Plant talk: Alameda plants that thrive on little care

Last weekend I went to a garden tour it was hosted by the bay friendly gardening coalition. At one of the gardens there was a talk by a master gardener who works in the Livermore demonstration gardens about the outstanding plants for Alameda county. The Alameda county master gardeners http://acmg.ucdavis.edu/ have put together a couple of brochures that each list 18 plants that thrive in Alameda county http://acmg.ucdavis.edu/Outstanding_Plants_for_Alameda_County/ . During the talk, master gardener Carol discussed some of the plants that did better for the inland portions of alameda county, and also some tips on care.

Things I learned:
Never water a dormant plant
Deer dint like plants with a lot of scent or weird texture
Strawberry tree likes acidic soil ( good under pines)
Don't prune flax back it won't recover well
Manzanita is a great ground over but takes a long time to fill in
If you plant all three types of lavender, you will extend the bloom time april-novrmber- and you should not fertilize them at all or they get leggy. also, English is good for oil or cooking, intermedia/Provence good for cutting and fragrance
For shade (less than 4 hours of sun) use ribes, Oregon grape, heuchera, or toyon/coffeeberry
Red bud may bloom again in fall if it gets some water.
Manzanita and yellow or white yarrow need zero water

Is that a red hot poker?

This red hot poker is just starting to bloom I thought I'd snap a photo before the crickets eat it.

Muscari

 The first blooms from the bulbs I planted in February are the muscari. I was afraid they wouldn't bloom, since I had planted them so late (In CA, they should be planted in late fall). They are very cute and a great introduction to spring.

Not-Blue Freesias

I always buy blue freesias but they never come up blue.

Spring bulbs

These bulbs bloomed last year, but they didn't look as nice as they do this year!

The freesia snuck in there this year -they've been naturalizing themselves all over the yard.

Tulip orange
Freesia yellow
Camassia blue

Springtime

Everything is starting to come out of its winter slumber.

Bulbs

I planted these just a couple of weeks ago. In these three containers there is a blend of the following bulbs:

Anemone
Dwarf iris
Sparaxis
Crocus
Muscari

I also planted some Acidanthera gladiolus (also called Gladiolus callianthus or Gladiolus callianthus muriela), that came from Costco it was a pack of 100 bulbs so I've been planting them around other places as well...I also planted these previously but they haven't bloomed yet even after two years...

Spring

narcissus that came with the house.

 I bought a few annuals to brighten the yard up while we wait for things to bloom.

The sourgrass or Oxalis 'pes-caprae' is in full bloom along with the blue Ipheion 'Rolf Fiedler'

The sourgrass came with the house, and returns every year, the Ipheion was added by me, and has naturalized a bit. This year it has really taken off!

Dahlia Update

Out of the three Dahlia's, only one had bloomed (or looks like it's going to). It's pretty.

Wildflowers (five lakes trail)

The sierra mountain wildflowers were abundant this weekend!

trillium? poking out of mazanita

Milkweed?

sunflower

Buckwheat?

penstemon

Indian paintbrush

Blooming This Week 6/29

 Hibiscus

 Sticky Monkey Flower and Butterfly Flower

 Strawberry

 Agapanthus

 Purple Heart

 Trachelia

 Clarkia - both purple and white!

Succulents from work are still going strong!

Blooming this week 6/23

 Monkey Flower

 Balloon Flower

 Hibiscus

 Sticky Monkey Flower

Onion