GBBD - May with Mouse 2 (Country Mouse)

There are so many lovely wild flowers blooming near my house, and I want to propagate as many of them as I can - so here are some things that could, potentially, be blooming in my garden right now next year! Above is Calochortus albus, Fairy Lanterns, which I love and which is blooming all over.

Here's Aquilegia formosa after morning rain a couple weeks ago - they're still blooming:

Guess what's hiding under the last two leaves of each branch of this Hooker's Fairy Bells (Disporum hookeri):

Yup - a fairy bell:

And there are sweet little wild roses:

And lupines. Not sure what particular type - any ideas? The silver lupine isn't blooming yet but this bush lupine is blooming and setting seeds - some of which are tucked into an envelope at home.

In my garden itself quite a few things are blooming. Yarrow:

Monkey flower! So many blooms this year:

More monkey flower (I tried to do a nice garden shot but had to crop the heck out of it to get one):
The foothill penstemons in the distance there on the left are last year's plants and not blooming very lushly this year, and something is nibbling the flower heads off of my eriogonums! But the seaside daisy (Erigeron glaucus) are very cheerful. In the next shot, I caught an odd sort of bee I don't recognize - looked like a cross between a bee and a mosquito - hovering over the daisy flower and drinking from a long proboscis (or whatever it's called):

Happy bloomtime indeed in the California native garden!

(Please read the next post too! Town Mouse feels left out if noone looks at her lovely blooms. This is a double-mouse blog. We have one garden each).

Comments

Jean Campbell said…
Interesting -- you garden at two sites?
Country Mouse said…
Hi NellJean, We are two mice - two friends who garden with native plants - sharing one blog, devoted to the topic of gardening with native California plants, and a general garden philosophy of "gardening where you are." I live in the Santa Cruz mountains and am "country mouse" while my good friend gardens in a large suburban garden and is therefore "town mouse."

It does get a bit confusing for our readers as there isn't an easy way to show our separate identities.
Gail said…
Hello! I am glad to get to know your blooming natives, too! How similar is your columbine formosa to our little canadenses....the little fairy bell is similar to an epimedium flower. So much to learn...so little time! Gail
CMouse, some great garden and wild plants you have there! I see that you have a similar attitude when you go looking at your native plants, as in, "hmmmmm....how would that look in my garden..."
donna said…
As usual, good photos and good information. I want plants with names like Fairy Lanterns and Monkey Flower! Your blog is always a favorite of mine.
Town Mouse said…
Oh, I love the fairy bells! Thank you thank you....
Love the fairy bells and fairy lanterns, both such sweet flowers. It looks great there!
ryan said…
Beautiful shots of the columbine and calochortus. And happy monkeys, full of blooms.
Ooh, that Calochortus albus is a must-have for sure (but not for me at it's way out of my zone, unfortunately).
Helen said…
Hey, Country Mouse (and Town Mouse, too), you guys have some lovely flowers. Up here, they keep saying that Toronto is in the same latitude as Northern California. Well, that may be true, but California, being long and thin, has a whole lotta countryside that's sure a lot more temperate than Toronto, judging by what you have growning there. Lovely stuff. Happy gardening!

Helen of Toronto Gardens
Anonymous said…
Love the fairy lanterns what a great shot!
StayAtHomeKat said…
wonderful! hooray for natives!
wiseacre said…
Love the Fairy Bells, hidden flowers are such a treat.

I thought I saw a rock outcrop with Columbine blooming when I dove past yesterday. I didn't stop - my wife had the camera so I'll be going back later this week to check.