Seeds and spring ~

Spring has definitely arrived in Southern California!

With so much going on it was hard to find one picture I wanted to share with you, I decided to post nasturtiums because in my garden they are so emblematic of early spring. For the next few weeks they will romp gloriously through the borders, wane, and then be ready to be pulled out to make way for other plantings, faithfully returning next year.

Meanwhile...

I have been planting lots of annual seeds, hoping to get a head start on flowers for summer color.I usually wait too long, this year I think I have started early enough to have plants ready to put out in the garden by June.

 Up to now I have been using little peat pots to start the seeds, but decided that these would be more efficient to use for any seedlings that needed pricking out and potting up before planting in the garden, or for starting larger seeds, such as sunflowers.

So this morning I made a trip to Home Depot and bought a commercial Pro-Hex starting tray to use for planting the rest of the seeds. It is all a fun experiment to see which way is the best and it will probably work out to be some combination of the two.

So far, in the peat pot tray I planted earlier, the strawflowers and gomphrenas seeds have began to sprout. I am growing them for both garden color and to use in dried bouquets.

No spring flowers in the picture above - the contrast of the succulents growing in this fountain against the wall covered in creeping ficus caught my eye this morning, I though it was so pretty I had to take a picture. 

Thank you for visiting

Happy Spring! 

Adrienne

It's beginning to look like spring ~

Last month seemed to zoom by without my posting. I was busy with other projects and winter clean-up in the garden.

But today when I went out this morning I felt the need to take some pictures. Although the garden is still quite bare, it is being to look like spring.

We had a very rainy winter which has been wonderful, the extra water has added so much lushness to the garden. Everything seems to be bigger this year and I expect this to be an exception spring.

For now I must be content with the early bloomers, the magnolias are beautiful and so are the purple hibiscus, which never seem to be out of flower. I have two of them and a few weeks ago I planted another.

Bulbs are the highlight right now. Usually when they are in full bloom we get an unseasonably hot spell that shortens their flowering but this year the temperatures have been lower and the bloom period much longer. These dwarf daffodils are planted in my driveway median, they are low enough for the car to drive over. I love them combined with the low growing purple verbena. 

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An update

The office project has taken quite a bit of my time and with the exception  of the details is finally complete. I will be posting more about it later but I wanted to share one of the parts I like the most, the wall behind my desk. The sconces were my Mother's, I saved them knowing that eventually I would find a spot for them. The mirror is from my brother's shop, it was damaged but I was able to repair it. I am also in love with the new cabinet door pulls, they were an extravagance but in my opinion well worth it.

 I have been waiting for the trim to finish the drapes, it came yesterday, I hope to get it sewn on in the next couple of days. Two chairs that need cushions replaced, switch plates covers to install and drapes to hang, then it should all be done. Hooray! 

Thank you for visiting

Adrienne