed them, but I kept watering them just in case. A week later there were 1-2 seedlings and I was happy because I was going to get a few, and I put chive seeds in the cells where nothing had come up, and continued watering them. Tomatoes are hardy, and the rest totally sprang up a week later, so it looks like I'll have a lot of them. These are the varieties:
Dr Carolyn
Uncle Mark Bagby
Tomato Paul Robeson
Tomato Purple Bumblebee
Tomato Basrawya
My friend also shouted out on facebook that he had more tomato plants then he could handle, so I picked up a couple each of the Martinos Roma and principe borgese he offered up. 
I planted one of each of those in a large container with a nursery-purchased Arkansas traveler, I put a tomato cage over each, and planted a couple borage seeds in the middle, and a few bunching onion and chive seeds in between, hopefully some of those come up.
These little guys are prolific spreaders and find their way into all my containers, they make so many seeds each year! They even grow out of the cracks inbetween the cement in my driveway (though those have never bloomed).
It's been a pretty mild winter temperature-wise in Northern California.
Hibiscus bud.
Nicotiana, and petunias holding in there...
Lipstick plant
Close up of safe growing up out of the lipstick plant
Daffodils are starting to bloom.
Here are some of the blooms from today, Dec 30th, when we got our first light frost.
Alyissum with a lantana ( not blooming) with frost. Those are snail statues in there.
This Winter has been pretty mild so far, with the exception of a week of below-freezing temperatures in mid-december, and a few of the plants are hanging in there, and actually blooming.
Nicotiana - this was a stray plant that sprung up from seed, it's just
bloomed a week or so ago, and looks like a chocolate version
Passion Flower Vince has hung in there through the freeze in mid December, and seems to be doing well, I found this caterpillar on it, which is a Gulf Fritillary(Agraulis vanillae), or passion butterfly, that feeds on Passionflower, how lucky am I that it found mine - or maybe it's been living with the plant the whole time since I got it from Annies Annuals?
The Phygelius capensis 'Magenta' or cape figwort, cape fuchsia, which is a south african plant has also survived the freeze very well, and is getting ready to bloom.
The pseuderanthemum 'Rubrum' is the dead stick in the same planter. It did not survive the freeze. I was hoping maybe it would come back but after reading about it, I don't think it will.
The pseuderanthemum 'Rubrum' is the dead stick in the same planter. It did not survive the freeze. I was hoping maybe it would come back but after reading about it, I don't think it will.
I got this plant for free from the lobby of the building I worked in over a year ago. I repotted it last fall because it needed to be watered almost daily the soil was so filled with roots... Since then it's done very well and is now blooming in its south-facing window with filtered light.
I've purchased these gladioliI (Acidanthera gladiolus) in the past a few times and never had any bloom. This year I bought a huge bag of them from Costco and planted them in a big wine barrel with new potting soil ( or at least a thick layer of new soil on the existing stuff in the barrel) and after months if waiting here is a single bloom.
It's pretty, and it looks like there may be a few additional flowers developing, but I'm not sure they were worth the effort. They seem very finicky about their water. I also planted some additional bulbs in other containers that have been attacked by some sort of pest. Those poor bulbs definitely won't be flowering this year.
Acidanthera gladiolus (also called Gladiolus callianthus or Gladiolus callianthus muriela).
This weekend I helped my mom repot her empty (or sad) planters, she needed a refresh before a shindig she was having.
The existing plant in this pot was the pansy , but it was in the 4" container and had grown lots of roots out past the container. We dug it up carefully and cut the plastic container off, repotted it with some lavender, dusty miller, and capendula? I love how the color combo on this one turned out especially because the pansy has just enough yellow to tie into the yellow patio furniture next to the pot.
All the visible plants here are new there are a couple in the back that are just coming back from last year so we left a little space for them
Most of the plants here came back from last year, it just had a spot that needed to be filled on the left so we balanced out the existing dark purple potato vine with the dark red grass
This corner is technically a retaining wall but I'm counting that as a container of some sorts because it's not very big. There was an existing hydrangea at the very corner of the boards there it will have white blooms but is not quite there yet, so we punched it up with some variegated foliage plants. We added the hosta, and the ( geranium style leave). We also added the large japonica in the pit just for height for the party so it's still in its pot.
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I've looked all over and can't identify this plant, it has leaves shaped like a dandelion but they are green on top and silver underneath. The stems of the flowers have dark purple hair, and the flowers are large 3-4" coreopsis or daisy like flowers. It's a great ground cover, it comes up every spring and goes dormant in the late fall - If I water it it will stay green through the fall to the winter when it normally starts coming back. What is it?
I bought this plant at Home Depot without really knowing what it was. But I really liked the bright red on the stems, and it looked like it was about to bloom (see an even brighter red flower pod was at the base of the plant).
I looked all over on the internet looking for what it was, and then found the name right on the tag ;-) Philodendron Congo 'Rojo'
It seems that different resources have different ideas of what the plant will tolerate, it's a tropical plant, and will do will in zone 10 and 11, but seems like it will do well in zone 7-9 as either an annual or as a perennial that will die back in the winter.
It seems as though it should do well as an indoor plant, but I don't think it's getting enough sun, and I've both under and over watered it in the month or so that I've had it. It seems to have been potted in a medium that seems to hold onto moisture for a long time.
today I'm putting it outside to get a shot of sunlight (though not direct).
The Anemones have been blooming, mostly just one at a time here and there they are a nice blueish purple color, and are running a bit small, this one is the largest that has bloomed. It's a little over 3" across.
from Wikipedia: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Greek anemōnē means "daughter of the wind", from ánemos "wind" + feminine patronymic suffix -ōnē.[4] The Metamorphoses of Ovid tells that the plant was created by the goddess Venus when she sprinkled nectar on the blood of her dead lover Adonis. The name "windflower" is used for the whole genus as well as the wood anemone A. nemorosa.[5]
These are Japanese hybrid-style anemones, and grow from a tuber, I would hope they would naturalize in an area if they were planted in the ground.
Sunset Western Gardener Manual says they are zones 2b-24 (sunset zones, not USDA. I am in zone 14). and that they are long-lived. they are supposed to be slow to establish but spreads if the roots are not disturbed, so plant them and leave them alone. divide the rhizomes in fall or early spring, or propagate from root cuttings. they like partial shade, which is good since i have them on the patio in a pot under a very old large deciduous oak tree that keeps the patio nice and cool all summer long.
Sunset Western Gardener Manual says they are zones 2b-24 (sunset zones, not USDA. I am in zone 14). and that they are long-lived. they are supposed to be slow to establish but spreads if the roots are not disturbed, so plant them and leave them alone. divide the rhizomes in fall or early spring, or propagate from root cuttings. they like partial shade, which is good since i have them on the patio in a pot under a very old large deciduous oak tree that keeps the patio nice and cool all summer long.
There are varieties of anemones that are native to California, Oregon and Washington, you can look at some of them here at the CalFlora site , they are less showy, but retain the bright cheery feel.
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