Spring Is Here

Just went by the Library today to see the progress of our babies. They seem to be doing very well!
The first California Golden Poppy in Area 3 has finally bloomed, adding a nice accent of color to that section (Above)

Also, the replacement Baja Bush Snapdragon under the pepper tree in Area 2 is flowering:

And thought it's been blooming for a while, the Coral Bells in the back entrance provide a nice pollen snack for a bee:

A Trio of Irises

Here's some Canyon Snow Douglas Irises greeting visitors to the Library with a nice welcome!

East Hollywood's Own 'Iris' Show

At Hollywood & Highland, in the (former) Kodak Theatre, there's a Cirque Du Soleil show called "Iris."

Well, here in the Eastern side of Hollywood, we have our very own "Iris" show, and it's free to watch!

The after three attempts, our native Douglas Irises have finally bloomed at the Cahuenga Library!

We planted irises back at the original Big Sunday planting in May, 2010. All but one either died or got lost. That one that survived spent most of the time half-buried in the ground near the back entrance, eventually surrounded by the festuca grasses. It never bloomed last year, but it still looked strong and healthy. Aside from the rains, this particular plant hasn't been manually watered in nearly a year.

Finally, last week, a flower bud could be felt amongst the leaves, and today, there it was - pictured above.

The "Canyon Snow" Douglas Irises in the back entryway of the Library have also bloomed! Irises were planted there in Winter 2010 but they never survived. So the hours of labor turning over the soil before planting here in January totally paid off, with yellow-throated white flowers welcoming visitors to the Cahuenga Library.

We have six Irises planted, and two of them have two flowers in bloom already. The Iris bloom season continues until June.

Even More New Additions

I couldn't resist - the Theodore Payne Foundation had its semi-annual Poppy Day plant sale at its nurser in Sun Valley today, and I wanted to check it out. They had discounts on all plants, and additional discounts for members like me, so with some money still in our plant budget, I went and checked it out.

I ended up getting a California Fuschia (left)  and a Sagebrush (right), as well as some deergrass and California festuca grass seeds.

I had to be at the Library anyway for a meeting, so after that I went ahead with planting these new babies, both in Area 2:

There were still some plants from last week that didn't get in yet, so I got to those. First, a pair of deergrasses to join the festucas in the back:

Now the Purple Sage, which joins the much-larger Cleveland Sage in the back:

It was also a time to witness some new Douglas Irises ready to pop out: