Blooms March 2025: Late And...Sort Of

 

 

I took early morning garden photos yesterday, intended for a Blooms-Of-March post.  The early morning "golden hour" lighting made foliage as attractive as flowers, so this post has both.  And I didn't get it posted yesterday.  Hence, "late and sort of".  

'Iceberg'.  She never quits:

 

 The "tough spot" Rhodanthemum still looks fabulous:

Aloe speciosa:

Lupines and Russelia:

Like 'Iceberg' rose, Grevillea 'Superb' doesn't stop:

One of the South African Ericas.   The hummingbirds ignored this plant in its first few struggling years, but now it's another food source for them:

The area where the gopher destroyed two 'Blue Glow' and one 'Kissho Kan' Agave.  Now repaired, with two spare 'Blue Glow's, another dab of an Aizoaceae, and  Silene 'Druett's Variegated'.  The flowers are another Rhodanthemum:

The 'Cara Cara' orange is flowering.  The fragrance is heavenly:

We got over an inch of rain in the past few days.  The Gerberas are wet but happy:

The rising sun strikes the front slope.  The nubbly threads and orangy tips on the Oak tree are its developing flowers and new growth. The rounded brown orbs are Oak Wasp galls.  They do not harm the Oak:

Sun and shadow playing on the glorious 'Vanzie'

Yucca queretaroensis.  I always have to look up the correct spelling.  Its blonde petticoat of dry leaves gracefully drape:

Heavy early morning bird activity on the Metrosideros.  A still photo does not show it:

Aloe taurii finished up its flowering, but the rain-washed foliage is the real star:

Bigger star still is Leucadendron 'Cloudbank Ginny' celebrating its moment:

It was an awkward disappointment its first years.  No longer!

Direct sunlight had still not reached other parts of the garden.  Iochroma 'Purple Queen':

Euphorbia 'Miner's Merlot' did not die over the winter.  Hooray!

Like 'Cloudbank Ginny', Fatsia japonica 'Spiderweb' was a disappointment in its youth.  Time has developed the white frosting in the foliage. 

Time less fortunately is revealing a certain aggressiveness in Alstroemeria 'Rock n Roll'.  It's spreading, though not yet to the point of thuggishness:

The morning sun begins to hit even the most shadowy parts of the garden. 

 Happy Spring, sort of.