The Garden in May

I took a stroll around the backyard, Friday afternoon, and thought I'd share some photos of what I saw:

Unknown Flowering Bulb Ornithogalum arabicum

I have not been able to identify this white flower.  Vegevi has helped with identifying this white flower, as Ornithogalum arabicum.  It is known as Star of Bethlehem in Franch, according to her.  Apparently, it is also known as Arabian Star of Bethlehem and Arabian Starflower.  Thank you, Vegevi.  Your help is much appreciated.  

It is a spring flowering bulb and one of the plants I found growing in the garden when I bought the house.   My mother didn't like how the leaves sprawled around and looked "untidy" and tried to get rid of the plants!  I rescued a few bulbs and planted them in the side yard, where they'd get mowed down, every year, along with the rest of the weeds!  This is one bulb that still managed to survive and, this year, I dug it up from the side yard and planted it in a flower bed.  I like the pretty little white flowers and the tenacity of the bulb!  Hopefully, it will grow and multiply!   I need to mark the spot where it is, so it doesn't get dug up by accident, when the leaves die off!

Osteospermum

The osteospermum in the front garden have stopped flowering, but these in the back garden are still in bloom.

The star jasmine vine is flowering, too:

Star Jasmine

As is the bottle brush tree:

Bottle Brush Tree

Named after the flower clusters which resemble bottle brushes and are much loved by humming birds and bees:
  

Bottle Brush Flowers

Do you see the bee in the upper left corner?

Close Up of the Bee

The hibiscus plant is doing well, too:

Hibiscus

I allowed one of the radishes to bolt; I am hoping to collect the pods and the seeds.  Actually, I am hoping it will self-seed and I'll get lots of radish plants.  Not that I like to eat radishes all that much, but, because they are easy to grow and will provide some green plants for the garden!  There is a beetroot ready to bolt, right behind the radish, just out of the photo - I am waiting until it flowers to take a picture!

Radish

Both are growing under the shade of the orange tree, where there are still a few oranges:

The last of the oranges

The promise of more to come

A bit further down the garden, the pink Bauhinia is flowering, too.  My mother grew it from a seed and it almost didn't survive the drought, but, it is picking up, again:

Bauhinia

I've read that parts of this plant are edible, but I haven't tried eating any of it!

At the end of the garden, along the back wall, the pink oleander trees are flowering, too.  At one time, I had a whole row of oleander growing along the back wall and the side wall, as well.  Some of them had to be cut down when the sewer pipe was replaced, the rest succumbed to a disease known as the Oleander Leaf Scorch or "fire blight".  Only these two pink oleander plants survived:  

Pink Oleander

The few rose bushes are also doing their best to brighten the garden:

Clusters of Red Roses

Double Colored

But each one is slightly different in how the colors are distributed

The purple flowered Martha Washington geranium is in full bloom, now:

Purple Geranium

And the clumps of Gazania are everywhere except where they were originally planted!

Gazania

Although I picked over 100 lemons and distributed them all (I took the last bag of them to the Temple, Friday night, when I attended the Friday night meditation session), there are still more lemons on the trees, hiding behind the leaves!

Hidden behind the leaves

Lemons are not the only things hiding in my trees:

Do you see it?  Up in the calamondin tree?

 Perhaps a close-up will help?

"Snowball" found herself a perch for an afternoon nap!

She is one of the cats I feed.  My "garden cats" - strays and semi-feral, who have found a haven in my garden.

And, finally, my first photo for the Summer Photo Scavenger Hunt:  Prompt #15: A broken chair/bench/stool:

My Garden Bench

I am grateful for:

- Plants that persist and survive!

- Flowers that provide color, beauty, and food to sustain others

- Having a garden in which to grow what I can

- The bounty of fruits and vegetables (when I grow them) the garden provides

- Being able to provide a safe place for the garden cats

Hope you enjoyed the tour of the back yard.  I'll do a tour of the front garden, soon.