Lovely blooms! Good for you Kelli! I have no alternative here, our city trees shades us, so my opportunity of full direct sun is very short. I guess it is both good and bad, it also shelters our house from excessive heat when it comes.

Tarev, you must have huge city trees. What are they? On our street they are only crepe myrtles. The next street over has some pretty big Canary Island pines.

Blooming and fruiting of my Calamondin tree is much more prominent now! Love the citrusy jasmine-like scent!

Kelli said:Tarev, you must have huge city trees. What are they? On our street they are only crepe myrtles. The next street over has some pretty big Canary Island pines.

I think these are poplars?? It scatters lots of catkins in Spring, and drops lots of leaves at this time in summer as it balances its drought tolerance, and goes deciduous in winter.

Could be cottonwoods, which are also called poplars. They get to be big trees and have nice, yellow fall color. The leaf is almost like a triangle. They are called cottonwoods because they shed a lot of cottony seed fluff, at least that's what I've read. I don't have experience with cottonwoods in the spring.

Maybe, they have planted an assortment of trees in this area of our city, this type that is near our side, then pine trees, willow trees, cherry trees. A nice tree-lined avenue, so it is fun to walk about and get some much needed shade.

So I get lots of gardening clean-up here, my tiny garden becomes a catch basin of the leaves and when it gets way too windy, branches and twigs. But it is a small price to pay, as these trees do their wind break and protect us from heat.

Tree-lined streets look so much better than bare streets. Bare streets look like they're going to be slums some day, IMO.

LOVE Canary Pines! Miss mine...many years ago at the hospital in Fallbrook, a friend and I had the opportunity to dig Canary Pine seedling trees from their landscaping. I took home 50...also eucalyptus citriodora seedlings, which are one of my favorite eucs. It seems odd to me to see some eucs grown up here, but I have no room...maybe I could squeeze in a Nicky euc.....

Canary Island pines always remind me of this incident. I was eating lunch outside at work and sitting near some CI pines. It was one of those 108F days. (I was sitting outside because the office was so cold, I was sick of it.) There was this popping noise over and over. I wondered what it was. I'm pretty sure it was the pine cones popping open because of the heat.

Once in a lifetime event.....unless you're siitng beneath those trees every day, all summer long....lol..

I went out for a night time after dinner walk, and I saw that my caladium has decided to show off its spadix a little more:

Pretty indeed...any scent?

I went out again to check..not scented.

I ask because at our Fallbrook house we inherited a huge old philodendron and I'd never seen one flower and had no idea they were scented until I was out one evening and tracked down the scent. Really lovely scent....

I will see the other buds in the other containers if they manage to open up..maybe it depends on the variety.

Hoya kerrii variegata is finally in bloom:


Hoya shooting star is still in bloom indoors, doing its sappy mode:

Fireweed peeking over the fence from my neighbor's property. I wanted seeds of this last year, but had not met him to ask permission.....still haven't met him, guess we both like it that way. I will have to meet him or risk being caught stealing some seeds...lol.

Close-up of the fireweed...



We have an old, large buddleja davidii along the edge of the property and It's finally flowering....

I'm surprised this rose does so well in a xeriscape situation. This is the best-looking section of our yard right now.




Texas ranger

Love the pink and orange combo! I really like the Texas ranger, but they get way too big for my space. Even on the freeway we had to shear them back for sight clearance.