Forget roses. This is what blooms naturally around Valentine’s day. Manzanita feeds the hummingbirds, daffodils brighten up the garden, and oxalis throws a splash of yellow green over verdant green leaves.
A Winter Bouquet
Daffodils
Just plant the bulbs in fall and you’ll have daffodils for years to come. These are way overdue for division: we need to dig up the bulbs in fall and give them more space to grow. We’ll probably have enough to make a solid wall of color once they’ve gotten over being moved.
Manzanita
This is Arctostaphylos ‘Louis Edmunds’. It’s native to California and generally does great in gardens as long as it has decent drainage and not too much water. Since there’s not a lot in bloom yet, local hummingbirds seek out the flowers.
Hellebores
Growing in a neglected area north of the house, these do reasonably well. They’d still be happier in France or Seattle where summers are cooler. These have two views: one is the flower in its full glory as seen when lying on your back looking up (or the photographic equivalent). The other is from the top, where you can’t appreciate the flower’s markings.
Oxalis pes-caprae
This is a weed from South Africa. It spreads by little tiny bulblets, so anywhere soil with bulblets goes, there go the plants. We’re lucky, though – it does not set seed here in California, at least. Still, as weeds go this is an attractive one!