Around town fleurs

Camellias continue to bloom around town. Great for shady gardens but not really drought tolerant. Family: Theaceae.

Around this time of the year, the pittosporum blooms. The tree and flowers are both meh. Pittosporums are somewhat drought tolerant but they do not require tons of water. I love the smell of the blooms, stronger at night, which means they are probably moth pollinated. That makes sense as the flowers are small and meh, as mentioned above. Family: Pittosporaceae. Of course.

I would like to see more gardens use ceanothus as they are drought tolerant. Here they are in bloom. Family: Rhamnaceae.

Poppies are starting to bloom. These are a light colored variant, and I don't know the species variant: Eschscholzia californica. Family: Papaveraceae

Ranunculus in bloom

A walk around town reveals ranunculus in bloom after the rain. Not drought tolerant but oh so pretty. They have their own family. Family Ranunculaceae

January blooms around town

The green veggies in my garden such as chard, peas and fava beans are growing well but the peas and fava have yet to bloom. As I don't have any blooms in my garden, I thought I would trot out these I spotted on my daily walks around town. January is camellia time in Southern California. Although the camellia is far from drought tolerant, they can fill out the corner in partial shade gardens. They prefer acidic soil. Family Theaceae, same family that provides green tea.

Lavender early in the morning still has rain drops from the storm which blew through overnight. They are not in bloom yet. Lavendar is great for the drought tolerant garden. Even without blooms, the foliage is a treasure. I don't know what species these are but I'm sure these are not native. Family Lamiaceae.

Lantana seems to always be in bloom in Southern California. This should be a great book title. I believe lantana is drought tolerant and not native. They are somewhat sensitive to cold but do fine, generally. Family Verbenaceae.

These provide loads of color in the winter, our winter, that is. I used to know what these were called. I believe these non-native but drought tolerant. All I know is they are in the Lamiaceae family.