Flowers Of Late May

Echeveria purpurosum

 Late May flowers.  I missed a bloom day post, after all.
Echeveria subridgida, just recovered finally from last year's bloom, is starting in on another round. 

It's Echinopsis time.  See it, there by the stuffed monkey?  No?

Echinopsis 'Charlemagne'.  The flower dwarfs the entire plant.

 Sedum clavatum flowers are a little more proportional.

 One of the first plants of the garden 17 years ago;  I bought a package of  assorted "blue" bulbs at a big box store.  This is the sole survivor, one bulb that became a clump, still growing, still blooming every year.  Brodiaea laxa 'Queen Fabiola' is a California native.  I am publicly promising these bulbs I will move them to a sunny spot this fall!

 Epiphyllums have fabulous flowers, but out of bloom the plants are not attractive, to put it kindly.  I threw some out but kept this one.  It deserves better treatment, but at least its not in the landfill. 

 Another Agave 'Blue Glow' going up and out in a blaze of glory. 

 Cistanthe grandiflora formerly Calandrinia grandiflora is putting on a show.

 The big Agave marmorata is preparing to bloom.  The new leaves get short and small, signalling the plant is abandoning leaf production.  Planted this from a 4" (10 cm) pot, the first Agave I ever purchased.  It's 6' (1.8 meters) across.  No, not flowers, but soon. 

 Time for Aloe brevifolia to bloom. 

 Tall flower for a short plant.  That's the smaller of the two black foliaged Lagerstroemias in the background. 

 A red flower on the larger of the two black-foliagedLagerstroemias.  So dramatic!

Crassula pubescens ssp. radicans reds up in warm weather.  May is its bloom time, too. 

 Even Sticks-on-Fire, Euphorbia tirucalli, is blooming this year.  The magic of winter rain. 

 This red and gold beauty was was too late to make it into the annual day lily post. 

 The last of the sweet peas.  This is the fancy-pants one, 'Windsor Marron', that cost $5.  At that price, I'm going to collect some seed pods.  It survived two pretty fierce heat waves by being shaded in the hottest part of the day, which is perhaps why it's survived this long.  It's on this side of that low wall, on the other are Salvias, daylilys, roses, and Geranium 'Rozanne'.

 I was sighing over the black foliaged Sambucus at a tour garden, but it occurred to me the black-foliaged Dahlia I've had for several years is a very satisfactory substitute. 

 Lastly, the Aloe dhufarensis flower continues to emerge.  The tops of the stems look like lizard heads, a little.