Such a delight to see things started to bloom now, even though it's only the end of January. And for that I feel spoiled since the California temperature, despite the blazing hot Summers, offer cold Winter nights that don't do much damage to the foliage. Since the hot hours of the Sun only seem to last about 5 hours during the Winter, I haven't been watering as frequently. I've been downright remiss at times, but attentive compared to the second year of gardening experience.
After December, I always take stock of what condition everything is in. Whether some things seem to have been none the worse for wear and other things come out ready to face Spring with a fury and other things wither and are gone. I walked around and examined sections at a time, as if I didn't think I could handle a lot of disappointment.
The Pride of Madeira has bounced back so well after the initial falter. I'm assuming I had it in a spot that was too sunny (despite the endurance this plant is supposed to have). It's now got a healthy dosage of shade during parts of the day with only a strong exposure to the sun for 3 hours of the day. I'm hopeful that it will continue to do well if I place it in the front yard when it gets larger. It's supposed to get really large and bushy with purple flowers, and there doesn't quite seem enough room for it to do that where it is now.
Tara's Pink Cape Mallow in one of the larger pots in the front yard looks abundant. The second one has been limping along, but both are blooming with lilac color flowers. I hover over them like a bee in awe.
The Cape Honeysuckle are all in bloom with their vivid orange flowers. The very first time I've seen them do more than offer green leaves.
This succulent eludes me. It used to be in the decaying wooden gazebo and as more of the wood components gave way to allow more sunlight in, it seemed to have started to become more fragile, so I settled in in the side garden where it can get a generous shaded time for a large part of the day, with a healthy dose of sun for only a couple of hours.
The Schefflera has come back and what a relief that is. When we first moved here, it was also in the decaying wood gazebo and looked great, but after the first year, it was not doing well. Moving it the side garden offered some respite from the sun and it survived the Winter, only to come back stronger.
The orchid plant I have in the side yard has been barren of flowers for 2 years. I've kept it happily despite the lack of blooms because the long green stalks please me. And this January, voila! Blooms. Four clusters of them, no less!
