Sometime in the last month, Mother Nature hit the “on” button for Spring here in USDA zone 9-10. More sunshine, bees, birdsong and – oh yeah! – longer days to enjoy it all. So many pretty things have woken up and unfurled their flowers, way too many to post! I’ll keep it simple with a handful of hard-working but easy going CA natives that never fail to knock our socks off.
Ah, Ribes! How you brighten up our Winters and make the hummingbirds so happy! Our mother plant of Ribes sanguineum ‘Claremont’ is in massive beautiful bloom back by the seeding shed. With extra large, pendulous, 4″ blooms, you can see how the hummingbirds are mad for it. Just don’t get too close, or they might get mad at you. Check out the habit on this lovely plant – stunning!
We’re excited about this new-to-us NATIVE sweet pea that climbs by delicate-looking tendrils to 6-10′. Not thuggy like some of the other perennial peas (Lathyrus latifolius, we’re looking at you), Lathyrus vestitus can be found growing under oaks in light shade in both clay and sand in its native habitat. Supposedly deciduous, ours remained evergreen during our mild Winter and burst out in violet-pink, lightly grape-soda scented flowers in February. It’s been blooming ever since. Love!
The first few flowers of Galvezia speciosa are starting to peep out. This tough Channel Island native blooms Spring through Fall, with electric reddish-pink flowers and small fuzzy leaves on a pretty shrub 3′ tall by 3-4′ wide. It’s clay and drought tolerant, making it extra useful in the garden. I probably should have waited to take a picture of it next month when it will be even bloomier, but I couldn’t help myself.
Just last weekend I went for a walk in Briones Regional Park and was cheered to see Ranunculus californicus starting to bloom along the trails. It’s wide awake and starting to bloom in the nursery, too. Easy to grow and requiring virtually no-care once established, I dare you to find a more cheerful and quintessentially buttercuppy buttercup. It makes me happy every time I walk by it, whether on the trail or in the garden.
Of course, there are many, many other wonderful things starting to bloom right now. If you’re nearby, come see for yourself! Or visit our Flickr stream for frequent updates.
Big ups to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day! See what’s blooming on other folks’ gardens this March!
blog.anniesannuals.com 
What a gorgeous show of natives! Of course, the Bloom Day posts of so many California garden bloggers owe some of the blooms to Annie’s.
Hip hip Hooray! for spring.
We’re a month away from being able to contribute to bloom day here, but you’ve warmed us up with yours. The Ribes Claremont’ is amazing!
It’s so lovely to have blooming sweet peas in winter… fabulous. xoxo
Wow, what a shot of the hummingbird feeding on the Ribes! A hummingbird actually just built a nest in my in-laws’ bottlebrush, it’s the cutest little thing.
Spring has just barely hit the “on” button here in my garden, and she’ll probably toggle it off and on for awhile yet, so blooms are just waking up. Good to see that elsewhere, spring is Really On!
Thanks for joining in for bloom day!
I planted a Matilija Poppy in my backyard a couple years ago. It seems to like my yard, because it’s gotten HUGE. Besides growing about 8-10′ high and filling up the entire corner of my yard, it has grown under the fence and into my neighbor’s yard to the east of me. It’s grown under the fence and into my neighbor’s yard to the south of me ! I love it, but it’s getting so big it may take over my whole neighborhood! What shall I do??
The Matilija Poppy is notoriously fussy to get established, but once it does, stand back! It WANTS to take over a hillside, that’s just what it does. If it’s causing a problem with your neighbors and you don’t want to remove it entirely, you can try digging down to see how far the roots go, and then installing a barrier. In googling “install barrier bamboo” i came up with a few links to products that would be appropriate for the Romneya as well. Good luck!