Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--Dudleya, Salvia, Gaura, Echium (2011)

A number of plants came into bloom in the garden yesterday and today. Yesterday, Dudleya cymosa, a native succulent that normally clings to steep rock faces (growing here in a stone wall), and a large lavender and white salvia that unfortunately I've forgotten the species name of. The Dudleya bloomed on May 20 in 2010, so it has calculated a botanical year of 367 days. The salvia, whatever it is, bloomed on May 17 in 2010, calculating a year of 360 days.

Today brought first blooms of 2011 on Gaura lindheimeri, and Echium boissieri. Gaura is a delicate pink or white flower native to Texas and Louisiana that seems to do well here in our dry summer climate. Echium Boissieri is native to Spain. It's a comparatively rare Echium here. I bought a couple years ago and haven't seen it in the nurseries since, but, if left to go to seed, it reliably produces new seedlings every year. Like many of the Echiums, it's a biennial, producing a rosette of leaves in the first year, a tall flower stalk in the second year. The garden is just about at its peak now.

The Gaura bloomed on May 30 in 2010, for a year of 358 days. Echium Boissieri bloomed on May 20 in 2009 and on May 18 in 2010, calculating botanical years of 363 days and 370 days.

Plants I'm growing: First Blooms--Native Yarrow, Duddleya Cymosa, Oriental Lily, Cuphea (May 20, 21, 2010)

First blooms yesterday and today on a number of plants in the garden. Yesterday, May 20, saw the first blooms of 2010 on two native yarrows--one white, the other pink (top two photos)--, on Dudleya cymosa, a succulent that's common in rock crevices along the coast in this part of California, and of one of the Oriental lilies.

The Dudleya doesn't look like much. It's the sort of plant most people wouldn't even notice, but I'm proud of the flowers on this one. It requires nearly perfect drainage and it's hard to keep going. This one has bloomed for about four years now. The leaves are a bit battered because of the hail we had a few weeks back, but there is fresh new growth as well.

First blooms today, May 21, on the Cuphea under the "Ray Hartman" Ceanothus on the side of the house. This plant dies back to the ground in the winter, but always comes back. In a warmer climate, it would bloom all year 'round, I suspect.