Some wildflowers I hadn't seen before (the two purples) at Turkey Creek this weekend. And Lloyd.
Trumpet vine has been opening its orange-red bells all week.
Above is the view from my back porch. You can see behind the canna that the vine has put a pretty solid claim on the fence (and anything near the fence). Saw a hummingbird visit for a sip yesterday.
First angel's trumpet bloom of the year. This started in a 4" pot from the Ladybird Wildflower Center sale several years ago and somehow survived last summer's drought and my move.
The buds always fool me into thinking it might bloom lavender instead of white.
I love a volunteer in the garden, but there's just something extra special about these tomatoes because there wasn't a vegetable garden anywhere here before. No pot that they strayed from. The only thing that used to be where this Roma is was lawn. Then that died, and the spot was parking. It's like a little savory miracle.
This one's right next to my back porch where the ground used to be covered in concrete.
And I threw out some seeds a week ago in a patch of dirt that I haven't figured out a landscape plan for yet. Just thought it'd be nice to have some cosmos and sunflowers. And apparently zinnias (I found an unlabeled ziploc bag of seeds that I thought were Mexican sunflowers but turned out to be zinnias).
It was all hearts and thistles and butterflies till I came upon this yellow tape stretched across Walnut Creek. What?!
The entire side of the cliff fell down into the creek. Just this past Friday, I was walking exactly where the rock fell (luckily it did not come down till Monday). And according to the news, no one was injured. Guess I won't be taking the strength of rock walls for granted anymore!
Does anyone know what this is? The closest I could find was a pearly wood nymph caterpillar, but this seems hairier than the images I found online.
These last two are the view from my kitchen sink. Washing dishes has never been so dreamy!
So, that was the pretty, 20 stems of iris from the grocery store yesterday. All closed up tight until they started bursting open last night. Next up: one of many not-so-pretty dirt beds around the backyard.
Dug in some compost and planted some of the iris I rescued from foundation work last summer, along with new plants: rosemary, fragrant white mistflower, pavonia, a Martha Gonzales rose, and my go-to, Mexican feathergrass. Left in the not-so-pretty volunteer sunflowers just because it'll take everything else a while to get interesting.
Everything looks a little better when mulched.
So, here was the dill a week and a half ago:
And for reference, my dog's fairly large.
My sister pulled up the dill yesterday, and the veggie garden looks very different. Poor kale was struggling to get sun.
Added compost, okra, and a jalapeno to the veggie bed today, and I'm hoping things get enough sun now that the pecans have leafed out. Just have to wait and see...
So, the front yard planting seem to be settling in happily, but they're all just a couple weeks old. From the top: gaura, gregg's mist (butterfly favorite), burgundy hibiscus, and firecracker fern
This abutilon was an impromptu purchase as I was hurrying through Natural Gardener today in the cold, semi-expected rain; I think I'll put it in the shade in front of the porch.
Nandina and Mexican petunias are survivors
Dill gone seedy; it had gotten pretty beastly, shading out everything else, so it got pulled this afternoon.
Volunteer tomato; I wonder what type this will be...
Honeysuckle on my neighbor's fence. Next up to bloom: trumpet vine, magnolia and crepe myrtle
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