April is getting away from me. Before we know it, summer will be here. I’m not kidding – we’ve already had a few days with daytime highs in the upper 80s. Before temperatures ramp up even more, which will speed the demise of the spring flowers, I want to show you some highlights from the front garden. This is a great time of year because everything still looks fresh and perky.
Below is a favorite vignette of mine at the moment. The light is particularly good in the late afternoon.
Geum ‘Scarlet Tempest’ on the left, living up to its promise of a long flowering season, and Persian stonecress (Aethionema grandiflorum) on the right
These Mexican tulip poppies (Hunnemannia fumariifolia) are volunteer seedlings, and more than welcome
Even when they’re not in flower, the bluish green leaves of Hunnemannia fumariifolia look great
Backlit silver torch cactus (Cleistocactus strausii) and variegated Bromelia pinguin ‘Qué será’, beautiful but wickedly armed
Myriopteris lanosa, one of several dryland ferns in the garden. They may look out of place in a succulent garden, but they make great companion plants. And in places like Arizona and Texas, dryland ferns grow side by side with cacti, agaves, and yuccas.
Agave ×romanii ‘Gypsy Queen’ on the front porch
Agave vivipara ‘Woodrowii’
A strikingly white dudleya hybrid by Stephen McCabe. Sometimes I just stare at it, incredulous that any plant could be this white.
This clump of Echeveria ‘Love’s Fire’ started out as one individual plant. Now there are 20+ of them.
I trimmed up my Boojum tree (Fouquieria columnaris) recently. It’s slow as molasses, but it’s finally getting a bit of a trunk. It’s still about 50 years away from this.
Moving on to the L-shaped sidewalk bed outside the front yard fence:
Arctotis ‘Pink Sugar’
×Mangave ‘Foxy Lady’
Malephora crocea (left) has flowers year round; Sphaeralcea philippiana, a trailing globemallow from Argentina on the right
Nice bicolor flower from an Aloe laeta hybrid created by Brian Kemble
Left to right: Purrsian Blue catmint (Nepeta faassenii ‘Purrsian Blue’ ), white California poppies (Eschscholzia californica ‘White Linen’), solar flare (Ursinia anthemoides)
Solar flare (Ursinia anthemoides) is a fast-growing annual from South Africa that has reseeded in different spots
I love these dense clumps of bright orange flowers. It’ll go to seed soon and I plan on scattering the seeds in multiple places.
Masses of white poppies. They’ve exploded into flower and are going gangbusters right now.
Don’t get me wrong, I love these poppies, otherwise I wouldn’t scatter 2000+ seeds every fall. But they are bullies, steamrolling everything in their path. Look at the red flowers in the two photos above. They belong to aloes that are somewhere under all those leaves.
Aloe distans getting swallowed up
Canary giant mountain carrot (Todaroa montana) took five years (bought in May 2020 from Annie’s Annuals), but it’s finally flowering
That’s Todaroa montana on the left, but notice that tall flower spike top right?
At first glance you might think it’s from an agave, but it actually is a giant fennel (Ferula communis). I’ll have a separate post in a few days.
At the far end of the sidewalk bed, the white poppies bump into profusely flowering Moroccan daisies (Rhodanthemum hosmariense)
The plant reaching into the sidewalk is a Cyprus ironwort (Sideritis cypria).
I’ve had several people comment on the green flowers. They’re actually not flowers, but bracts. The real flowers are inside the cups, and they’re tiny. They haven’t opened yet.
Speaking of flowers, this tiny Delosperma ‘Jewel of Desert Amethyst’ has been flowering like crazy since I first blogged about it last month
Echinocereus triglochidiatus has burst into bloom. These flowers last for almost a week.
Echinocereus triglochidiatus
I posted about Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’ a couple of weeks ago when it had seven (!) flowers open at the same time. This in #8, and it seems even larger because it’s the only one. It’s close to 9" in diameter.
And ‘Flying Saucer’ isn’t done yet. There are many more buds.
Echinopsis ‘First Light’ has smaller flowers than ‘Flying Saucer’, but it’s hard to beat when it comes to sheer beauty
Complementing the photos above, here’s a video of the sidewalk bed. It shows the big picture, not just closeups of the plants. Please overlook any technical issues – I’m still learning how to do this properly. I also mangle the name Malephora crocea a couple of times. In my defense, it isn’t the easiest name to memorize.
I recommend you click “Watch on YouTube” and select the highest resolution your bandwidth supports.
It's already been in the 90s here in Austin, so I too feel that sense of spring slipping away all too quickly. Enjoy the freshness while you have it! The garden is looking simply fabulous, Gerhard. I especially love all those cactus blooms.
You have quite the floral display going, Gerhard! I'm suitably impressed by Todaroa montana and will look for it if/when the company that picked up Annie's mail order business starts taking orders. I tried the Mexican tulip poppies once but, like the California poppies, I had trouble getting them to take root here - I should probably try them again. As always, your cacti flowers, particularly the Echinopsis, are stellar!
Funny you should say that about the Mexican tulip poppies. The first time I tried, with plants I bought, I failed. Bur these volunteer seedlings (the first of which came out of nowhere) have been great growers.
It's already been in the 90s here in Austin, so I too feel that sense of spring slipping away all too quickly. Enjoy the freshness while you have it! The garden is looking simply fabulous, Gerhard. I especially love all those cactus blooms.
ReplyDeleteTemps in the 70s right now. Heavenly. Why can't it be like that year round?
DeleteYou have quite the floral display going, Gerhard! I'm suitably impressed by Todaroa montana and will look for it if/when the company that picked up Annie's mail order business starts taking orders. I tried the Mexican tulip poppies once but, like the California poppies, I had trouble getting them to take root here - I should probably try them again. As always, your cacti flowers, particularly the Echinopsis, are stellar!
ReplyDeleteFunny you should say that about the Mexican tulip poppies. The first time I tried, with plants I bought, I failed. Bur these volunteer seedlings (the first of which came out of nowhere) have been great growers.
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