GBBD - The Out Of Focus Edition (TM)

Between breakfast and a trip to the airport, I realized that I'd forgotten it was Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, when Carol at May Dreams Gardens invites us all to look around and appreciate the flowers and other joys our garden brings us. Well, no problem, I'd just pop out, snap out a few photos, and be gone. And indeed, the hummingbird sage (Salvia spatacea) above had been looking tantalizing all week, and I happily snapped away - except it ended up artistically blurred.

Next came the native buckwheat (with the leaves nicely in focus) which has been blooming non-stop since summer. I'm leaving it for the few pollinators that venture out in the current 60+ degrees.

The new Abutilon "Fruit Punch" I bought recently was going to be the big splash of color in this post. Except it just kept moving. Or maybe I was moving? No matter, here it is, a slapstick photography exhibit. 

But there is more. Even without rain for 2 months, the Australian Tea Tree is putting out pretty pink blossoms, visited by hummingbirds every morning.

Turn around from there and you'll see that Arctostaphylos St. Helena, a native manzanita, is blooming for the first time in my garden. I'm very happy with this replacement for a Japanese maple that didn't like the sun in that spot.

Nice focus on the leaves, or was that the stem? Regardless, I had better luck with the yarrow 'Paprika' which, amazingly, still blooms.

Then I turned toward the redwoods for a photo of the Jade plant's blossoms.

And snapped the Hellebore while I was there.

Seeing that it was soon time to leave, I still took the time to look up at the first Camelia (the bushes are by now 10 feet high).

Then I found a second blossom close to the ground and put it on our garden buddha, thinking how happy I am about being here and enjoying the blossoms, the birds, and the hope of some rain next week.

This afternoon I'll go over to Carol and look at what else is going on in the world bloomwise.

And I hope you'll join Ms. Country Mouse and me for the First Views meme in the first week of the month. We show some big views of our gardens (rather than focusing on close-ups of the blooms). We've been finding first views educational, and we'll enjoy seeing what your garden really looks like.