by Lorraine on January 18, 2009
Now that there are more things blooming in the garden, I’ve noticed that a few Hummingbirds have returned. Once the Fuchsias had stopped flowering (which was a favorite of the Hummingbirds), they moved on and out of my garden in search of their meals, elsewhere.
I have a single Scarlet Monkeyflower (Scrophulariaceae) in a container in my sitting area. With the warmer weather it has started to bloom and now the Hummingbirds are back. What’s most amusing and makes me laugh, it that one of my chairs is right next to it and yesterday while I was sitting there, a little furious female Anna’s Hummingbird came right up to my face, as if to tell me that I was in her way and then started to suck the nectar from the Monkey Flower plant.
I swear, her wings created a breeze against me! She was only about 12″ from my side and I could look down on her as she fed and see her shiny iridescent green feathers. She was so beautiful and delightful. What fun having a garden is……
I also have a Fire Cracker plant in a container by the front door and they are going for that one, too. Sorry, but I don’t have the botanical name for it but it’s quite pretty with orange, tubular flowers on it.
Today I completed planting a few Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum) and one sage that needed to be replaced due to an “accident”. The weather has been so beautiful and Spring-like but not normal. I’m hoping that we will be getting rain in the coming months. California desperately needs it.
I will take some photos of the Blue Eyed Grass and the Scarlet Monkey Flower and post it soon. I still need to add comments from last Summer and also some of my hikes with the Forest Service.
by Lorraine on January 16, 2009
It seems as though all of my good intentions to write consistently have been to no avail. I guess that’s because daily life (read job and yes, I’m glad that I have one) have kept me busy as well as the Holidays.
I still have posts from last summer that I want to add but I also want to give the latest news about my garden. It’s beautiful! What else can I say? Even during the winter months it always pulls me into it’s tranquil embrace.
Typically there is something that is always in bloom and one of those plants is the Wooly Blue Curl. The one plant that supposedly is very difficult to grow but for some reason, I’ve had pretty good luck with most of the ones that I put into the garden.
I’m noticing that the India Mallow plants seem to be going into another stage of blooming and I also have some bulbs coming up, too. I’m guessing that all of this is happening because of the unusually warm weather we’ve been having here in S. CA.
Normally, January and Feb. are the rainiest (Is that a word?) time of the year and it’s colder, too. But not this year. I’m hoping that we will still get bunches of rain which will of course, make all of those wild flower seeds I scattered in my backyard and down the street, bust out in blossoms.
I read the other day, that the City of Los Angeles is considering water rationing. Southern Calif. is really in big trouble. Not enough of a snow pack in the Sierras, which means not enough water for Southern California.
The big lawns have to go and as far as I’m concerned, so do the golf courses. Boy, I’m in trouble now, aren’t I?
All those golfers will be out to get me. LOL!
