Magnolias are blooming here, as are {{gwi:1468174}} and the antheriums I planted last summer. The {{gwi:1468175}} are just about finished blooming (peak season is December), as are the jade trees. The {{gwi:1468176}}are in peak bloom now, however.

It's 77° today, and so I took {{gwi:1468177}} up and down the beach, where there were quite a few sunbathers. Yesterday, DB and I were going to go to the L.A. County Arboretum because we were in the neighborhood (Sierra Madre, which is close), but we decided to go to MOCA downtown instead but couldn't find our way through the one-way streets and blockages.

I don't think we get cherry blossoms here (although one of the parks might have some), but I've seen them in San Francisco.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1468178}}

Waaaaaaah,
I want snow, but I also want those magnolias!

Ann I was trying to figure out if those bulbs coming out were snowdrops or daffodils. Very early for daffodils but those leaf tips seem too thick for snowdrops. Certainly a lot of them and I guess that will be a beautiful show when they're up.

I love the rhodos and azaleas seen on the Island, especially in Victoria. My mom had some of both as well as magnolias in her back garden in Victoria.

Lars we have the same aloe in our garden blooming now and the strelizia is also showing the last flowers. Love those magnolias. Strange thing here - a friend of mine who has a house five minutes away by car but at a slightly higher elevation has an enormous camelia which is nearly a small tree. And yet in our garden, just a few meters lower it's too warm for camelias. Both my neighbour and I have tried over and over to grow them as well as azaleas. Can't have it all I guess.

SharonCb

Sharon, it is early for the rhodos too. I'm pretty sure the other bulbs are crocus. On our walk the other day we saw all kinds of snowdrops out in full bloom. I love these early signs of spring.

Lars, Magnolias are so beautiful. My friend up the island in Comox said that she saw a Magnolia tree in full bloom there last week. I'm watching for them around here now too.

Ann

I took {{gwi:1468179}} at my neighbor's yard, two houses up the street from me. Here's {{gwi:1468180}} in my front yard. As you can see, the skies are very clear today, but the temperature is only 66° at noon.

Lars

I would love to see anything not dead. Your pictures are just beautiful!

All the pictures are beautiful, aren't they, Trixie?

No flowers here either, but at least I have snow instead of wet mud and grey skies. I hate it when it's grey, I like my nice, white, clean snow. There won't be anything blooming or growing here for several months yet, although it's supposed to be up to 40F here tomorrow, an occurrence unheard of in Michigan in January.

Lars, I've never seen aloe bloom before, I didn't realize it did. I have a pot full in my kitchen, but it never gets big, it just gets a zillion little aloe plants. I separate them and replant individually in pots and promptly they multiply and I get another zillion plants. I've started dividing them and just throwing them away, I can't even get anyone to take them anymore. My supply seems to be endless, but all stop growing at about 4 inches tall.

Maybe I don't get enough sunlight or something.....

Annie

Hummingbirds love aloes because they provide a lot nectar in the winter, when there are somewhat fewer flowers here. They also like the bougainvillea and the {{gwi:1468181}}, which also bloom in January. The {{gwi:1468182}} blooms all year, but I've had to cut it back because it was damaging the fence with its weight. There is always a citrus tree blooming also, which the hummers like as well.

Lars