The Itoh Peony Bloom of 2022

 

One of spring's magic moments

The stumps are all out, finally.  Time to plant.  'Springfire' where the shovel is, Hakea, the pick. 

 There we go.  A maturing 'Springfire' is visible on the other side of the wrought iron fence, planted in September 2014 from a one gallon container.  It is now about 15' (4.5 m) tall.

Still need to mulch the area.  I was able to pull some of the Agaves.  Many more need to come out.  The jumbled mess of them are why I far prefer non-offsetting Agaves and Aloes:  non-offsetters create so much less green waste, need so much less labor. 

Elsewhere in the garden, Aloe pseudorubroviolacea's bloom signal the end of rainy-season Aloe flowers. 

Admiring the beauty, distracted by the roar of power tools.  Too often there's a worker on our street making a whole lot of noise and air pollution pruning shrubs into unnatural shapes.  One of them likes to shear certain Bougainvilleas every week.  Is that to prevent them from ever flowering?  Because Bougainvilleas are so awful in flower.  Those sheets of brilliant color--yecch!

(For the worker's privacy, face obscured.)

The Acidanthera (now Gladiolus) murielae bulbs purchased back in February finally woke up.   They are planted in a bulb pot because in the ground they can spread aggressively.  I've learned my lesson about Gladiolus--they are difficult to eliminate. 

Clematis 'Wisley' was too late for April Bloom Day.

So too, the Itoh Peonies.   Here is 'Misaka'.  I moved 'Misaka' last year.  It survived and has improved in its new location.    'Bartzella' will flower in a few days for a few days.  Both cultivars have a distinct, musky fragrance unlike the sweet scent of herbaceous Peonies.

This is proving to be the "leap" year for rose 'Princesse Charlene de Monaco', two flowers of which are seen here with a single 'Sunbelt Savannah'.

Very disappointing here for its first two years, 'Princesse' this spring has been impressive.  The flowers have for the first time produced the strong rich rose fragrance advertised by the seller.  Very, very nice!

In this photo, I was taken by the contrasting sizes of the lizard and the Agave.  

Sounds like it is hailing or pouring rain outside, at 2:26 AM Friday morning.  I can hear dear husband upstairs, shutting windows.  The heavenly music of rain, all too brief and rare here.  There's one barrel out to catch some of it.  If I'd put out every bucket and tub available, we'd have gotten not a drop.  

Leucospermum 'Blanche Ito' (or is it 'Blanchito'???) flowers age to very strange, weirdly wonderful UFO like shapes. 

Rose 'Burgundy Iceberg' continues to establish.  Still a youngster. 

From above, the Hippeastrum flowers look like people all chatting at a crowded party. 

Gully looks good, at this magic moment in April.

The music of rain fading away, at 2:36 AM, PDT.  

Update:  0.21" (5.3 mm) of rain overnight!  Hooray!