Actually the willow-leaved sunflower blooms pretty late, if I recall correctly. There is actually a landscape design principle to be mentioned here. It is basically the key difference between landscape design and interior design, which is that in landscape design, the items you work with are not designed products whose attributes can be controlled (fabrics, art, furniture, rugs, paint, accessories, etc) but rather naturally-evolved life forms that are what they are, no more, no less. Kind of like you can't design a zoo saying I'd like some polar bears in small or some skunks in green and yellow. Human intervention can give us odorless skunks, miniature poodles, and various designer plants like purple roses and so on. But with plants, still, you can only do so much, and so when you start with a vision and then fill in the plants, it can happen that the plants you "design" in your mind don't actually exist. Now, because plants come in an already almost infinite variety, it is actually good design technique to design with just size and approximate shape of plant in mind and then fill in the actual plant name later. But you can really only do this when you more or less know what plants really exist and are hardy in your zone, and when you stick to fairly general terms. When it comes to determining more exact attributes, like colour and bloom time, it might create the kind of frustration the OP is currently experiencing to set your heart too much on certain details. KarinL

This question is driving me crazy. Since none of us can think of a correct spring blooming perennial, I'm going on the assumption that they were started from seed indoors or in a greenhouse and are ahead of their bloom time. What about lupine? I know the leaves aren't lance-shaped, but if it was a quick look, I suppose they could be mistaken for such. Another is campanula glomerata. What about Agapanthus (hey, it starts with 'A')? The other thing I came up with, in addition to many of those the rest of you suggested, is a primula. Are there any "blue enough to be called blue" that send up a spike?

I went to the Central Velley last summer for the first time (Fresno area) and I too was blown away by the incredible Crape's growing all over the place. The entire region is irrigated, even the strip of land between the local interstate lanes! It was all very lush and yards were filled with everything from palms to paper birch trees! Yes..paper birch in Fresno. But, in those areas that no longer received irrigation...forget about it...not a green thing in sight...totally dead. I guess unlimited sun + unlimited irrigation + great soil = grow anything you want.

Oh man, those pics are BEAUTIFUL, roseseek!! I am one of those weirdos that tends to avoid yellows, oranges, and warm reds in the garden, opting for pinks, blue, and purples mostly. Don't really know why, but similar to your accidental yellow and blue combo above, I have a new bed of shrubs planted against the fence that separates my front yard from my neighbor's rear yard (weird New Orleans house placement, don't ask!), and this spring I was SHOCKED in a great way when her Carolina Jessamine exploded behind my blue plumbago. I didn't even remember that that's what the vine on the fence was, but man is it going to be gorgeous when the pink azalea, pink rose, and blue plumbago are all blooming in front of the yellow jessamine. I hope it isn't done for the season, because I would love to get a pic of that! Here's a pic of just the jessamine blooming, foretelling things to come (I will be switching out the Texas sage bush on the left with another plumbago asap for more of that yellow/blue combo!).