What's Happening in my Garden in Early Spring?

There Are Lots of Garden Tasks to Be Done

We've had a lot of rain in the past two months, and the garden reflects that. The weeds are trying to take over, but I've been too busy going to and recovering from dentist appointments to do much about them. The grassy weeds are the worst.  Fortunately, my lamb's ears, which grow as fast as weeds, are helping to keep some of them at bay. Meanwhile, the bees are really enjoying the flowers that are appearing everywhere and the kale is bolting.

Grassy Weeds Trying to Take Over the Garden, Lamb's Ears Trying to Compete

Weeding and Thinning

In the photo above you can see some of the garden tasks I'm way behind on. Weeding is probably the most important. If I don't get the weeds out of the way, the reseeding plants may not get the light they need to sprout. Some of the lamb's ears, much as I love them, will also have to go. As you can see below, they are choking the emerging Sweet William seedlings from last year's seeds. I'll also have to cut back the star jasmine that surrounds and is starting to cover these plants. Looks like I will also have to reapply my non-toxic snail bait in this section. I usually use the cheapest brand, and it works.

Lamb's Ears Smothering Sweet William Seedling, while both Fight the Star Jasmine, © B. Radisavljevic 

With all this weeding to be done, it's time to check my gardening tools again. If you find yourself short, this Vremi 9-piece tool set has all one needs to tackle most weeding jobs.



Bees in the Holly

The holly is in bloom, and the bees love it. I took this photo a few days ago. I'm glad I did because the gardener trimmed some of the flowers off today. He said the bees were pretty angry with him as he worked and he had to be careful. I think there are still enough flowers to keep the bees busy. 

Bees Foraging in Holly Flowers in March, © B. Radisavljevic

The Bolting Kale

I currently have four kale plants growing in my flower beds. Three of them are volunteers that did not exactly grow where I would have placed them. All of them are bolting now. I will probably cut the flowering stems from the weakest plants, and let the others go to seed for next year's crop. I will also have to harvest and freeze a lot of the leaves that are left.

 My top photo showed my best kale plant. I understand now why it may not have had the aphid problems the other plants had. Its close neighbors are calendula and catmint, both of which help repel or trap these pests that bother my other plants. Also, that kale in my front flowerbed gets more regular water than the other plants, and better soil. It is the only kale plant with drip irrigation. 

The kale plant below gets less care than any of the others. It sprang up between my driveway and my neighbor's yard in the bed in the middle. There is a birch tree there and gazanias cover most of the ground. It is not irrigated unless I remember to pour some water on the kale plant. How it ever took root there I'll never know, but I have used many of its leaves. You can see from its flowers that it's bolting. So are the other plants, but the flowers are harder to see in their photos. 

Flowers of Bolting Kale, © B. Radisavljevic

This is actually a pair of kale plants below. I never thinned them. I sometimes use their leaves, but they are often plagued with aphids. They have poor soil and no companion plants but gazanias. They do not have regular irrigation. They grow in the corner of a bed of gazania and star jasmine beside the driveway. Like the plant above, they came from the mother plant you see at the top of this blog post. 

Twin Kale Plants by Driveway, © B. Radisavljevic

My Favorite Companion Planting Book

Great Garden Companions: A Companion-Planting System for a Beautiful, Chemical-Free Vegetable Garden

 I have used this book for years. It has provided inspiration on what to plant where and been just fun to read. There are lists of which plants discourage which pests, which plants attract which beneficial insects, and which plants help each other thrive. I love the garden design ideas, such as the wheel garden and the front yard salad garden. The information is organized in a user-friendly way so that it's easy to find what you want, and you will want to read more than what you came for. I highly recommend this to any gardener who wants to avoid chemicals.

What Blooms in November?

Red Pansy Face in November

It's always interesting when planning a garden to know what blooms when. I'm gradually trying to show the photos of plants in bloom month by month in my neighborhood in Paso Robles, California. Our climate is fairly mild, but we do sometimes go below 20 degrees F. in winter. We get into the triple digits on some spring and summer days. This post will show you what's been blooming here in this month of November. The photo shows a pansy in bloom. Pansies add a lot of color in fall and winter, and sometimes last until spring.

Some plants that typically bloom in summer still have a few flowers left, along with some that dried on the plant. Here are a couple of those.

Lingering Butterfly Bush Flowers in November

Lingering Hyssop Flowers in November

Some of these flowers are really herb flowers and perform for many months. The hyssop above has been in bloom since June, but it had many more flowers then. The sages also bloom over a long period, as does the rosemary. I love rosemary in winter because you can cut it and bring it in for fragrant holiday greenery. It also helps the bees through the winter.

One Variety of Cherry Sage, © B. Radisavljevic

Hot Lips Sage

Rosemary in Bloom

Some flowers I depend upon to brighten my garden year round. One of these is calendula, which you see in bloom below.  To its left is Lamb's Ears, with its contrasting gray leaves. To its right, you see gazanias. Behind is star jasmine with the dark green leaves. It, like the Lamb's Ears, has stopped blooming, as has the browning remains of a Euphorbia plant (also known as gopher plant.), which has greenish-yellow flowers in summer.  The lighter green plant surrounding the dying Euphorbia is rue. It has never bloomed for me yet.

Calendula in Bloom

Gazanias in Bloom

Some flowers just linger into winter.

Mums and Calendula

Miniature Chrysanthemums in November

Cecile Brunner Climbing Rose in November

A Neighbor's Roses in November

Gazanias, a Blooming Ground Cover, in November

Scabiosa (Pincushion Flowers) Hiding Between Hyssop
And Hollyhock Leaf in November

Jupiter's Beard in November. I was not able to identify this until
today, but it blooms for several months out of the year. I see it all
over town and I want some, even though it is invasive. 

These flowers belong to others and are blooming today on November 27, 2015. I'm not sure how long they have been blooming.

Mystery Plant belonging to My Neighbor. Click to enlarge and
see it more clearly. The pink flowers in the back are roses.
The blue is the back of a light.

Society Garlic in Bloom in November, Next to Browning Rose Plant
Click to enlarge. The flowers are small. Red roses are blooming
in back by the fence. 

Snapdragons in Bloom in November. Behind to the left are poppy
seedlings and to the right are young scabiosa plants.

I hope this helps you plan next year's garden or decide what you might want to transplant now for immediate color. Maybe a neighbor is even cleaning out plants she would be willing to share. Rosemary is easy to root in water. I had one plant in the back yard and roots three more plants for the front yard. It should be easy to find someone who will let out take a few cuttings. I just put it in water and it roots enough to plant within two or three weeks.

What are your favorite winter flowers? I somehow missed posting my photos of petunias and hibiscus that I've seen around the county, but I don't have any growing in my own yard now. I did have a petunia growing in November last year. I saw the hibiscus in Santa Maria in a planter at Trader Joe's.

Here are two more colorful shrubs that give you red berries for winter.

Holly Berries in November, © B. Radisavljevic

Pyracantha (Firethorn), © B. Radisavljevic

The cotoneaster shrub is similar in looks to the pyracantha, but has no thorns. I decided to make a blank greeting card out of one of the photos I took of cotoneaster.

Red Cotoneaster Berries: Holiday season Greeting Card by barbsbooks
Browse Cotoneaster Cards online at Zazzle.com

Here's a matching postage stamp.

Holiday Postage Stamp: Red Cotoneaster Berries
Check out more USPS postal stamps online at Zazzle.

Related Links:
This Butterfly Bush Shows How Nature Adapts

Daffodils Fading, Irises Starting to Bloom

Emerging from Winter

It seems February went by in the garden so fast I didn't get around to posting about it. But most of what was blooming in February is still blooming in March. Since my two garden properties have limited space and I have limited time, when reporting on blooming, I will also report on what I see while out walking. Everything you see here was blooming during some part of February and /or  the first two weeks of March in either Paso Robles or Templeton, California.

Blooming Trees

In February, I always start looking for blooming almond trees. This blossom is on my own tree. It doesn't give me any almonds because it's old and we haven't known how to care for it properly. In the twenty years since we bought the property, it's never borne enough almonds to feed any but the squirrels. We inherited the orchard from the previous owner, but he did not care for the trees that were on the property when we bought it. 

I was surprised and delighted to see today that my apricot tree was blooming in Templeton. It did not bloom last year. Must have been the rain. Three of our newer peach and nectarine trees are also in bloom, but I don't have room to picture all of them, and they are very small. 

Ornamental flowering trees can be seen all over town. The pink ones seem destined to produce small

cherry-like plums, and the white ones are usually Bradford ornamental pears. You will see them all in a wall of blossoms at Barney Schwartz Park in Paso Robles. They are on the streets and in the parking lots. It seems all of Paso Robles is blooming. But the photo I want to show you of the blooming trees is this one I took on Union Road yesterday. I think they look good with horses under them. 

Flowers in Bloom

Many of my own flowers are in bloom, or have been at this time of year in past years. I will show them to you below. 

Daffodils with Black Sage in February, 2015

Carnation in March, 2015

Iris in March, 2014.

Borage in February and March

Cecile Brunner Climbing Rose, March, 2015

California Poppies at Barney Schwartz Park, March, 2015

Shrubs Blooming in March

Left to Right: Rosemary, Watermelon Sage, Holly, March 13

Rosemary blooms almost all year, and the bees love it. It's at its best now after the rain. The watermelon sage also started blooming this month. The holly still has berries from last year, but it is also flowering and budding for next year's berries. There were so many bees on the holly flowers I could hear them buzzing. That holly plant was like a bee airport. 

Holly with Flowers and Berries

                                                                                             




This is a close-up of the holly plant. You can click it or any other photo for an enlarged view to see the details.

I'm not sure what this is. It was blooming at the Caliza Winery on March 8. It is very fragrant, but the leaves didn't look quite like lilacs. If anyone knows what it is, I'd love to know. I'd like to get some.

This is another mystery plant I found at Caliza. It has leaves like a rosemary, but it doesn't smell like rosemary. Please leave a comment if you know what it is.








Also blooming in the weed family are wild mustard, vetch, filaree, and henbit. The first and the last two are edible. We will discuss them next time.

What is blooming where you are in March? Be sure and let us know where that is in your comment so we'll know what blooms where, when.

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