Blooms in February (Country Mouse)

One of the perils of co-blogging is trouncing each other's posts occasionally. Please don't let me trounce Town Mouse's lovely February offering. I'll put the link again at the end of my post.

Like Town Mouse, I'm cheating a little. Today is foggy and rainy. Sunday and last weekend - in fact all of February - we've had mild, sunny weather that has brought out the blooms.


The woodland side of the garden, with Fuschia-Flowered Gooseberry, Ribes speciosum, is aglow. I love these amazing shrubs. But beware the prickers!



In that same area is Ribes aureum, golden currant.

At first the deer wouldn't leave it alone. Now they don't seem to bother it. Needs pruning, but I didn't think it was going to even make it.


Here they are together:


Below is a small geranium I planted some time back in this woodland area, and now I can't get rid of it. Beware the ornamentals! Pretty though.


Just down the road from us is a Western redbud I love to watch each spring. We walk Duncan past it every day.

Meanwhile back in the garden, but on the chaparral side, some planted sprawling Ceanothus.


Our local wild manzanita, Arctostophylos crustacea tomentosa, or is it the other way around...
Lovely lovely lovely.

Here's Ceanothus 'Dark Star' with its tiny leaves and dramatically deep blue blossoms.



Salvia 'Bee's Bliss' which is a marvelous spreading salvia. Lasting for years. Others are nice too, Dara's Choice for example.


In the pool garden, recently planted Verbena lilacina 'De la Mina"


I can never remember the names of these plants, is it a Grevillea from Australia? I'll have to look it up. Cute blossoms, especially for its first year.



Down in the lower chaparral, Fremontodendron californica, California Flannel Bush, puts out its first flower of the year. What a beaut.


We have an unfortunate cluster of flowering fruit trees that has rarely been pruned. Just coming into blossom now.


Can't resist another couple shots of ceanothus 'Dark Star'



And last but not least - my Aristolochia Californica is finally starting to blossom, for the first time. Only one or two blossoms right now but maybe we'll get more later.

Well, that's a lot of photos. I have other blooms I missed too: daffodils, and Salvia spathacea, hummingbird sage, Mexican sage, cape honeysuckle, regular honeysuckls, maybe something else. It's been a vibrant February to be sure and I hope you enjoyed these native California blooms.

Now please continue on to view Town Mouse's lovely February offering. And thanks, Carol at May Dreams Gardens, for continuing to host Bloom Day. I'll be visiting shortly!

Comments

A lovely reminder that not all gardens are struggling to exit winter and enter spring. So strange seeing ceanothus in full bloom when I am strugglignto find crocus willing to flower!
Carol said…
Beautiful blooms! What a lovely climate you live in.
Dear CM, Yes, I did enjoy your blooms. I am really into 'blue' this year so my favorite has to be the Ceanothus. P x
All these CA GBBD entries are making me jealous here in snow-covered PA. Happy GBBD, Carolyn
Nell Jean said…
Such wonderful blossoms for February. I wish ceanothus thrived here.
Heather Holm said…
I recognize so many of the Genus names of your plants and have relatives in my own yard, but I have a 4 or 5 months left until they'll start flowering. I am feeling spring through your blog though.
Heather
Town Mouse said…
Wow! That is truly impressive. Love the R. speciosum and R. aureum. I planted 2 R. aureum in the fall, but alas, they're still dormant in the shade garden.
Oh my goodness...you have so much going on in your California garden. I do love the Ceoanthus especially :-)
Good grief! It's certainly obvious that you're up on a ridge, not down in the valley floor like us! Our ribes is blooming, and some native violets, but not the ceanothus...not even close! We do have flower buds, but I expect it will be a few more weeks before they're in bloom. Your Ribes speciosum is gorgeous!
ryan said…
That's one of the best fuchsia flowered gooseberries I've seen. So full of flowers. The golden currant looks really good too. So many good ribes species.
Barbara said…
A lovely stroll through your blossoming plants. And here we are oohing and ahing over every snowdrop.
Anonymous said…
So that's where spring is hiding! It's down at your place. Tell it to come visit me sometime soon, will you? I can't believe how many spring-blooming plants are already blooming for you - and not just blooming a little, but totally covered with hundreds of flowers!
Brad said…
Love all the natives. And I already commented on Town Mouse's post so don't worry about that. I really like the two Ribes. They're just big and beautiful. I don't think the redbuds are budding here yet. Good to know it will be soon.
Wally said…
Fuschia flowered gooseberry, seriously? How gorgeous! I'm not sure about the "grevillea", the flowers don't look typical to me but I have been surprised by unusual grevilleas before.
Mike said…
Thanks for the image of a Flannel Bush blossom. I photographed a bloom at the Carmelite Monastery in Carmel today and had no idea what it was. Through Google Images I saw your photo that led back to your blog.
Very nice. Here is my image.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/webshots/16964677879/
Country Mouse said…
Mike - thanks for that. I enjoyed your bloom shot - and also a little farther along your butterfly shots - buckeye are hard for me to capture in a photo - they are so flighty when we see them out hiking on the trails - and I don't see them in my garden for some reason. Hm. Wonder why that is... Maybe need to grow plants for them to nectar and breed on!