April flowers of Southern California saved me

This post is all about what is flowering in the spring in Southern California, for lovers of flowers.  While I missed New England's spring bulbs (it's not cold enough here for those), and the wonderful slow unfolding of spring in New England, there were so many gorgeous flowers already blooming when I arrived in So Cal in late March.  Looking for lovely flowers on our walks was a delight.

Maia has several lovely rose bushes in her front yard.  The roses on the one right outside the door of my camper had a wonderful scent, which wafted into the camper many days.  Every morning I would step out and enjoy the roses as they were opening, and smell their wonderful perfume.

Thru the window on my camper door.

Maia pruning my friend the rose bush.  She knew how to  prune it to make it flower again.

I couldn't help myself from cutting a bud every week or so, watching it open and fill the camper with its scent.  The rose bloomed the whole 7 weeks I was there, and was still blooming when I left.

Here are more flowers and flower beds we saw all over Claremont.

A peach colored peonie

Many of the flowers in Claremont are desert species which would never grow in New England.

This is Crown of Thorns, which I've had as a houseplant in New England.  Here it grows outside as a perennial.

California poppies

Another variety of poppy I'd never seen before..  

A Camellia

Don't know what these are called.  In the same family as hibiscus but much smaller.  There were shrubs of these all over Claremont in colors from lavenders through pinks and white.

Don't know the name of this one either.

Roses after a rain

And then there are the flowering trees:

Flowers on a white orchid tree

There are also pink orchid trees

Here you can see the white one in full bloom and the pink one a little further away.

These are the flowers of a pink buckeye tree.

And this is the tree.  

Bottle brush trees

And their flowers.

Can't remember the name of this one.  Isn't it beautiful?

The flowers in people's yards and the natural world in the park and while we were out hiking in the hills helped me stay sane while pretty much confined to my camper and to Maia's driveway for 7 weeks.  Deeply grateful to these reminders of beauty and of spring and life unfolding.