Sunday, July 5, 2009

More May flowers from our yard

I posted this photo (here) on a previous post. This was our side yard earlier in the spring, mostly in May. During the last week of June my son and husband started revamping that part of our yard. So the yellow flowers are now all gone. I don't remember the name of these flowers, but I've always called them (and that's what they look like to me) marguerite daisies. At the moment, the rose bushes are still all intact, but we have been discussing about where to replant them. There is one bush that will not be moved, and that is the deep red colored rose. That plant has probably been there for at least 15-20 years and we really don't want to lose that one. It's a prolific bloomer.
This is what the side yard looks like today with only the rose bushes (on the left). Between the rose bushes and the house is a gravel pathway. The rocks are what was removed from the front yard. My son and husband have also installed new water pipes from the front yard where the dark green plants are showing on the right, all the way back to the end of the back yard. We now have a faucet at the end of the back yard so we can more efficiently water our orange tree and future veggie gardens.
And now on to some of our May blooming plants. This photo (below) is a flowering pomegranate. This little tree is actually our neighbors', but it stands between our two side yards near the front. This particular tree always seems to "hide" several of our yard birds, mostly house finches and lesser goldfinches. I do think there are several house sparrows in this tree, too, but most of them are usually living and perching in our neighbors' palm tree that sits out in the front yard.
Our honeysuckle plant is on the west side of the house, not far from the flowering pomegranate. It seems to like this location; we've only had it for about a year now. We planted it where we once had a passion flower vine growing. I miss that plant, but this one is nice, too. It certainly does a good job attracting bees.

This is my autumn sage. It used to be a potted plant, but last summer we put it in the ground and it is doing so much better. It has room to spread its roots. It seems to always have flowers on it.
And here is one final shot of our marguerite daisies we had growing in the side yard. May was the best "show time" for these flowers. Once June came along, the flowers seem to be finished blooming.
These pink flowers are called sea pinks. We have several of them planted in the front yard closest to the sidewalk. They bloom in May and then look like tufts of grass the remainder of the year, including the winter months (provided we don't get a bad freeze).
This is part of what we call our parking strip - the strip of land between the street and the sidewalk. Besides the big old elm tree, we have planted and now enjoy wooly thyme and Stella d'oro daylilies. There is also a small amount of some type of sedum ground cover I planted there about the same year I had planted the wooly thyme. The sedum usually blooms in June, after the wooly thyme is done blooming.

I hope to post more yard flora featuring our roses. Stay tuned.

8 comments:

Linda in Erie said...

I loved the flowers in the side yard in the before photo but it must be nice to have that side opened up. It all looks so nice. That flowering pomegranate is awesome! I've never seen a tree like that. I love the autumn sage, too. You can grow such beautiful plants in your growing zone.

Mary C said...

Thanks, Linda! We Californians can get so spoiled when it comes to our climate and what we can grow, both edible and non-edible.

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Thanks for the tour of your yard.The Pomagranite blossoms are lovely,I had never seen them before.
Blessings,Ruth

KGMom said...

WOW--you are surrounded with blooming beauty.

RuthieJ said...

Looks good Mary! It must be nice to have flowers blooming for a good part of the year. I'm sure your birds and insects appreciate it too.

Colleen said...

Love all the flowers, especially the May shot of the side garden. I have some Texas Sage planted that looks similar to your sage plant. My Texas Sage flowers all summer and spreads well and is about 4.5 high - It's one of my favorite garden plants.

Thanks for visiting my blog the other day. :)

Leedra said...

The Sea Pinks are so pretty!

Mary C said...

Hi Ruth, I only found out the name of that pomegranate tree a couple weeks ago. And it's also the first one I've ever seen.

Thanks, Donna!

Hey Ruthie -- I don't know about the insects, but I know the birds enjoy having blossoms around for most of the year.

Hi Colleen - so glad you stopped by. I wonder if the Texas sage could be a slightly larger version. Mine is only about 2.5 feet high. If you get a chance, maybe you can post a photo of it one day. I'd love to see it.

Thanks, Leedra. I'm glad you like the sea pinks. It's such a funny name for them, but I do like seeing them throughout the year, even when they aren't blooming. They look like little tufts of grass when not in bloom.

 

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