Flowers in Bloom in April in Paso Robles?

April has brought a lot of flowers back in bloom. Almost everything that was blooming in March is still blooming, but many new plants are also beginning to flower. Among these are the irises. Besides this light purple iris, I've seen maroon, yellow, and other colors around the neighborhood. Browse Amazon for a wide selection of iris varieties.



All my sages and my French lavender are in full bloom except for the tricolor sage and the clary sage, which bloom later in early summer. I also found a new sage in bloom in the flower beds at the Donati Family tasting room in Templeton - a compact yellow Jerusalem sage.  Here are some of the sage and lavender photos. I was amazed at the wide variety of sage plants Amazon has.

French Lavender Behind Hollyhock

Bee on French Lavender

Common Sage, © B. Radisavljevic

Black Sage, © B. Radisavljevic

Spanish Sage Surrounded by Jasmine and Lambs Ear, © B. Radisavljevic

Watermelon Sage, © B. Radisavljevic

 As you can see, hollyhock, a flower I've never tried to grow before, is in bloom. I planted it last year and had about given up on it ever growing. I almost confused the leaves with mallow and pulled the plants out, but I remembered I planted the hollyhock in these places and decided to be patient. I'm glad I waited.

Compact Jerusalem Sage, © B. Radisavljevic

I have also seen roses everywhere this month, though many were also blooming in March. I've always loved this garden of my neighbor's with its colorful rose trellis. She also has a multitude of  annuals below providing more color and showing some other flowers blooming this month. You can see her California golden poppies. irises, calendula, and those pinkish flowers to the right side I've never been able to identify. You may need to click the photo to enlarge it in order to see the detail. 

Below are some of my roses in bloom today at the end of April. The first,  to the left, is a Windy City miniature rose I bought a couple of years ago that does not require a lot of water. It is one of the taller miniature roses and can grow as tall as a yard high, maybe even higher. Like all roses, if you grow them without chemicals or sprays, the petals are edible. 

Below is a Cecile Brunner climbing rose. It will climb high and even climb your trees, and it can grow out of control if you don't keep it tamed with pruning. 

One of my very favorite roses is a tree rose that grows outside my kitchen window. I love its coral color.  Evidently, others also like this rose. I put it on a Zazzle "Thinking of You" greeting card, and it turned out to be a best seller. Maybe you would also like to have some. It's available as both a greeting card or note card and there are volume discounts if you buy ten or more cards, including other assorted designs. 

 Coral Rose Card, Thinking of you today.

Butterfly on Gazanias, © B. Radisavljevic

As almost always, gazanias are in bloom. It can be relied on for color almost all year. As you can see, this butterfly was also attracted to it. Gazanias are a wonderful ground cover and spread fast to make more plants.

Another plant that really spreads fast to fill in bare ground is lambs ears. The books say it's supposed to bloom in June or July, but it is beginning to bloom now,  and I expect there will be full flower spikes by May.







Lambs ears have a wonderful soft
texture that almost feels woolly. Their very light greenish gray leaves provide a complementary background to almost anything darker and brighter, and its own pale purple flowers won't clash with anything, as you can see in the photo here.

In the photo to the left, you can see how the lambs ears act as a ground cover around the pink Sweet William flowers. It will spread to fill in any available space, and although some think of it as a weed, I prefer it to the weeds it smothers, and it's much easier to pull out if you want to use the space for something else. I started with just one plant several  years ago on my Templeton property and when the gophers attacked it, I potted it. Then I started one plant from that mother plant here in Paso Robles about ten years ago and it's now in every single front flower bed.

One more plant I saw blooming this month around town is yarrow. A lot of businesses use it in their landscaping, often with roses or lavender, because it doesn't need much water. It's a lovely contrast to either lavender or sage. I plan to get some one of these days.

Although I haven't pictured them here, for lack of room, my light pink carnations are also blooming now. They started blooming at the end of February but are in full  bloom now. The darker ones aren't blooming yet.

This is just a sampling of what blooms in April. Many of these plants will bloom for many months. I like to keep photographic notes on what blooms when to help when I plan my gardens. That way I'll know when  to expect certain colors to arrive in my garden. In past years I've also had pansies blooming at this time, but I was physically unable to work in my garden when it was time to plant them this year. Remember, if you want a closer look at any photo, just click to enlarge it.

What's blooming in your garden this April?

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• What Blooms in My Paso Robles Garden at the End Of May: Herbs
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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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• Almond Trees in Bloom Iiii

I Didn't Expect to See This

First 2015 Daffodil, January 26

I did expect to see this daffodil in bloom today, since I knew the bud was ready to open at any time. So this is my first daffodil to bloom in 2015, and many more have buds about to open. Since this daffodil is in bloom in my Paso Robles garden, I was anxious to see what was happening to the daffodils I had planted in Templeton in 2013. They bloomed last year, and I guess I expected to see their cheerful faces in my herb garden soon.

I had occasion to go over there today, so I wandered out to the herb garden ready to snap a photo of my blooming daffodils. What a shock was waiting for me instead! We must have had a lot of wind with the rain last night, because this is what I found where my daffodils were planted.

Fallen ButterflyBush 

My first reaction was to wonder what had  come down. Then I decided it was my butterfly bush missing. I had been pretty lax about pruning it, but I never expected this to happen. I wanted to drag it off my garden, but then I noticed the baby plants near the roots.

Baby Butterfly Bush Plants Attached to Mother Plant

The leaves were also starting to come back, and a bit of root was still in the ground. This is how the root looks.

Exposed Roots of Fallen Butterfly Bush

I hope I can get over there again with some pruners before the plant is dead . Since my physical activities are still restricted, I can't drag the plant away. But I think I can cut some of the new growth and try to root more plants. I think I can also cut away the babies so they can take over for the mother plant.

I'm hoping I can cut some of the branches off where the daffodils should be and see what has happened to them. I really shouldn't do these things for another two weeks, but I might be able to at least throw more dirt and water over the exposed roots to keep the plant from dying until I am allowed to garden again.

For comparison, you might want to check the post where this butterfly bush was still young, as were the plants around it, so you can get a feel for the shape of this garden.

Have you suffered any storm damage to your plants?

Almost Daffodil Time

As I was trying to pull out some grassy weeds last week, I was surprised to see daffodil plants pushing their way through the ground and into that grassy mess. It's not the first one I've seen in the past couple of weeks. I'm wondering how long it will take them to bloom?

It's very frustrating to be under doctor's orders not to do any gardening while you see more weeds creeping in every day. I want to pull them before they take over. I need to be patient and wait another couple of weeks. I want to get that grass out of there.

I took this photo today, and it looks like it will bloom any day now. Last year the first daffodils bloomed here on January 27.

This is another plant that's even closer to blooming, I think. It was also taken today. It's right at the front of the flower bed and doesn't have as many weeds around it. In fact, I have little daffodils pushing their way through the soil all over my Paso Robles garden. By the time I am able to get to my Templeton home again, the daffodils I planted there should be in bloom.

Evidently, It's not just daffodils. I also saw a few tulips poking their heads up today. I think I planted more than these, but these are all I see now. I'll be watching for more. I'm glad the bulbs will start to bloom soon. The calendula flowers could use some company. And a bit more attention from me.

Calendula and Kale on January 18, 2015

Jack Frost Pays a Visit and Bugs Invade

In the little time I've been able to be in the garden this week, I've noticed that a few of my plants have suffered from recent freezing temperatures. One has been my black sage. Fortunately, only the tips of some stems were affected. 




The hardest hit plants have been my Lilies of the Nile and my gazanias, but I expect both to bounce back. These are my poor Lilies of the Nile. 

Perhaps as unwelcome as Jack Frost has been the invasion of what I believe are box cedar bugs around the exterior walls of the house and on the plants. They seem to like to hide under the gazanias, but I find them everywhere. In this photo they were clumping in the gazanias in late afternoon. 

I tried treating them with food grade DE Diatomaceous Earth today. This is supposed to puncture the exoskeletons of the bugs  enough to dehydrate them, so it is completely non-toxic to the soil, pets, and humans. I sprinkled it on the leaves of the gazanias where I saw the bugs and anywhere else I saw them. But one has to be careful not to put it anywhere that would attract a beneficial insect such as a bee or butterfly.  It can kill them, too. You have to use this when it is dry, since water makes it ineffective. 

I'm waiting to see how well this works on the bugs, but it seems to be working well on ants inside the house. I hate using poisons in my kitchen. I bought ten pounds of this and so far it's doing the job for me.