Tempus Adest Floridum!

or, Flower-time's a-comin'!  

Photo bouquet of what's green and blooming this Eastertide in our little corner of the California Floristic Province.  

Castilleja affinis, that is, paintbrush.

But first, click to hear the springy old Easter carol:

Tempus adest floridum, surgunt namque flores

Vernales in omnibus imitantur mores,

Hoc, quod frigus laeserat, reparant calores,
Cernimus hoc fieri per multos labores.

Spring has now unwrapped the flowers,
Day is fast reviving.
Life in all her growing powers,
Towards the light is striving.
Gone the iron touch of cold,
Winter time and frost time,
Seedlings working through the mould,
Now make up for lost time.

Gorgeous Ceanothus crassifolia. See how its Easter flowers come in time, from the bud....

Sunt prata plena floribus iucundo aspectu,

Ubi iuvat cernere herbas cum delectu,
Gramina et plantulae hieme qaiescunt,
Vernali in tempore virent et adcrescunt.

Herb and plant that, winter long,

Slumbered at their leisure,

Now bestirring, green and strong,

Find in growth their pleasure.

All the world with beauty fills,

Gold the green enhancing;

Flowers make glee among the hills

And set the meadows dancing.

Dendromocon rigida, or tree poppy.

Hae vobis pulchre monstrant Deum creatorem,
Quem quoque nos credimus omnium factorem ;
Tempus ergo hilare, quo laetari libet,
Renovato iam mundo nos novari decet.

Earth puts on her dress of glee;

Flowers and grasses hide her;

We go forth in charity–

Brothers all beside her.

For as man this glory sees

In th' awakening season,

Reason learns the heart’s decrees,

Hearts are led by reason.

Summer holly, Comarostaphylis diversifolia.

Ceanothus "Ray Hartmann"

Iris douglasii, Douglas iris.

Canyon sunflowers - Venegasia carpesioides.

Aquilegia formosa, the crimson columbine.

Apache plume, Fallugia paradoxa

Catkins: the male flowers of the coast live oak, Quercus agrifolia.

Terra ornatur floribus et multo decore,
Nos honestis moribus et vero amore,
Gaudeamus igitur tempore iucundo,
Laudemusque Dominum pectoris e fundo.

Through each wonder of fair days

God herself expresses

Beauty follows all her ways

As the world she blesses!

So as she renews the earth,

Artist without rival,

In the grace of glad new birth

We must seek revival.

Flowers long to fruit,
Fruit only wants to flower.
All the rest is talk!

Consider the life-cycle of the fabulous California buckeye, Aesculus californica, from bare branches to buds to blooms to buckeyes to bare branches to...etc.

Happy Easter from Cloudcuckooland!

The March of the Flowers

Photos of Descanso Gardens coming into bloom, during the month of March, 2025.  

After a cataclysm of wind in January, and a frosty February, March brought in dark spring weather: mostly temperate and drizzly, with bursts of showers and cool breezes.

This weather report, only to set up the backstory of the bloom depicted below.  Fragrant and fresh, Descanso is at its prettiest, and offers its most romantic moments, in spring rain.

The Japanese Garden

The Ancient Forest - Cycads!

The Camellia Forest Show - with special guest stars, Azalea Corner and Clivia Path!

California Natives Slowly Waking Up...

Calliandra eriophylla, called Fairy Duster

Bladderpod: Cleomella arborea

Oregon grape, Berberis aquifolium

Lemonade Berry, aka Rhus integrifolia, and her cousin Sugar Bush, dba Rhus Ovata:

Purple nightshade, Solanum xanti

Monkeyflowers - Diplacus

Ravishing in the rain, Nevins barberry - Berberis nevinii

Salvia munzii

Aristolochia California: Dutchman's pipe. 

Sea dahlia, Leptosyne marítima

Meanwhile, Up at the Boddy House...

The Laurus nobilis, bay laurel, bloomed in synch with the opening of the fabulous exhibition, Daphne's Wardrobe at the Sturt Haaga Gallery. The show features wearable costumes made of plants, and takes its theme from the Greek myth of Daphne, who was turned into a bay laurel to avoid being ravished by randy Apollo.

Don't Forget the Lilacs and Tulips...!

Yeah Yeah, All Great - But What About The New Fence? 

Record visitation to Descanso this March was, no doubt, sparked in part by demand to see our new obstructive art project complementing and enclosing the latest garden attraction, Magnolia Court. "Now I've seen that fence," opined most visitors in informal exit polls, "I guess I've seen everything."