Great pics!! I know what you mean about about the Calandrina spectabilis... now that I have seen it, I have to have it!

I'll try to get pics on soon...

Eric

I love the echium. I wish I could grow one besides Blue Bedder here. I've tried but they never reach blooming size.

Here's a few of the plants that are in bloom. Some stuff is in the greenhouse, others outside.
A miltonia blooming at an odd time. It's usually a fall/winter bloomer for me.

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Garden Treasure, Raspberry Sorbet, Festiva Maxima peonies and a couple others that I forgot the names

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Golden Flame honeysuckle (aphid magnet as you can see!) and Amethyst Falls wisteria

Not Passiflora but remarkable and fascinating plants. Love the Echium wildpreti. I wish we had your climate. We have had our worst winter for 30 years in UK and most of the rest of Europe and a lot of plants have been lost. I only have a Yucca to offer -but the fact that it flowered after 27 years made me start asking a lot of questions....
Thank you.
Myles

Here is a link that might be useful: Yucca plant.

Where did Eric go?

A few more pictures, all taken today. The first one is actually a plant from Eric and Crystal--the first bloom on a Cuphea cyanea that they gave me cuttings of:

I really like this plant, so when I saw a bigger one for sale at Flora Grubb in SF (for $6, I think), I had to get it. It is also doing well (except for the part I stepped on):

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The Fuchsia boliviana Alba I showed in bud earlier has started blooming:

(to get an idea of the size of these guys, an individual flower starting at the top of the tiny fruit down to the bottom is about 3.5 inches long).

These are just young buds of Aristolochia trilobata (also called A. macroura). The tails get a foot long. I've heard some varieties have tails up to 3 feet long (and I love to get one of those).

Sometimes I like the small, simple ones. This is Physalis peruviana, a plant not grown for its flowers, but its fruit. It is also known as Cape Gooseberry and is closely related to the Tomatillo. From the Andes, but I don't remember exactly where.

Karyn was curious what Aristolochia trilobata/macroura looks like when open. The most mature bud just opened. The "tail" is about 10.5 inches:

Here's a closeup of the flower:

You'll notice inward/downward facing hairs that keep insects trapped inside the flower. The friend I got this plant from dissects flowers like this sometimes (see link at bottom). I've had better luck than he has blooming the plant while small.

A lot of people wonder if the plant is carnivorous, given its Nepenthes-like appearance and ability to trap insects. However the flower just traps the insect for a day or two--so it can immediately pollinate a flower if it is covered with pollen, yet hang around until the pollen of that particular flower is ripe.

The flower smells bad (to attract flies), and while I mostly had to get close to smell it I did occasionally get whiffs of the smell of decay when a few feet away.

Here is a link that might be useful: Albert's dissection of A. trilobata (scroll down)

One of my favorite plants is just beginning to bloom again. Strophanthus preussii

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Here's one of the first brugs of the season. I love the way the blooms change color and can't wait for some of my doubles to start blooming.
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That is a gorgeous Brug Karyn! What variety is it?

mark4321_gw >> "Aristolochia trilobata/macroura.... traps the insect for a day or two"

What is different a day or two later, by which the insect no longer is trapped?

I believe the small hairs, which line the interior of the flower, and point inward, shrivel a day or two after opening.

Or maybe after being triggered by movement?
Insect entry would not conform to a timetable.

In either case, I believe the shrivel part,
because I opened a flower today, and it is hairless.

Nonetheless, something did not work for the Blue Bottle Fly inside. Dead.

Actually, insect entry would presumably correspond to when it smells bad, which is right after it opens. At that stage the hairs are still erect, presumably, then shriveling a day later. Flies have very limited lifespans--that one was probably just near death.