March Bloomers

How is it possible there are still nay-sayers when it comes to global warming?  They can't possibly be gardeners!    Is there anyone with their hands in the soil who isn't learning to deal with warmer (or much colder) winters, a lot less (or a lot more) rainfall?  In my garden, I'm wondering when to prune back plants that never stopped blooming, where I can replace ever more turf with mulched areas, and how to make the most of the rainwater I manage to capture when it DOES finally rain ... but through it all I'm always so grateful to have a garden.  

Who needs yoga?  I have gardening to teach me flexibility!  Here's some of what I was enjoying out there today ...

Hard to see that bumblebee on the Meyer lemon bloom, but he's just one of several dozen that were buzzing around the yard this afternoon.  Didn't see a single honey bee, but the bumbles had the air humming.

 'Old Blush' rose providing the backdrop for some pass along Dutch irises from Lucinda's garden.  The rose was started from a cutting about 3 years ago and is now close to 5 feet tall.  The peachy-brown iris in the next picture is one I call 'Iced Tea' as its true cultivar name is long lost.

Coral honeysuckle (above) and almond verbena (below.)

This 'Martha Gonzales' is one of my antique roses that continued to bloom throughout the past "winter".  On Valentine's Day  I finally just bit the bullet and pruned the roses anyway - even if they were covered in blooms and buds.

Japanese keria's little golden puffs trying to outshine the spiderwort's blue blooms.

Not a great picture of the yellow Lady Banksia rose that has obviously rebounded from being cut to the ground a few years ago for a fence repair.

A small section of the thicket of larkspur I now enjoy annually thanks to seeds from MSS of Zanthan Gardens. 

And the tiny red poppies that return in the midst of native white irises each year in spite of my mulching and neglect.

Shrimp plants in 3  colors 

Not pictured, but also blooming, are bulbine, 18 of the 20 different antique roses, milkweed, culinary sage, gaura, Mealy Blue sage, yellow columbine, miniature ajuga,  Texas betony, and two poor struggling blueberry bushes.

The winner of the book giveaway will be announced 3/16/12, so stay tuned.