The weather has been more spring-like in the last week than earlier in the month when it was much more like summer. The hot weather means that many of the roses have already bloomed and finished! During this week the temperatures have been pleasant with rain on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, which the garden and I were very pleased to see.
The Eschscholzia are busy making seed pods and some that were the first into flower are now looking rather leggy, I will remove some to allow space for what is to follow but leave the rest to set seed for autumn or spring plants to continue their presence on the slope.
The usual view
Gaura is flowering adding its butterfly flowers to the scene
Verbena bonarienis is adding its vertical accents
Stipa tenuissima continues to waft beautifully in the breeze
Feathery fennel is adding soft textured green to the higher part of the slope.
The Teucrium has been pruned into a huge sphere and a wild Allium is flowering, I do hope these colonise the slope, I love their dark flower heads
I love the contrast of the solid form of the Teucrium to the soft feathery grass, Stipa tenuissima.
Stipa tenuissima continues to waft beautifully in the breeze
Solanum jasminoides Album is covered with flowers.
Salvia turkestanica’s flower is forming
There are quite a few Salvia getting ready to make their presence felt.
The Melia at the top of the slope is flowering
Melia canopy with flowers
Melia flowers
Although I am posting this a day late I did take the photographs yesterday so on the correct day.
What changes are you noticing is your garden as spring progresses?
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
The field in the distance still looks lovely and green – and the whole border is tremendously lush despite the heat. I love the reds and yellows of the poppies as the stipa frames and winds its way through them – it’s really tactile!
I had a group here today to learn about gardening and every single person ran their hands through the stipa which is in many parts of the garden not just the slope.
I never get tired of verbena bonariensis- those beautiful verticals work everywhere, and look sensational in the stipa. Have you ever grown the giant fennel? I have seen it here, but only in very well drained, sloping gardens.
I’m not sure what you mean by giant fennel. The one on the slope is the wild one that grows to over six foot, I grow it to collect the flowers to dry for cooking. I also grow Florence fennel which is for the bulb, to cook or use in salads.
So idyllic! The Stipa is gorgeous, especially with the CA poppies that are still blooming. It makes me think of lions’ manes.
I can see where you are coming from with the lion’s mane. It was the favourite plant in the garden today when I had a group of gardeners learning about perennials visiting.
Always lovely, Christina. I wanted to run my hands through the Stipa as well. And good to be reminded how lovely green fennel is, since I tend to be a bit obsessive about the bronze. I think Linda above means Ferula communis ‘Gigantea’. A superb plant and I guess it might do very well for you. I tried to grow it on clay in England and just lost it several times. I always associate it with Beth Chatto, for some reason.
That’s where Chloris (above) says she bought one. I’ll look for some seed, because if it needs the same conditions as fennel, it will love it here.
I really do think I can see it looking amazing in your garden, Christina!
Good to hear how you deal with the California poppies as they finish blooming. I hope to be faced with that situation if all goes as planned.
Gorgeous views. Lucky you to have rain. It really helps a garden to have the real thing instead of just watering. Your Gaura is attractive–mine flops and must be in the wrong place.
Try giving the Gaura the Chelsea chop; mostly mine doesn’t flop because it doesn’t get any water, some years it grows to my shoulder height but last year I did cut it right down in July (I think) and them it stayed a reasonable height flowering right into the early winter.
Very lovely Christina. I imagine on a hot day the slight breeze rippling through the Stipa can create the illusion of it being cooler – like the bells in Japan: the Japanese hang bells in their gardens or at a window, and when the breeze rings them on a hot and humid day it is supposed to make you feel cooler. 🙂
I must try that; we did bring some lovely sounding chimes with us when we moved to Italy, but I don’t think I’ve seen them since!
I agree the Allium is a nice addition in shape and color, hope it will naturalize for you.
The stipa gives a beautiful softness to the beds, and must look great when the wind blows through! I wish we were just a little bit warmer and I think it would be hardy then.
The poppies are always so nice to see each year and good that they almost take care if themselves. I was wondering if you ever see them showing up down the street or further down the driveway. I have a few things like sunflowers and verbena which show up down the street, and it’s funny to know they came from this garden and are doing just as well as if I planted them myself!
So far I haven’t seen either the poppies or Stipa outside of the garden, but I’m sure it will happen. I read that Stipa is eaten by sheep in Mexico so the sheep here could learn to eat it too!
It looks so beautiful with all the lovely foliage setting it off so well. You are well ahead of us now, it all looks very summery. Another giant fennel which I bought from Beth Chatto when I went with Julie is Ferula tingitana ‘ Cedric Morris’. It is stunning. When it flowers, probably next year, rather than this, I will send you some seeds.
That would be brilliant! Thank you, you are so generous. Your plant is growing really well, I love it.
I love that Melia. I think I remember sighing over it last year – it has spectacular presence in your garden. Although the last 3 weeks here have been unusually cool (by SoCal standards), my garden is shifting into summer mode with the dormant daylilies I inherited with the house preparing to burst into bloom in accompaniment to the Agapanthus.
I find it hard to believe that I planted the Melias as tiny seedlings no thicker than my finger and in 2007, now the trunks are so bog I couldn’t hold my hands around them and touch finger tips!
Your slope is looking wonderful. I love the combination of the poppies with the other flowers and the grasses. Summer has arrived in full force here. I call it the “deep greening” as flowers fade and summer’s green mantle settles over the landscape. Some annuals add colorful accents. Crepe myrtles (Lagerstroemia), which provided watermelon pink and lavender pops of color through much of the summer, are about to bloom.
“deep greening” is a more positive way of thinking of mid-summer than the “deep browning” I think of! I have 2 Lagerstoemias but they don’t usually flower until mid- August and then not very well as they don’t have enough water, maybe this year they will be better as their roots have had time to get right down into the tuffo, where there is some humidity.
beautiful Christina, in your sunny weather the stipa has a silky look, making it even more river like, Frances
The Stipa ‘flowers’ do shine in the sunlight, Frances; I’ve not really noticed that before.
I love the feathery grasses against the poppies….here we had heat and drought that changed today to cold and 2 inches of rain….now for the veg garden to kick into high gear as I say…all planted and waiting for hot weather to come again. And my garden is turning purple with a little white and yellow and pink…but I cannot get over all the purple out at once as the irises are blooming fast and furious this year.
2 inches of rain is a huge amount, we calculate in millimetres and the equivalent of a quarter inch would be a lot!