The garden of broken dormancy

Things are, shall we say, moving along.



The cherries are at least a month earlier than I expected. Are blossoms imminent?



Fortunately, we have no frost in San Francisco. It must feel like March or April to the cherries. I plan to cover them with bird netting to keep birds from eating all the blossoms. Maybe I'll even get fruit. (For whatever reason, I feel like some strategery is called for with the cherries.)

It's a race between the cherries and the freesia.



Rosa 'Moonlight' is fully awake and climbing Ceanothus 'Ray Hartman' to find for more sunlight.



It's hard to say how Ray feels about winter rain.



I haven't seen many bees buzzing him lately.

Manzanita is not bothered, for sure.



(That little red bit you see near the bottom is Delphinium cardinale which has bloomed mysteriously for a few weeks. Alas, I don't find it very photogenic.)



Other white flowers of winter: the Galanthus or whatever these are have been going for week or two.



Last year, they didn't bother to show up at all.



Cerinthe major self sows freely. Here it is coming up inside Lupinus albifrons. That could be interesting. Or a disaster.



I'll have some foliage drama this summer despite my oft-stated indifference to foliage gardening. (You must be tired of hearing it.)



Back to flowers. I've hardly shoved Hardenbergia in your face at all this year.



I think soon I'll be shoving Senecio cristobalensis in your face.



Actually I think the flowers are mostly unremarkable. But I will still be eager to see them.



Tiny Hamamelis 'Primavera' has a few flowers. I'm going to try watering this plant to see if it will grow more.



I'll have to look through my seed collection to see if I can determine what vegetable this is up on the deck. I have no memory of it whatsoever, but it's grown beautifully on rainwater alone.



The former fire pan now home to species tulips and some crocus is doing well. The bulbs baked over the summer with no attention from me whatsoever right here in this spot. I resurfaced the top layer of soil with fresh compost in October before our first fall rain. The rest is just nature taking its course. (Of course I had to put a patch of dead Armeria front and center.)



Eventually I'll move it to a more visible spot, but for now it stays off to the side while we enjoy other views.

Signs of spring

I wasn't looking for any, but I found them anyway.

Swollen leaf buds on the buckeye:



Some early daffs:



New rose leaves:



Arctotis flower buds:



Mazanita...



and Ceanothus are winter-flowering, generally speaking.



Some poppies self-sowed and I planted a few last fall that I grew from seed myself. Getting big!



Spring can never come soon enough. I think we can all agree about that. I'm concerned about a few plants that have been in shade for too long over the winter.



I'm especially concerned about 'Black Adder'. Phormium likes sun. Hang in there, little guy!



Speaking of little guys, do you remember me complaining about the dead animal stinking up the place last fall? The stink went way, but the rest of him did not. That was fine for winter, but now it's time for him to go.