Plants I'm Growing--First Blooms: Columbine, Echium Wildprettii, Rose "Easy Livin'"

First blooms of 2011 today on a number of plants in the garden. A succession of warm days is coaxing out new flowers every day now. First blooms on Echium wildprettii, known as "Tower of Jewels" (photo a left).  The large, yellow columbine with long spurs (below) bloomed today, along with one of the hybrid columbines in the garden that are spontaneous crosses between the yellow variety and Aquilegia formosa, the native Western columbine, which is also planted here. First blooms today also on the orange rose called "Easy Livin'."

Echium wildprettii bloomed on April 20 in 2010, for a botanical year of 377 days.The yellow columbine bloomed on April 19 in 2009, on April 21 in 2010, calculating years of 367 and 376 days.
The rose "Easy Livin," bloomed on April 9 in 2010, for a year of 388 days.

Plants I'm Growing--First Blooms: Pink Cistus, Yellow Columbine (2010)

First blooms today on the Cistus near the Higanzakura (flowering cherry) tree. I'm trying to remember which species this is, but can't. First blooms today also on the yellow, long-spurred Aquilegia (columbine) in the garden. Last year the columbine bloomed on April 21, so a year according to this flower was 363 days.

Plants I'm growing: First Blooms--Columbine, Trillium

Other flowers just coming into bloom yesterday included the yellow columbines and the Trillium at the back side of the house, as well as the Peruvian verbena at the front. The Columbine is a very large, long-purred variety that freely crosses with the native columbine I grow (Aquilegia formosa). The crosses are very pretty, but don't come true from seed, of course. Wish I could propagate them. 

The Trillium, another of those woodland wildflowers that remind me of Ohio, do very well in the rather different climate here. I need to figure out what species this is. Clearly not one of those that lives happily in the much wetter East.

Plants I'm growing: First Blooms--Roses and Phlomis Lanata

The Phlomis lanata in the garden started blooming today (pictured) as did the "New Dawn" climbing rose on the back fence (pictured) and the rose "Cocktail." Nearly all the roses are going strongly now. I'm not especially a rose fan, but the old-fashioned single-petaled ones remind me of the wild roses I saw as a child in England, in Somerset (Taunton). I like these very much. "New Dawn" is an old-fashioned climber with quintessentially rose-like buds--chaste almost.