#160 Isolation

You may wonder why I chose this theme for these photos. It was a surreal experience: they were taken on a Los Angeles Freeway. It was early on a Sunday, so I guess everyone was in church.

#221 Plants

One type of plant is predominate in our yard: Iris. When we moved into our new home....no backyard plants...I chose to plant iris. We ordered 30 (got 33) rhizomes and have managed to keep most of them over 10 years. Some went by the wayside, but we have a large garden full of the most hardy ones. These are some of my favorites.

Kalifa's Horn Bearded Iris

Marauder  Bearded Iris

Bengal Tiger  Bearded Iris

Jurassic Park  Bearded Iris

Magician's Masterpiece Bearded Iris

#68 Damaged

This is the first Japanese Beetle to show up in our yard. It will damage any white flower in our yard. It starts on the calla lily, then on any white iris, and any white rose, such as our Iceberg florabunda, or the hybrid WWII rose my DH loves so much. Bummer!

#189 Multicolored

We have an early blooming rose that is our favorite. Joseph's Coat blooms change color as they age. Patchwork is another rose we enjoy because of the same feature.

#273 Smells

Jasmine vine outside our back door. When it first starts to bloom, we go out often to catch the scent. After all these blossoms have bloomed and start to decay, we avoid the smell.....

#282 Spring

More spring in our yard. I like colorful foliage. I especially like lime and purple together.

Coleus

Geranium

Sweet Potato Vine

Redtwig Dogwood

Years ago I saw a dogwood tree in Yosemite and decided that one day I would have one of those plants. So when I found one that was packaged with a root and dormant plant, I bought it. Needless to say, I didn't know what a redtwig dogwood was. This isn't the blossom I was looking for! The beauty is in the red stalks in the winter.

Having brought a starter with us when we moved from the California Bay Area to the central valley of California, I am enjoying it more than ever. Now I can look out my bedroom window and see the colorful red twigs when the leaves are gone. Next to it on the arbor is a green vine that blooms in December with tiny yellow flowers. This is a real boost to my winter doldroms.

#282 Spring

More spring blooms. In just a few days my yard has turned colorful. More purple (or shades).

Clematis

Clematis

Magnolia (tulip tree)

#231 Purple

These are just a few of the puple flowers now in bloom in the Central California Valley. Spring has sprung!

Wisteria

Wisteria

Wisteria

Grape Hyacinth

Lilac

Lilac

#128 Generous

Even the house plants are blooming early. This Christmas Cactus thinks it is an Easter Cactus.

#128 Generous

We went to the tulip farm and enjoyed a dozen at home. Over too soon.

#128 Generous

More flowers in bloom here in our valley. These are from Freesia bulbs that bloom every spring. There is a wide variety of colors.

#128 Generous

These are some of the flowers that are in bloom now in California's central valley. The iris has been blooming regularly since December, even through the coldest weather. The cyclamen blooms here all winter, but this one is more vivid since it gets the afternoon sun. The redbud tree is in our daughter's yard. The bees were all over it!

California Poppy

Iris

Cyclamen

Redbud tree

#128 Generous

I'm going to explain how this theme works for me. I have decided that the rains that have been so generous have caused us to have an early spring. As a matter of fact, even though we have had some freezes this winter, I have some iris that has bloomed since December. Never before. The photos from a walk through our yard will appear for the next couple of days.

Succulent blooms

Agave buds about to open

Clematis blooms about to open

Ivy geranium has bloomed all winter