Spring in my Southern California Garden

Time to take a walk around my Spring garden. I am not sure what planting zone we live in but we are about 1 1/2 miles from the Pacific Ocean as the crow flies, it never gets too hot or too cold here. My garden is a bit wild and wooly right now. I got behind last year with radiation and I need to catch up now. The weeding has gotten behind but we will take care of that. Spring came a bit late this year with the cooler weather, rain, and my late pruning but plants are finally blooming. Snaildon guards the front garden. I found him at a local nursery a few years ago but Hubby wasn’t enamoured with him as much as I was. (For one thing he is about 3 feet tall and weights about 500 pounds! He is solid concrete.) I visited him off and on for a year or so continuing to tell Hubby that we needed him. One day after I had given up, Hubby went to the nursery to pick up some flowers for me and came back and told me that Snaildon was on sale and he had bought him! It took a bit of work to get him moved into place but I love him! And every child who comes near climbs on. I just love the expression on his face! He is surrounded by two of my regal geraniums and in the background purple Osteospermum and Bird of Paradise. You can also see the bottom of my bougainvillea that I will talk about later.

This is my Pinkerbell regal geranium that I bought last year, I think it was at Armstrong Garden Center. It was such an unusual color and it is doing very well. I love regal geraniums (look at the spiky leaves), ivy geraniums (grow like ivy) and scented geraniums, but not zonal geraniums (fuzzy scalloped leaves). The zonal geraniums can get budworm caterpillars that will eat the new flower buds. I finally gave up buying them several years ago because the caterpillars were having a feast on them.

These are mostly ivy geraniums. I buy them in different colors and they can make quite a show. I found the white metal stands at an antique mall many years ago. Hubby has repainted and repaired them more than once. Full disclosure, this photo was taken last June but the geraniums look about the same today. You can see my purple agapanthus (or Lady of the Nile) blooming in the background. (It wouldn’t be blooming this early yet.)

This is one of only three zonal geraniums that I have. I have kept this one because of the unique variegated pink color of the blossoms. I can’t remember where I bought it several years ago. It was either at Armstrong’s or online. I have bought geranium plants and daylilies online in the past with great results.

This is one of my scented geraniums, they tend to have smaller blooms and they can get huge if they like where they are planted. I am going to have to prune this one way back this fall. You can see my agapanthus buds in the background, they will flower later. There’s a white regal geranium in the back left too.

These geranium blossoms have almost a neon pink color to them. This is an example of how a geranium can just take off and grow into a bush! I will need to prune it back in the fall for sure.

There are five different colors of geranium in this photo. In the foreground you can see the buds from one of my daylilies.

There are three or four different colors of regal geraniums in this photo. You can never have too many regal geraniums!

This purple Osteospermum grew from a small 4” pot. It can take over an entire garden area if it is happy where you plant it. When it gets too large I yank it out and it often comes back again. If you deadhead it, it continues to flower for quite some time.

Found a friend on the milkweed while I was taking photos today. This monarch caterpillar is the first one I have seen this season. I am losing them to pests I’m afraid.

I love double impatiens, they look like small roses but they like shade. The nursery sells out quickly so I have learned to start watching for them early in the season. I bought the basket online somewhere a few years ago.

One of my irises that I bought. I didn’t like the color at first but it is growing on me. I like to plant perennials that come back every year and bloom all season. I love irises and daffodils but they last such a short time.

Another happy geranium.

Love these colors! They are all just a bit different from each other.

And another regal geranium, the hanging planter came from an antique mall in Missouri a couple years ago. We brought it back in the car much to Hubby’s chagrin because it isn’t small! We enjoy the neighbor’s bougainvillea on the wall too.

I planted this bougainvillea about 15 years ago at the front corner of our wood fence. It was in the shade a bit so I was afraid it wouldn’t do much. I was hoping that it would grow enough to catch the sun at the top of the fence. It sat there for three years doing nothing and then took off. I learned later that they sulk a bit when planted sometimes. I wanted it to grow down the fence completely so I could see it from the kitchen window. Last year the neighbor wanted to replace the wood fence with this white vinyl one and we shared the cost after they promised me that the bougainvillea would carefully be taken down and then put back up. It is doing fine.

It has reached the kitchen window and moved on down toward the back yard. The neighbor is getting ready to prune their pine tree a bit, it is coming our way and it is blocking the sun for the bougainvillea a bit more than it should. I will have more blossoms when there is more sun.

The coleus started a bit late but it is beginning to grow now.

I have a few early daylilies blooming, I really love their unique color combinations.

Another daylily, I wish they bloomed longer!

Time to do some work in the garden!