Winter Bloom

I was surprised to see the bloom spike coming out of this aloe a few weeks ago. I’ve had this aloe in the same blue pot for a couple of years. (See here for an earlier pic.) It had been in full sun and was starting to stress out. Personally, I don’t like the stressed look on my aloes and succulents, so I moved it into a shadier spot. She rewarded me with this awesome bloom! (And brighter green stripes.) I took this pic with my iphone and filtered it through Instagram. What fun!

A Fairy’s Wand of My Own

Neighborhood fountain of flowers

  

I passed by this fountain of flowers on my way to the BART station one morning and had to snap a couple of pics. I didn’t know what it was, but I wanted to add it to my imaginary front yard garden one day.

Flower identified at Annie’s!

  

 A few days later, I went to Annie’s Annuals & Perennials to check out their Art in the Garden event. As my girl sat down to remove the lava rock from her princess sandals, I spotted the very same fountain of flowers. Of course I would find it at Annie’s! I asked them what it is and found out that it’s a Dierama (aka Fairy’s Wand aka Angel’s Fishing Rod). They only had a couple small plants left for sale, and only in white, so I picked up my very own Dierama Guinevere.  

Dierama Guinevere

  

And as per my habit, I will put it in a pot in the back yard for a while until it grows up a bit. By then I’m sure our front bedding areas will be ready for planting. I’m serious.

Bearded Iris

Note to self: Plant Iris bulbs this year.

I passed by this gorgeous group of irises on my way to work recently. (Actually the pic is from springtime.) It was such an impressive display all along the neighbor’s front yard fence. Makes me want to try my hand at planting iris bulbs this year!

What a great driveway!

Susan’s Succulents

 

Here is a front yard garden that I love. I first went to Susan’s Succulents last year after hearing about her succulent sale on craigslist.

This is one of my purchases from last year.

And here she is one year later. The plan is to put this beauty in the ground as part of the upcoming front yard succulent make-over, but for now my comfort level is still container gardening!!

Cactus Flowers

Now this neighborhood front yard is the opposite of mine. Not a blade of grass in sight!

These flowers are so impressive!

I had been watching the buds on this cactus for a few days, then suddenly when I drove by I saw that it was in full bloom! Had to take some pictures! Lovely.