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.

A few May flowers from our yard

The month of May has given us some lush looking blossoms in our front and side yards. Even though our front yard is still lacking ground cover for the second year, the plants are still putting out some really nice colors and plenty of blossoms on each plant. For the past two years my husband has cleaned out the rock/gravel we used to have as ground cover in the front yard. It was so blah looking. And we would prefer something a little more contrasting for all the color we get. We have been wanting to put bark down for ground cover/mulch. Our front yard is landscaped with a drip system. Knowing that water is a precious commodity around here, we have opted for no lawn, unlike most everyone else around here. Instead, we have color, a much more appealing look than just green grass and green shrubs.

These first two photos give you two views of the front yard. The photo above shows the miniature roses on the right edge of the pathway to the patio and front door. I'll post close-ups of these and our other roses in a separate post. The photo below shows how badly we need the bark around the plants. This looks as blah, if not worse, than when we had the rocks covering the ground. The purple plants in the foreground are lavender. The green plant in the center is nandina, aka heavenly bamboo. If you'd like a larger view just click on the photo.

Below are some close-ups of the plants that are producing some beautiful colors. First, here are a few of the lavender plants.

Here is our pink azalea.

This dianthus (pinks) is in a planter that sits by the garage door.

This is a shot of our side yard (east side of the house), with the photo taken from our back yard. Against the fence are our roses, pink in the foreground, a miniature white behind it, and a tall red rose bush in the background. Off to the right are flowers (annuals) that reseeded themselves from last year. The tall yellow plants are what I call marguerite daisies. The leaves have a chrysanthemum look to them, so I'm not really sure if I've named them correctly. Close-up photos of the flowers are below.

This was the first red poppy to bloom a couple weeks ago. These poppies are hidden amongst the marguerite daisies.

And these next three photos are close-ups of what I am presently calling marguerite daisies.

This nemesia is growing in a planter I have placed between our front patio and the west side of our house. This is the prettiest I have ever seen it.

And last but certainly not least is a close-up of our flowering maple, also located on the west side of our house. I have quite a few cannas growing there, too. But they won't bloom for another month or two yet. I'll be sure to post those when they bloom.

Making a comeback

Our temperatures have returned to normal, and the breeze is blowing from the bay and ocean. Hooray! Best of all, my red poppies are making a comeback. This is what I saw early this morning looking out the window. About 10-12 poppies blooming at one time. In the background are the yellow marguerite daisies.

Here is a close-up view of one of the poppies from this morning.
And here is a closer view of the yellow marguerite daisies.

And I thought you would like to see both kinds of marguerite daisies -- the plain yellow ones and the two-tone ones.

Backyard blossoms

We have been enjoying some really pretty blossoms in our backyard for several weeks. We have a plot of about 20 feet long by 5 feet wide full of gilia, Marguerite daisies, and California poppies. They are quite colorful and fun to look out the window or door first thing in the morning and be greeted by such a lovely mixture of color. Below are some of the photos I took a couple weeks ago. Even though we have had high temps these past few days, these plants are heat and drought tolerant. We run a soaker hose down the middle of it, and it runs for about half an hour every couple of days. Although our other poppies are still popping each day, by the end of the day during these hot days, they look fried like the photos I provided in my previous post.

Photo above is gilia - I think it is California gilia.

This is a Marguerite daisy. We found that we have two kinds this year -- this one with a yellow center and white outer petals. The other kind is all yellow. I wonder if one of these has naturalized.

Here is a group shot with the Marguerite daisy in the middle. It stands taller than the other plants.

A couple of red poppies from a couple weeks ago.

California poppies.

A California poppy among the gilia.