Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - 3/2013

I'm on the road, so enjoy early spring blooms with me from both Albuquerque and El Paso. Other than some different species, those that are the same flower a month earlier than Abq, since their growing season in spring begins that much sooner.

I hope you enjoy the desert's early spring offerings!

Albuquerque -

Winter Jasmine / Jasminum nudiflorum, catching the remaining, fresh morning light. While the other plants, being taller, are still catching it in a fuller manner.

Better late than never (it isn't spring jasmine, it's winter jasmine - only a month late). And this is the only section of my wall of jasmines that bloomed this year; the others may have not gotten enough any water until last fall!

Which reminds me of a task this weekend around here...

A Daffodils-only bed - too bad for the owners, this is it...then 11-1/2 months of you-know-what. But so sentimental and showy right now, how could I not include it? They did embrace the SW a little on the chile ristra!

El Paso -

Mexican Plum / Prunus mexicana

The maintenance crews at UTEP removed the underplantings of Deergrass...but alone, this is
still a great choice for a shady oasis - an urban canyon in the desert.

The fragrance was unearthly - subtly sweet. It's spring, finally!

Mexican Redbud / Cercis mexicana AKA C. canadensis var. mexicanum

Ahhh...only a few weeks until this in Abq... But not common enough, though Abq does have loads of Oklahoma Redbud / Cercis reniformis AKA C. canadensis var. renioformis trees and some of the eastern species as well, for the Hortisaurus ohioensis set! (those desertphobic, lost souls, who bash cactus, yuccas and native plants)

Algerita or Redberry Mahonia / Mahonia haematocarpa - from the foothills above Abq and the Chihuahuan Desert. A great evergreen shrub right there with equally tough junipers in the wild, but it needs room. Not common enough in landscapes!

Over the mountains from my house in Abq, some either side of Madrid - former ghost town, now hippie gypsy town - are about 10-12' tall and wide.

Tough but pretty!

Mexican Starleaf Orange / Choisya dumosa - did I say underused? Thrives in Abq, too - all 2 of them.

Nice, soft, springy

Mexican Gold Poppy / Eschscholzia mexicana AKA. E. californica var. mexicana

It's near it's easternmost natural range in the Franklin Mountains above El Paso, but
needing more than a few light rains in this uber drought, it is most likely absent. But if I see
any on the drive home later, I'll be sure to take some pics.

Thank goodness for good botanical collections and gardens, to keep blooms going
when the chips are down in the wild. I wonder how many people see these in wetter
years and want them in their landscapes?

Just not as orange as California Poppy / Eschscholzia californica, but so similar; that one was once used in highway reseeding projects around Abq, but it fell out of favor at some point, and recent years, they are hard to find any more on the roadsides.

Hope springs eternal

Thanks, May Dreams, for hosting garden bloggers bloom day - here.