Hooray I Was WRONG!

 

Clematis 'Bourbon'

Beloved found my camera's data card.  It was indeed in the couch, lodged in the black lining with the label side not showing so it was a black card in a dark corner against black lining.  Hooray for Beloved looking with a flashlight!

Now, what I was wrong about: I thought the garden's Itoh Peonies were all dead.   Hooray, I was very wrong!

Look for the little plant bud-bumps in the soil. They are not easy to spot: 

These can shoot up into a stem, grow some leaves, and produce a flower or two (I think):

I've never seen so many, ever.  Usually I see one or two or maybe three. This year there are dozens. I'm hoping some actually grow successfully. 

Lots of good things in the garden.  The first Sweet Pea flowers:

 An impulse buy at a big box home improvement store--'Sky Pencil' Holly from the death rack, plants near death at bargain prices.  The Holly looked a lot closer to good health than to death..  I looked it up--they are said to grow in my Sunset zone.  

 Also at the big box, but not on the death rack, were  random seedling Trichocereus, freshly arrived, just about to bloom.  Not on the death rack, but inexpensive.  I bought four pots. 

Various pictures as they opened:

This one had three different plants in one pot:

Wow.  Did not err buying those.  These are spring/summer growers that want fall/winter dormancy, something I must attend to:  dryness for them in fall/winter.  Their flowering season is April/May.  Drainage here is pretty instantaneous, so I'm hoping they'll be happy in the ground instead of in pots. 

Elsewhere, something I was also happily wrong about besides the peonies was rose 'Apricot Cream', which took a decade to really get going.  Thinking the flowers would always be small, flimsy, and unimpressive, I finally realized last year the plant had never gotten any fertilizer at all.  Given fertilizer this winter, its first flowers of the spring are...

not small, not flimsy--impressive.  Glad I didn't give up on it.  

Other stuff this week...'Darcey Bussell':

Common Warbler (I think) on a 'Blue Glow' Agave:

Backlit, 'Pom Pom' Leucadendron looks like lanterns floating wishes into the sky:

I didn't kill Dudleya brittonii!

TB Iris 'Cobra's Eye':

A nicely dusky Cerinthe:

Acer 'Oshio Bene' leafing out:

A different clump of Dutch Iris blooming. They all seem to flower at slightly different times, which is great.

A long ago question has finally been answered.  Was I growing 'Pink Gruss an Aachen' all these years, or was it a 'Gruss an Aachen' (which is how it was labeled).

Several years ago I mail ordered a 'Gruss an Aachen' from a known accurate source (Antique Rose Emporium) to find out. Here's ARE's 'Gruss', finally mature enough to ensure a proper ID:

Yep, the one I had originally was indeed PGAA.  I always thought so, but now I know for certain.  With less and less certainty in the world, it's nice to prove one thing for certain. 

Helianthemum 'The Bride' survived last summer on my haphazard now-and-then watering to celebrate this spring:

Hippeastrum 'Apple Blossom':

Carpenter Bee with 'Mystic Spires Blue' Salvia:

Seedling Clematis:

I think my gardening mojo is finally back.  Maybe it was just sleeping, like the Itoh Peonies.  

How's your gardening mojo doing?