Blue-Eyed Grass

Well, the blue-eyed grass has finally bloomed. I didn't even notice it at first because its flowers are so similar to what I think is bird's eye gilia, that's covered the parkway strip.

Here's an overview of one of the walkways, with the blue-eyed grass on either side:


And here's a close up, showing its new blossoms:


Meanwhile, the royal penstemon is really getting tall.

Here it competes with the elegant clarkia to see which will be the tallest:


Here's a close up of the royal penstemon blossoms:


Finally, the wildflowers around the base of the desert willow are changing. A month ago, it was mostly baby blue eyes and tidy tips. Now it's a mix of tidy tips, clarkia, and bird's-eye gilia.

Spring Blooms

I'm noticing that the wildflowers bloom in shifts. The Chinese houses and baby blue eyes have begun to fade, but now the clarkia is coming in.

The Elegant Clarkia in the wildflower garden is the best developed:


Meanwhile, the north parkway strip is fully engulfed in flowers:










In the east front yard, the Farewell-to-Spring Clarkia is getting very big, but so far only one has bloomed yet.



Here's the first Farewell-to-Spring Clarkia that has bloomed:


Meanwhile, the sulfur buckwheats are very happy:


In the west front yard, the Elegant Clarkia is starting to bloom,


and the Silver Island Snowflake is getting ready to bloom


Finally, in the garden, three of my four tomato plants are doing quite well (one is acting up):

Accents

I finally had my dining room chairs repaired and reupholstered. I think they came out very nice.


Meanwhile, outside, the royal penstemon is beginning to bloom.


The clarkia is beginning to come in as well. The ones in the wildflower garden have been the first to bloom. They're called elegant clarkia.


The humming bird sage is also coming in nice


And here are two views of the front yard in full spring bloom:




The new trees in the back yard seem to be doing ok. Here's the view from my office:


And my roses are blooming (I've been trying to learn a bit more about how to prune them).

New Developments in Landscaping

Yesterday, I brought up some trees my father has been preparing for me and planted them today, along with one I picked up myself.

My father gave me a fig tree


and a pomegranate


both of which I planted on the east side of the back yard, where they should get full sun. It's my hope that as the fig tree grows, it will provide shade for the back porch.

In addition, I finally planted a Meyer lemon (standard). I put it just off center (I hit the sprinkler line on my first try, so moved it a little west).


And here are all three trees:




I'm a little worried planting the lemon tree so close to the garage. Not that it will damage it but that the tree will be shaded by it in the afternoons. It still had sun, though, at 3 pm, so that's a good sign.

I've also planted my tomatoes for this year and I have high hopes:


This morning, I noticed someone had broken part of the protective fence, just snapped one of the posts in two.


I replaced it this afternoon.

Meanwhile, the royal penstemon has started to bloom:


And the desert willow is showing more signs of life, with leaf buds most of the way up all the branches. The ones at the base are the best developed though.


So far, only one of the lupines has survived long enough to bloom:


The clarkia is just beginning to bloom, but nothing that would photograph well yet. Meanwhile, the sulfur buckwheat looks really nice


And the I was surprised to see the California fuschia is beginning to bloom, since I thought it did that mostly in summer. But this patch gets a lot of hot sun, so maybe it was a little confused: