What February Brought

Rhodanthemum
  

By the end of January we had received 11.49" of rain for the season beginning October 1st.  February began dry and remained dry.  Thankfully, it is ending with rain.  This past week brought us nearly 4".  As of Sunday morning our rain  totaled 15.20" (368mm).

Tuesday morning our rain totaled 15.55" (395mm). 

 

One of the "Colorita" series Alstroemeria:

Recall the frightening forecast from the start of last autumn:  a warm, dry winter.  It's been the opposite, enough to send us over our historic average rainfall with a month of winter left.  We feared a possible ban on all outdoor irrigation this summer.  That seems unlikely now.                                                                   

 

               

This chilly February has slowed the garden--the plants, considerably, the gardener only somewhat.  

 

For the gardener, the irrigation valve is repaired, though she did not repair it.  She hired Irrigation Professional.  Even Irrigation Professional had considerable trouble with it.

Done!

Of course, of course there was collateral damage--the  California poppies growing from seeds I'd received as a Christmas present and carefully protected from marauding rabbits got wiped out.  Of course Irrigation Professional had to walk around the Grevillea, though the planter, even moving the wire rabbit shield to step on the poppy seedlings.  

 

The First Law of Gardening applies:  no one ever cares about your garden as much as you do.  

 

Just two crushed survivors: 

Oh, well.  I'm grateful Irrigation Professional fixed the valve.  Nearby are some other poppy seedlings no one has stepped on and rabbits have not yet eaten. 

As to the plants, Matthiola (Stock) grown from seed are now developing flower buds.  We may get actual flowers from them before heat kills them off.    

The first color showing on the first Dutch Iris flowers:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Freesias budding, blooming, thriving:

 

 

 Surprise:  Mangave 'Gregg Starr' began to flower.  No offsets--perhaps after it flowers.  It will do what it will do.

Also the largest Agave 'Stained Glass'.  It was not that large, so the flower is unexpected but not upsetting.   Several others wait in pots for space in the ground.  

 

Again, maybe it was the generous rainfall.

The Hellebores are coming along, slowly:

I keep thinking dark flowered Hellebores are too gloomy for winter--but no.  They are luscious.

 
The several-year-old Sideritis cypria, like the Freesias,  is flowering more lavishly than it ever has--must have been the rain.

There.  The very first Sweet Pea flower of the year:

I must plant the Hakea laurina, but fear killing it as happened with the H. petiolare.   How long can it be happy in a pot? 

All four recently planted Saliva apiana, to benefit  native bees, butterflies, and birds, are looking good:

And the snowy white Magnolia stellata flowers, though made somewhat bedraggled by the rain, remain eye-catching. 

I just managed to avoid the temptation of a Magnolia x soulangeana 'Felix' at the nursery when we stopped there for some citrus tree fertilizer.  But it was difficult.  I noticed the neighbor's little M. x soulangeana, which they did not water last year and did not even leaf out, has not died after all--it's been leafing out.  The rain saved it.  

 

I stared at the nursery's 'Felix' a good long while, then clutched my fertilizer purchase tightly and scurried to the car.