This week in the garden - #57

Just in time for Easter, here is my first St. Joseph's lily bloom of the season, happily flowering right next to the yellow cestrum.

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Several new plants have been added to the garden this week, in another busy week of planting and moving old plants around. Things are beginning to take shape, but the chore can never be called complete.

One of the new plants is this blue hibiscus, Alyogyne huegelii. This plant was entirely new to me but I saw it at one of the big garden centers and just fell in love. I had to have it! Interestingly, it is not a true hibiscus but is related to the mallows. It is native to southwestern Australia and is said to be a very tough plant that will grow in a variety of soils and climates. My new plant is growing in a big pot on my patio. It can get up to about six feet tall, but this pot should be able to hold it, I think. It's presently sharing the pot with some little begonias.

Another plant added this week was 'Little John,' a dwarf bottle brush plant. I added two of them to the bed at the front of my house, another bed that I am reworking this spring. It always surprises me that these strange little blossoms are such favorites with hummingbirds. They just don't look like typical hummingbird fare, but the birds do love them.

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My new fountain that I showed you last week has proved to be a big hit with the birds.

The winter finches, Pine Siskins and American Goldfinches seen here, are particularly attracted to it. We do refer to them as winter finches, but they are still here at the end of March. Maybe they can sense that it is still cold and snowy up north.

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More blooms around the garden this week:

Calibrachoa is usually classified as an annual, but these plants, in a pot with a blueberry shrub, carried blooms right through the winter and are blooming now right along with the blueberry.

'Coral Nymph' has become one of my favorite salvias. Here is its first bloom of the year, as it settles into its new bed next to the patio.

The 'Peggy Martin' rose lives on a trellis on the side of the garden shed. It is absolutely full of buds and soon will be full tiny pink flowers like the one you see here. This is a child of the famous rose that survived Katrina in a New Orleans garden. It has survived drought in my garden for the last two years for it is in a bed that is not very convenient for me to water and so it gets very little care. It is one tough rose!

Finally, this is another first - the first bloom of the year from 'Monkey Business,' a floribunda rose. (Something took a bite out of one of its petals.) It's not completely open yet but it will be by Sunday, in time for my Easter visitors to enjoy it.

Have a peaceful weekend. Happy gardening!