[Bon of Babble]

Hello from Southern California!!

We have annual June gloom right now so the gardens here are beautiful. I get to spy on what everyone is planting and what is blooming when I walk my dogs.

I've got a yellow protea that is finally blooming -- after I planted it 10 years ago!! (will post photo, it's somewhere in my album at the moment and I have to hunt for it).

I also planted some California poppies about two months ago and they are taking over my back and side flower beds -- and I keep reading that they don't transplant well.

I also planted lantana - every color I could find because once the searing hot winds start at the end of July, it is one of the few things that will keep blooming, that an bougainvillea.

[Bon of Babble]

I also planted FOUR of the hottest peppers I could find - two habaneros, one ghost and one scorpion. I’m babying them right now, habaneros grow fine around here, I’ll have to wait and see on the ghost and scorpion.

[greeneyes]

Thanks for the pictures. Those are beautiful flowers.

[Bon of Babble]

Found it: Here are two photos of the protea I waited 10 years for it to bloom. It looks like an octopus!

[bgill]

California poppies don’t transplant. Seed them where you want them and leave them. They’ll quickly fill out the bed and be a show stopper all summer.