Joshua Tree - after flowering

A few weeks ago, I posted pictures of a flowering Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia). A few weeks later, those flowers had produced fruits:

Joshua tree fruits

More fruit - this is the same tree as pictured in the previous post

It made a lot of fruits - must have been a good year for Joshua moths...

Once a branch flowers, it will split into multiple branches

This is what an old flower stalk looks like - weird!

Foliage Follow Up - April 2013

Some unrelated-to-each-other foliage pictures for April 2013 Foliage Follow up...

Rhubarb coming back for it's second year - with wind damage to leaf!

 It's been "crazy-windy" here - 50 mph gusts, and last week, the wind kicked up so much dust, the sky turned brown, and they closed the freeway.

Optunia cuttings growing new pads

 These I got as part of a plant exchange with Loree at Danger Gardens. They'll get planted out into the regular garden soon, I think. I just have to think about where...

Optunia ficus-indica, I think. Also growing lots of new pads - my neighbor offered to take some to cook with!

 I've had to put rock mulch around most of the plants in large containers or planters like the one above - cats seemed to think that digging in my garden was an excellent past time...

Melon (cantaloupe?) seedlings!

 It's funny - I have horrible luck at growing things from seed, but these guys popped up from where a melon got left and rotted away, with no help/work from me. I'm holding my breath that they fill the bed with foliage again, like last year.

New foliage on the callistemon - it's so soft, I wish you could touch it!

new shoots on the red yucca

This grouping of red yucca developed very red foliage a few months ago - way more than the others, which have mostly turned back to their normal color. But now the new shoots are coming up green again... this should be interesting! No bloom stalk on this one yet though.

To see more posts, and read Pam excellent point about yesterday, visit her blog at Digging... Please send your good thoughts to Boston.

Bloom Day - April 2013

It's bad enough when I don't see my garden in the daylight in January. However, now it's April, and I'm still not spending enough time out there... I was inspired by everyone else's bloomday pictures (see them at Carol's blog here!) to go run and see what was blooming in my garden this April!

I'm going to post the pictures, but first a short note. I'm pretty sure (though not positive) that, much like the rest of the country, our "spring" is late. We certainly had a very cold winter, especially for this Zone 8B/9A desert, but more importantly (I think) we had a very dry winter. Checking NOAA's precipitation records for the water year (which started in October of 2012), we got just 1.00 inches total from October to now (typically, our wet season). That puts us at just 16% of the average to date. Glup.

Now for the spring blooms:

My new Flannel Bush - yes, I bought a plant that grows 15 feet tall/wide, with no idea where to put it. oops

First of the blooms on Callistimon "Little John", which seems to have survived the winter

One of the many red yucca bloomstalks forming

I'm willing to bet this 'snow in summer' will be burnt to a crisp when summer gets here... needs to be replaced

ice plant with the flowers closed. even though we have no rain, we have lots of clouds...

the salvias are blooming, and have been. Getting closer than this usually means getting buzzed by the hummingbird

Optunia macrocentra absolutely loaded with buds (cheating a bit on bloom day :) )

Penstemon pseudospectabilis - hopefully will do fine over the summer

The manfreda is pushing out a HUGE bloom stalk. Not quite blooming yet either...

 

In the front garden - the first of the yellow ice plant (different one) flowers (ever)

the first rose bud opening - these should make a good show soon

There are the blooms in my garden for spring... let's see what the rest of the year brings!