I can't see the screen of my phone at all in the sun, and I can't figure out how to focus better blindly. But you get the picture(s.)
Mass of Tillandsias and Epiphyllum 'Frühlingsgold' at my mom's house in coastal southern California. The Epi is a tropical epiphytic cactus hybrid. It has fragrant flowers, like lemon. The Tillies' name tags are buried in the mass of plant. Note the blue flowers in the upper right corner.
Texas ranger (Leucophyllum, family Scrophulariaceae). The photo doesn't do the plant justice; this is a purple/grey cloud in person. There are lots of species and hybrids used as landscape shrubs here. Most have small, felty white leaves due to dense covering with tiny hairs. They got their name from this felty white color's resemblance to the uniforms of the old Texas Rangers. Different cultivars have been selected for leaf color (dark green through white) and flower color (white through pink, purple and dark purple.) This is a volunteer seedling. Some have wonderful fragrances. This one has a floral/bubblegum smell, a lot like a Neofinetia. They grow incredibly easily here, and flower well in a 1 gallon / 3.78 liter or smaller pot. They are desert shrubs requiring alkaline soil and water, succumbing to rot rapidly with acidic conditions. They tolerate temperatures far below freezing for some time, but they can't take frozen soil. Seed is tiny, like its relatives foxglove and snapdragon.
At the bottom of the photo you see two dog bowls with inverted foam cups, one plant from the top (bottom?) of each cup. These are succulent Mexican rock figs, Ficus cotinifolia and F. peninsularis. In habitat birds deposit seeds on rocks, where they sprout during rainy weather, then send out one or two leaves. They spend all their energy sending a root down until it reaches the soil. The root ramifies, then the top starts growing when the new water supply is available. The portion of roots dangling down the rock face thickens and enlarges enormously, until it can look like a flow of wax down the rock. I am training them to have long roots. I will soon move them to longer tubes above the soil, and eventually pot them into a decorative container on top of a rock, with the roots dangling down the rock.
Senna covesii is a small native shrub in the bean family Fabaceae. This one volunteered. It blooms throughout the year, more in warm weather. It was formerly called Cassia.
Persian lilac, Syringa xpersica. French lilacs can't tolerate our warm winters. This one grows and flowers just fine. The fragrance is very similar to a French lilac, but not quite so powerful. It's in a 1 gallon pot in my repotting area, ready for me to set into my garden.
Cercidium microphyllum, foothills palo verde, also family Fabaceae. One of our wonderful native trees. The tiny developing pea pods taste just like sugar peas, but have no string to pull. This time of year the entire city is full of bright yellow trees of this species and a few relatives. Driving from here to Las Vegas is also beautiful because palo verde trees grow along all the desert washes.
Leucaena retusa, lead tree, also family Fabaceae. It is native to west Texas and northern Mexico, but survives in gardens all along the southern and western coastal US, from Florida to southern California, and up into Canada. The inflorescence is not quite as large as it looks due to foreshortening.
Ruellia peninsularis is in family Acanthaceae. This one is native to Baja California. It grows to about 3 feet / 1 meter in height, with flowers about 1.5" / 3.75cm across. It flowers all year, takes some frost and survives on our 8" / 200mm average rainfall once established. The genus has seed capsules that explode with an audible SNAP when they get wet. The seeds, the size of a poppyseed, can be flung 10 feet / 3 meters or more. It is funny to watch people watering it when they don't know this. It also flowers in a 1 gallon or smaller pot.
This is a hybrid German Iris. I lost the name long ago. This one reblooms in the fall, sometimes.
To be continued with the succulents....
Easter flowers
Threaded Mode
