Late winter garden

Spring is almost upon us. Suck it, winter!

Up on the deck, Anemone coronaria is wrapping up for the season, so I had to get one more picture.



I always have a few flowers up here, but the deck is mostly succulents.



I've had very little time to do any gardening. These are musk strawberries I bought from Raintree Nursery. Exactly when and where are they going to get planted, I have no idea.



The pure red form of Fuchsia boliviana I grew from seed is finally blooming, after three years.



Fuchsias do well in San Francisco, except for the familiar hybrids which suffer from debilitating mite infestations. Before the mite arrived, those fuchsias were widely grown. Now you rarely see them and we have these kinds with elongated, tubular flowers instead.

That's Echium pininana behind the fuchsia; I grew it from seed too. I thought those plants were indestructible, but I've lost three for reasons I am not entirely sure of. They were doing well and then precipitously lost all their vigor and died, as if they got a fungal infection. Meanwhile sister plants right nearby are fine. I'm not sure what to think.

By and large, bulbs have not fared well this year. We have marauding rodents. A few Crocus 'Negro Boy' managed to survive.



All these pots had bulbs in them that got eaten.



Jonquils and other narcissi all survived. The animals must detect some fragrance from these bulbs, even buried in wet soil. Pots of tulips were destroyed but pots of daffodils were left completely untouched.



One of my favorite shade plants, Omphalodes cappodocica, starts to bloom this time of year. This low, spreading borage family member is widely available in nurseries here. Annie's Annuals sells another less well-known species (to me anyway) that I'd like to try out some day. It has white flowers.



I grow it under and around the tree fern, and fuchsias.



Usually I have to refill the birdbath with fresh water every day, but not this year. We've had that much rain. And they warned us to expect an exceptionally dry winter!



I've only had Clematis overwinter for the first time this year. I'm surprised at the rapid progress they're making. Buds on all of them already.



They make even the freesia seem tardy.



Cestrum elegans seems to bloom as steadily and reliably as any Abutilon. I cannot remember this plant without flowers since it started to bloom a few months after I planted it.



The Hardenbergia is almost done. Such a great vine. Love, love, love.



When I have a job again, and discretionary income, the garden will get more glass. There's that Echium pininana again.



Let's end with that most glorious of Californian winter bloomers, Ceanothus arboreus.



Recent, heavy rains have knocked it down a bit this year.



Hopefully the bumblebees are not too discouraged.