Oh dear, I think I'm getting addicted to bad puns! Yikes! We came back from almost two full weeks of travel and found the garden really starting to bloom. I did a lot of weeding just before I left; good thing too as we came back exhausted and I don't think I'll make it into the garden to do any work for at least a week while we recover from the colds we caught.

The light was unusually good in the early evening yesterday, so I took some photos before I denude the front of all those lusciously scented freesias. Well, actually I took quite a few photos, and here's the best of them.

The front, which never really looks that different in any month except for now, when the orange poppies and (in a couple of weeks) the nasturtiums put on a gaudy show:

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The front from the other side (RH):

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I have struggled a bit with this bed. A couple of years ago I realized that all the foliage, outside of the tree, was the same shade of green. This is a big no-no to me, so I'm working on more variation in color, shape, etc. in the foliage. The neighbor's nandina is putting on a great show this year, I just wish it wouldn't keep trying to sneak under the fence and invade my yard:

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This is an argyranthemum, the name of which I can't recall. I moved it from the original spot and now it's flourishing. They are full sun, moderate water plants; they don't like shade.

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The 'Jack Frost' brunnera has barely recovered from winter's damp but is already sending up flower spikes.

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Callas are of course a spring staple - they love the cool wet soil.

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This is a tall red-flowering canna with the most intriguing leaves. When young they have this interesting stippled look. But they mature to a solid dark brown. Maybe someone will know the name someday, and tell me so I can record it! Praetoria, maybe?

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We have gotten enough rain to produce some clivia blooms, which always look very pretty against the variegated rhamnus where it almost, but not quite, shelters them from summer sun. I keep these pretty short of water in the summer, so they survive but don't bloom reliably.

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Euryops is an ever-bloomer, and the chartreuse Lavatera olba 'Aureum' is one of my prized specimen plants.

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Freesias are my favorite spring bulb. They are reliable returners, fragrant, great cutting flowers, and come in vivid colors. Here one of them mingles with a kangaroo paw aka Anigozanthos, that seems to have survived the winter. This surprised me, I think they do better in the warmer zones than where I am (on the edge of the SF fog belt).

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More red freesias, nasturtium leaves, and a funny little blue-flowering perennial I can't remember the name of right now.

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Iberis is a very slow-growing groundcover, although that could be because I keep it short of water in the summer, LOL. Here it is with a silver lavendar which is a replacement for the aging L.stoechas plants I have almost completely removed after seven years.

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One of my many unknown bearded iris:

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A friend gave me this Japanese maple in a pot, and after about a year I managed to find a place for it in one of my beds. It has done very well in the ground, and has three-season color. The new leaves, as you can see, are like red-and-green butterflies. They mature to a clear green, and in fall the tree turns a brilliant, stunning yellow.

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When I first planted osteospermums I had no idea they would reseed readily, as so many modern hybrids are unable to. They also cross-fertilize, so the original plants of separate white, purple and spoon-lavendar, have now combined into mostly a white shading towards purple at the tips.

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These new osteos are just hitting the market here. This is 'Autumn Sunset', one of the new yellow-toned osteos. You can see that one of the blooms is shading towards a bright pink, though. It will be interesting to see if this cross-fertilizes with the purple osteos, and what colors will result from such a mix!

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I am trying to shift my planters to plants that need much less water. This trailing pelargonium may or may not make it through the summers while we go traveling, but we shall see what happens.

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Nice close-up of CA poppies in the evening sun.

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This big pot used to hold dwarf cannas and a pelargonium. Three months ago I switched it to helichrysums and a 'Jester' phormium to save watering. I may have to cut back the helichrysums to keep them from overwhelming the slower-growing phormium:

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This pot, the same size as the previous one, also held dwarf cannas and a different pelargonium. I chose a Senecio vitalis, a variegated vinca major, and an unnamed sedum. I really like the senecio, it almost looks like a protea.

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Bloomingdale ranunculus are one of my great loves, although they don't return reliably for me. Last year I scooped some of them into pots, figuring I could keep them from rotting by just letting them go dormant and dry. These are overplanting a dahlia, however, whereas another pot just holds ranunculus and nothing else. We'll see what survives for next year.

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This is a dwarf rhodie, I believe 'Fragrantissima' from Singing Tree Nursery. Although somewhat rangy, every spring it bursts into the most magnificent, perfumed, lily-like flowers one could imagine. One spray of blossoms will scent an entire room. They smell exactly like Easter lilies.

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This J&P bedding rose, 'Electric Blanket', is a harsh pink color. But it is an amazingly tough rose, very floriferous, pest-free. It has won my heart, despite the drawback of its bloom color.

'Gingersnap' is a rose I purchased from a local renowned nursery. I was not very impressed with it - 'light scent' can be interpreted as 'no scent' - and it seems rather weak. The gorgeous coral color fades as it ages, too, another thing the description failed to mention. The one saving grace is that I have it in almost the perfect spot - it is backlit a good part of the day. And this rose, when backlit, is simply...luminous. Striking. Pure poetry. OK, I'm keeping it.

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Squill has been an experiment in my garden, and surprisingly tough. That it was able to return when bigger, more aggressive plants tried to shade it over, made me find a better spot for it. I value blue flowers, I have so few of them.

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Another red freesia (they are my favorite color of freesias, in case you weren't able to tell, LOL) against the stacchys byzantina. Both sit in front of a flourishing 'Margaret Merrill' rose, and everybody seems happy together.

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Variegated aucuba 'Gold Dust' has brilliant chartreuse new growth, and tiny little purplish flowers that are almost unnoticeable.

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This is variegated vinca major. I now realize I should have planted variegated vinca minor 'Illumination' instead, but oh well. I have three of these plants, all in the wrong places that struggle to survive. Which they've done for six years, no thanks to me. They don't flourish, but they do put out a few very pretty blue-violet flowers every spring.

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