Plants I'm Growing--First Blooms: Cistus, Phlomis, Salvia, Convolvulus (April 11, 2011)

It's that time of year again. With warmer weather and the end of rain for the season--a lull, at least--every day brings new flowers into bloom in the garden. Today I note the first blooms of 2011 on six plants: Phlomis fruiticosa (Jerusalem sage, pictured abowe); Cistus salivfolius, Salvia "Point Sal Spreader," the white rose behind the house, the pink Cistus by the hammock (pictured below), and the silver-leafed bush Convolvulus mauritanicus, a relative of the morning glories.

Phlomis fruiticosa bloomed on April 10 in 2009 and on April 24 in 2010, thus calculating botanical years of 379 days and 352 days, which average to 365.5 days--very close to an actual year.

Plants I'm growing: First Blooms--Iris, Potentilla, "Altissimo" Climbing Rose, Bush Morning Glory

A lot going on in the garden today. I didn't have time to take many pictures, but I note here that this year's first blooms opened on a number of plants--including the first German iris of the year, the yellow potentillla under the olive tree, the "Altissimo" climbing rose, and the white bush morning glory (Convolvulus mauritanicus).

Yesterday a single blossom on the small pale pink Cistus under the Chitalpa tree opened, but I see no other flowers at the moment.