The red bed: ‘Valentine’ rose bush and purple prickly pear. I like grouping tough antique roses with cacti. It’s something about the softness and lushness of the rose petals contrasting with the spiny “modern” shape of cacti. These two show off their beautiful reds.


The ‘Blue Elf’ aloe has finally opened up its tubular orange-red flowers.

Past the container pond, on the fence, the yellow jessamine blooms prolifically. At times, its delicious fragrance wafts over the patio.

Golden groundsel shows its first dainty daisy-like flowers in the shady back garden. The native plant’s low-growing foliage looks like a weed before the yellow flowers show up, and more than once I’ve weeded one out of the garden before realizing that it’s a plant I want to keep. Oops! This little plant, like the native spiderwort, dies to the ground during the heat of summer and doesn’t reappear until the following spring. By then I’ve usually forgotten what it looks like, and I try to pull it up. The ones that survive brighten up the shade in the early spring.