First signs of life

January and February are the slowest months in Southern California for gardening. It’s lots of cutting back growth mulching and pruning the roses. Each week for the last three I have gone through 6-8 trash cans of green waste. Anyway nearly done. This year I have done a lot more mulching. I realized that while everything grows with water in socal it does need soil. So with a mix of kellogg mulch and my own I have hopefully been strengthening the soil.

I had planted in December some freesias in a few pots to see how they would grow and these have started to spout. First, they emerged from the soil as shoots which grow into long green blades. Out of these stems form and pods which finally turn into buds. Freesias are from Cape Province but are widespread across SoCal. I had planted some about ten years ago and they come back every year even when I had thought I had dug them up and. With some care and water I am hopeful this year to have some nice blooms.

The following is how one Freesia over a couple of weeks was transformed from a leaf to a flower. Amazing.

First signs of growth as the grains appear and then the buds.

The greens become purple

And then red