Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, March 2011

The fruit trees we planted a few years ago are really putting on a show right now, which I hope will translate into lots of fruit this summer! The best lookers are the donut peach and the Blenheim apricot. The bees are out in force.

Gotta do something about the aphids that appear on my hellebores about now. They've been getting them for a few years but it hasn't bothered me enough to get the spray bottle out. Hellebores are meant to be neglected right?

I'm loving this new Arctotis, curtesy of the Flora Grubb sale section; the Euphorbs are doing their thing in the parking strip; I forget the name of this Aloe, I think it might be a hybrid I picked up at the Ruth Bancroft Garden; I try to rip out the Geranium 'Bill Wallis' when I see it but I do like it combined with the Cal poppies right now.

I'm excited my Meyer lemon is putting out more flowers. Hopefully it is established enough now that I'll start getting lemons year-round now instead of just in winter. I let some leeks bloom and was surprised at the shape of the flowers - rather leek like! I need to bring in a bouquet of these yummy scented freesias.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Blogger's Bloom Day!

Spikes and Spines

Claire and I stopped by The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek the other day to collect some seed we had run out of at Annie's. Brain Kimble, the director, is always so kind and generous to give us material from the plants in the garden. We were collecting seed from Rhagodia spinescens, a very pretty silver shrub from Australia. The seeds are bright red and look like little alien eyeballs.

The winter protection was still on many of the Aloes in the garden. The boxes and tents add a comical architectural element to the look of the place.

And as always, I enjoyed photographing the wonderful wacky succulents in this extensive collection. The textures of the cacti and succulents are lovely layered upon one another and the details of these plants are what I enjoy the most. Fine hairs, robust spines, strange shapes, all are so fun to photograph.

The spiraling of Euphorbia flanaganii, Medusa Head Euphorbia, is quite nice.

A soon-to-be gigantic Agave flower. I love them when they start shooting up. They look like asparagus spears for the Jolly Green Giant.

Miscellaneous spines and prickles:

And Claire noticed that the Glottiphyllum longum seed was germinating right in its intricate pods. I love Glottiphyllum longum, it looks as if it should be growing in the ocean with fish darting between the leaves.

It is always an enjoyable trip out to The Ruth Bancroft Garden. Always something new to see!