THE PASSING

Last year the inevitable happened. The mother Confederate Rose agave, in the herb garden, flowered. I think things were getting rather crowded for her and she was making room for her offspring.

You know when you see this starting it means flowering.

The family lived in a hypertufa pot that I had made specially for the pedestal in the herb garden. Not an easy life. For one thing the pot is very shallow, receives the full blast of summer sun and was often left to fend for itself during a brutal summer. I also recognize that I might have helped the group if I had pruned out some of the pups. Instead of which they grew together in a tightly packed group.
When the flowering was over I removed the dead agave( no easy matter) but despite adding one of the larger pups to the void in the center, things never looked good. I decided to remove everything and start over. Sad to say the plants have remained in the greenhouse throughout the winter, waiting for my attention.
I turned my sights to a replacement planting. Something easy care, no water. In my current phase of crevice gardening an idea spring to mind. I took some of the smaller rocks I had gathered for the large crevice garden I had planned and et voilà.

I have just added a couple of small sedums, Sedum lineare 'Variegatum',

and Sedum makinoi 'Ogon' and a couple of seedlings of alyssum. When winter is over I may add couple of succulents. It will be about experimentation.

I am pleased with the result and I think it is worthy of a little limelight.

NURTURING TINY TREASURES

I've always preferred the tiny flowers to large showy blooms. I have memories of my childhood lying in the grass and looking for scarlet pimpernels. I didn't know then that one day I would have them in my own garden and consider them a weed. But why I wonder, they are pretty little flowers when seen up close.

Scarlet pimpernel, Anagallis arvensis.

When I received a prize at the age of 11, in my first year in high school, it was natural for me to spend the money( it had to be at the local book store) on a wild flower book and I chose The Observers Book of Wild Flowers. I still have the book.

I am still a lover of tiny flowers. These sedums, with their starry flowers found a perfect niche in this broken rock. I purposefully left the gap when the rock broke as it was being brought into the garden.

Sedum potosinum, forms a neat mat of evergreen leaves which burst into bloom in the spring. It is easily propagated by breaking off a small piece and tucking into the soil.

Left unchecked it will spread to cover the ground but can be easily controlled.

Thymes also work well between pavers their roots protected by the stones.

 These plants flower at ground level but tiny flowers may go unnoticed unless brought to eye level and one way to do this is plant on top of a retaining wall.

Several years ago I found this little native blue gilia, Gilia rigidula, growing under some cedar trees. I transplanted it to this area where it has spread modestly over the years. It bloomed prolifically a few weeks ago and will bloom again on and off through the rest of the season.

I have not seen this plant at nurseries or even at the Wildflower Center, maybe due to its fragility. 

A few bluebonnets bloomed here this year due to the more open nature of the area after the loss of some Spanish oak trees.
And what a lovely surprise to see a bloom stalk on my grandfather's pipe, Callisia fragrans.

The flowers are so complicated I'm not sure if it is compound and whether they are petals, sepals or tepals.

And who can forget the little flowers on the Mammilaria cactus. When I spotted these bright little flowers on my thumb cactus they were barely visible hanging from the fireplace hearth.

 I moved it up onto a ledge where its little flowers could be admired.

Do you have tiny treasures in your garden? If not it may just be that they are there but you haven't noticed them.

GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY, APRIL 2011

Can it be that there are still blooms left in the garden, after our weeks of endless heat with no rain. It's time for those northern gardens and other gardens around the world to take over and show us their blooms. Join Carol, at Maydreams and share your pretty flowers.

I like to see long shots of the garden but there is a time and a place for close ups of flowers and today is the day. Bloom day.

It was hard to believe that the mock orange would flower this spring. After all it flowered twice last year. At its normal time in April and then again in late October. We had such a mild, summer-like fall it was clearly confused. But it did.

I love the pink evening primrose when it spills out from under the Salvia greggii. So what if it's invasive. I just keep pulling it out where I don't want it.

Frilly pink poppies. I'm doing some serious pulling of the single flowered variety. I love this one. But what a disappointment that there were no purple ones this year.

The first of the purple cone flowers.

and Love-in-a-mist, Nigella. Great for dried seed heads.

The first rock rose bloom.

And those nasturtiums. Although I sampled the flowers when we were at Red Butte Gardens last year, they haven't yet appeared in my salad bowl.

And some poor gaillardia, with monstrose form.

Lots of flowers on the chive. More flowers for the salad bowl.

It remains to be seen if these will develop into full sized pomegranates. The tree definitely has a problem. Boo hoo.


Sedums, Sedum potosenum, sparkle with star shaped flowers.

Dahlberg daisy and wine cups in the sunken garden.

A mass of blue eyed grass, Sisyrinchium are still open at 8 o'clock in the evening.

I hope this guy didn't drop in for dinner.

Mealy blue sage, Salvia victoria, can be a bit of a pest. After it has flowered I cut it back and it blooms again and again. The goldfinches love the seeds in the fall.

The first rose campion, Lychnis coronaria, flower. The dry winter means there won't be so many this year.

But there will always be lots of blanket flowers, Gaillardia spec.,

We trimmed back the cedars in the English garden this year and the Texas clematis Clematis pitcheri, really appreciates getting more sun. So much so that David extended the trellis.

This columbine has reproduced itself in the master Spanish oak garden. It makes a welcome change from the Hinckley's yellow.

More flowering sedum.

Hope you are enjoying bloom day in your garden. Thanks Carol, for hosting