Monday, March 19, 2007

Spring Blooms

It is getting warm, well hot in the middle of the day. We've put away the warming blanket and the little heater for our bathroom. The windows are open and the fan is on most nights now although it can still get cool and breezy like it did on Friday night. Some people are complaining about their pollen allergies.

The Jacarandas are blooming so today I went looking for a tree to photograph because the color of the blossoms against the San Miguel blue skies is just amazing. I wanted to photograph a whole tree but everywhere I could find a whole tree that I was able to photograph, it wasn't yet in full bloom. The ones that are a mass of lavender/purple were all behind walls in some one's garden but I did get a picture of the blooms against the sky. When you look out from our terrace across the city you see splotches of purple all across the landscape.
In our little patio we have a bed of clivia that is blooming. Again, another intense color especially against the dark green foliage. Clivia is a Kafir lily and is drought resistant and does well in bright diffused light. Perfect for my patio.

This geranium was in a little four-inch pot last year on the patio. Carmela, our housekeeper, decided it needed to be on the terrace so she put it in an empty pot and it is a very happy geranium. It stays covered in blooms.
The bird of paradise usually has one or two blooms on it. This is Ned's favorite plant. He checks it every few days to see if it is getting a new leaf or bloom stalk. Very exotic flower.

I cut the two pots of Mexican sage back to nubs a month or two ago and it is coming around and starting to make lavender velvet blossoms.

Spring has sprung!

6 comments:

Nancy said...

Spring is here, too. The cherry trees are in bloom - they are almost as glorious as the jacaranda

I love Spring the best of all the seasons - all that hopefulness and fresh green.

Was it really 95 degrees there today? That's what I saw on Yahoo weather.

Billie Mercer said...

Brenda, I don't know the exact temperature here today but I'd guess more like 88 to 90. Still that doesn't last too long in the middle of the day. It will get hot and hotter until the rains start in the middle of June. May is the hottest month of the year. At least the nights are cool.....so far.

Anonymous said...

I'm with Ned - I like his flower ;-) Terrific photos.

Juan

La Gringa said...

Have I stumbled upon a gardening blog? ;-)

See, that's why I don't want you to focus on one topic.

Does your bird of paradise bloom all year? I thought they only bloomed once a year. I don't know because I'm still waiting for a bloom from mine.

I love all your flowers but that bird of paradise is just so spectacular.

Billie Mercer said...

La Gringa, I don't know when the Bird of Paradise is suppose to bloom but this one just blooms most of the year. It seems like everytime one dies off another is coming out.

Brenda Maas said...

I love the B of P. also, who wouldn't? I tried to take photos of jacaranda also and failed as they are all in someones yard. They are so beautiful, too bad they don't last longer. The geraniums do well here too.
Love the photos.