Super Bloom? We've Always Had It

The Crescent Garden, the Arboretum's own incarnation of a permaculture garden, will soon be reaching peak wildflower bloom. But wait, aren't wildflowers 'wild'? The Arboretum is a botanic garden, right? We'll they're kind of wild. What you see now are the remains of the original "Wildflowering L.A." exhibit that consisted of an artist sowing California wildflower seeds in different locations in Los Angeles. At that time Clarkias, Oenothera (Evening primroses), California poppies, Lupines and others all competed with each other to see which one would dazzle the most and attract the most pollinators. Well the winner over time, by a good margin, has been the California poppy. Anybody who has grown these gorgeous golden attention grabbers will attest to their ability to seemingly naturalize if given the right conditions. Also, with the addition of judicious watering, they can keep on blooming till June gloom is over -almost three months of golden bliss. Check out the recent photo below. 

One of the few purple leaved plumbs still around is putting on a show as well, this one is located across from the waterfall. Most of these trees in the L.A. area have succumbed to a disease known as 'scorch'. This tree has survived because its location, next to a mist producing waterfall, keeps it cool and relatively less scorch damaged.

Last week saw some pretty cool looking clouds, like these below.

And with clouds come rain, and with rain, sometimes rainbows.

White flowering Viburnum tinus in the forground, white Philadelphus in the background.

It's still cool and many of our terrestrial orchids (like the one below) are blooming and being displayed out in front of the tropical greenhouse.

Yellow flowered Acacias of all types are blooming in the Australian section -if you're allergic pack your Benadryl!

Veltheimia bracteata bulbs starting to bloom in the African section. The blooms will turn a hot pink to pink-orange soon.

Yellow flowered Asteriscus maritimus in the foreground and blue flowered Echium in the background in this Canary Islands Exhibit planting.

Western Redbud on the right and Ceanothus on the left near the Roots and Shoots garden.

Redbud in the foreground and yellow flowered Vachellia in the background.

A Chinese redbud cultivar -crazy bloom for such a small tree.

Chinese lilies (Narcissus). Narcissus of all types are still going strong thanks to the cool weather.  

Flowering Prunus near the west end of Baldwin lagoon.

Strange development of tail feathers on this peacock; will the peahens still find him attractive?

California pepper tree in the Water Conservation Garden.

Bombax ceiba flower on the ground near the Garden for all seasons.

Bombax ceiba in bloom near the event lawn.