hey sara.. he marches to his own drummer ... unfortunately no one else hears the drummer.. and wonders what the heck he is doing in his yard .. lol ... with all that stomping around ... post where you want dude.. i dont care ... ken https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0dWo31hwpI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLJ8ILIE780

R. californica 'First Dawn' first flower of the year. Purchased at a Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden plant sale, grown by Suncrest Nurseries and their own selection of the species. This is an extremely fragrant rose--a super wafter actually. It blooms in great trusses and when the plant is covered in flowers the whole garden is perfumed. Bees are mighty happy! Nearly every flower results in a hip. This is the most floriferous and rapid reblooming of any selection of R. californica I have ever encountered. Gets tall, around 12 to 15 feet with support, it does want to climb. Has some thorns but not to the extent of many of its brethren. Moderately suckers (which I count as a positive as I like this rose so much). Has the second tastiest rose hips in my garden (to R. canina 'Laxa'). These are small and chewy. Birds like them. Reine des Violettes showing her true color growing amongst many neighbors in my wild pot ghetto (she's in the ground though). Last month when she started to bloom her flowers were more pinkish, but as the weather warmed and the sun hit her flowers, voila violettes! Reine des Violettes, own root from Greenmantle Nursery. Planted in the root zone of an 80+ foot ash tree in very sandy loam soil that is somewhat depleted in nutrients. Fed this year with E. B. Stone organic fertilizer (5-5-5). Watered with very alkaline city water. Zero soil amendments. RDV with Cantabrigensis. Cantabrigensis. Flowers open pale yellow and rapidly turn white in the sun. I hadn't checked the foliage before for scent, but since there are multiple other roses, as it as turned out, that I put in this area that happen to have fragrant foliage, I was curious. Yep, fragrant, and very much like the scent of R. primula, just not quite as strong. Own root from Colvos Creek. R. canina 'Laxa' still just teasing me with a few flowers. It is gearing up for a huge bloom period where the entire plant will be covered. It has a long period of bloom compared to many once-bloomers. Best tasting rose hips in my garden. Supposed to be very high in vitamin c. Own root from Greenmantle. Stanwell Perpetual. Own root from Heirloom. R. borissovae, from Eurodesert. Appeared to be grafted but is now suckering, escaping the bonds of graftdom. Autumn Damask, own root from Greenmantle. Sorry the bloom is a little past its prime. I put this plant in a spot near its relations--R. fedschenkoana and Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseux.

Wow Happy Easter everyone. Jackie your entire garden is magnificent. Your plants all look like they are a happy family and love each other. Ingrid your garden is glorious also and beautiful in every way. I just LOVE seeing these larger area shots where I can get an idea of how all the plants look together. Thank you for sharing.

How pretty everyone's blooms are! My chickasaw plum already finished blooming, and my macadamia tree did as well. Wild ageratum/blue mistflower has been blooming for weeks and I just love the scent. Bees and butterflies appreciate them too. Duranta is flowering a lot now and the butterflies also like that. I have a red ground orchid that's blooming and another purple phalaenopsis is budding. Some walking iris just finished too. My bok choy, wild arugula and some lettuces are bolting as well. Our neighbor has an enormous kapok tree covered with huge red blossoms - a lovely sight, but they will soon become seedpods full of cottony fluff that drifts around like snow and covers everything with filaments, and spreads seeds to sprout everywhere too - not so lovely. No good photos, sadly...