Bloom where you're planted

I'm not sure how the seed got dropped under the water meter cover in the first place. Or how the tiny seedling found its way up through the one small hole in the cover. But it is tenacious! It's even managed to bloom where it's planted.

Flower child

This little corner flower garden brought a smile to my face. The two ladies dressed in fashions from a century ago oversee all these blossoms surrounding their "flower child" work table. And if you look closely, you can even see Ariel the little mermaid peaking out from behind the picket fence.

A little sunshine

I often pass this bed of agapanthus flowers without giving them a second look, but the other day, they really stood out with the afternoon sun highlighting them from behind.

"Sunshine is the best medicine."

Beautiful but deadly?

I love angel trumpets and have been amazed as to how easy they are to grow and propagate. These flowers are so beautiful and exotic, I have maintained them in my yard ever since I was given a cutting from a friend. However, I was in for a little bit of a rude awakening when I looked them up to write about them for this post. Who knew they were toxic? Evidently every part of this plant contains dangerous levels of poison that can be fatal if ingested.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica:
All parts of angel’s trumpets are considered poisonous and contain the alkaloids atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine. Ingestion of the plants can cause disturbing hallucinations, paralysis, tachycardia, and memory loss and can be fatal. Various species were used both ritualistically and as an herbal medicine by indigenous peoples and their shamans, particularly in the northern Andes.

Lilies of the field

Construction has been going on at PIH Health Hospital since 2016 when ground was broken on a major expansion of the emergency department. Progress is being made, and there's a lot less scaffolding visible these days.

But what really catches my eye when I drive past (aside from the missing letter in the sign that makes me think for a moment that I am back at the River Rance in France) is the awesome field of golden lilies out front. Especially in the glow of the late afternoon sun.

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
~ Matthew 6:28-29

Flowers are yard art too!

I have always had an eye for yard art. I appreciate how creative and fun some can be. But flowers can also be yard art, especially in this yard that I spotted last week. It was an explosion of wildflowers and color and I couldn't resist sharing it with you.

"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment."
~ Claude Monet

Spring is here

A positive sign that spring is here is the green leaves showing up on the trees after a long winter sleep. The trees on this block are coming to full foliage in different degrees, but by the end of April they all will have their leaves supplying the tree with nutrients.



Another positive sign that spring is here is the vivid colors that keep popping up in the flower beds.

Wall flower

I like plants and flowers. However, cactus have not generally been a plant I could appreciate. But this one drew my eye as I drove by this house. It wouldn't be my choice for my house, but I did think it looked interesting and I liked the odd way the flowers just pop out on the tops of each spiky branch.

"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered." 
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yellow poppies

I love Iceland poppies, especially yellow ones. They are such happy flowers.

"Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul."
~ Luther Burbank

Unexpected surprise

This is one of the oddest flowers I have come across in my garden. It showed up 5 or 6 years ago. I'm not sure what it is, but it blooms once a year and is this brilliant red color. To me, it looks like a fireworks flower.

"Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower." 
~ Hans Christian Andersen

The price you pay

This window, framed with bougainvillea and roses, caught my eye the other day. I thought, how pretty the view out that window is going to be when the bougainvillea is in full bloom.

It's also going to be the safest window in the neighborhood. Bougainvillea is sometimes planted as a security feature. Between the rose thorns and the long bougainvillea thorns, no one is likely to try to pass this way!

"The most beautiful flowers have the sharpest thorns."
~ Samantha Goodwin

It's bloomin' Spring!

Spring is my favorite time of the year. I like looking for blossoms and color. From this cactus bloom that I happened upon, to the weeds "blooming" in the riverbed, Spring is here!

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.”
~ Rainer Maria Rilke

The golden poppy

Poppies abound in Downey this spring! (See Local wildflowers for more.) This time, it's the California Poppy, our state flower since 1903. April 6 is California Poppy Day.

Local wildflowers

I always thought that if I wanted to see wildflowers in bloom in the spring, I'd have to drive for a couple of hours in any direction. But it turns out that Downey has its own patch of wildflowers, in the parkway next to an empty lot. This patch (maybe 200' long and 6' wide) is overflowing with poppies. I recognized mostly oriental poppies, and even a few of our own California golden poppies.

Just goes to show what a little rain can bring.

More in bloom

Once again, my attention was caught by flowers in bloom. This house is a study in contrasts (more on that tomorrow). On this side, you see the results of our abundance of rain this winter. Flowers are blooming everywhere and, as usual, the sight of them lifts my heart a bit.

The unintentional blooms

The house I wrote about yesterday benefited from all the rain we've had the last couple of months. But it's not just the intentional blooms that benefit—the unintentional blooms (otherwise known as weeds) take advantage of the rain too. In the case of this section of alleyway, the ground was bare a month ago. All we needed was a month of rain, and now there are blossoms (and weeds) everywhere!

An abundance of blooms

On what was otherwise a somewhat dreary day, this house brightened my day with its overflowing abundance of blooms.

"A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms."

Spring

Spring is on its way. With all the rain we've had, my nasturtiums are growing like crazy.

"The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size." 
~ Gertrude S. Wister

After the rains

After the rains, not only do the rivers fill up but yards get extra water and then lots of sunshine. These flowers are popping out all over Downey. It seems January showers are bringing February flowers. The hillsides of Whittier are going to be very green this spring and summer. We'll have to do some more hiking up there and take lots of pictures.

Oh yeah, along with the flowers and grass come weeds. I didn't even see this one yesterday and now it's ready to spread its seeds tomorrow.

“I've never written a quote I feel would be suitable for my gravestone. Wouldn't it be ironic if it were this one? Oh, and could you pull a few weeds while you're here?”
~ Ryan Lilly, Write like no one is reading

Grow to survive

This flower is from a plant that grew up in the middle of a hedge of another plant. It had to grow up high enough to have its flowers be visible to pollinators. In order for the plant to do what it was designed to do, reproduce to seed more plants just like itself, it had to get tall enough to be seen. It is just above the hedge, just tall enough. Beautiful!

Whatever is holding you back from doing what you were designed to do, grow just a little bit above it.

"The earth laughs in flowers.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson