Daffodils

Sunset calls the daffodil -- properly Narcissus -- the "most valuable spring-flowering bulb for most regions of the West". They are permanent (unlike, say, many tulips, which must be replanted every year in this temperate climate), they increase from year to year, are hardy in cold and heat, tolerate sunny to partly-shady situations and a variety of locations, they naturalize beautifully, and need little water with average autumn rains.  They also grow well in containers.

Daffodils bloom in late winter and early spring.

Daffodils come in eleven recognized forms, depending on trumpet shape and size, segments (petals), number of blooms per stem, and so on.  Colors are usually yellow and/or white, but newer varieties come in variations of red, orange, pink, and cream.  The blooms pictured are trumpet daffodils, where the trumpet is as long or longer than the surrounding flower segments -- they are possibly the classic variety "Dutch Master" or "King Alfred".

Daffodils are tempting to slugs and snails, especially during the flowering season, but are resistant to gophers and deer.

Apparently daffodils usually face the sun.  These particular blooms seem a little confused, but still are growing quite happily in a dappled-sun parking strip in the Golden Hills area.

Rosemary

Rosemary is an evergreen aromatic shrub, valued for both its toughness in the garden and its usefulness as a cooking herb in the kitchen.  It tolerates harsh sun and poor soil conditions and needs little water, so is ideal for a water-wise Southern California garden.  Keep it to a desired size by pinching the young tips of each branch -- with your fingers, so that you smell like rosemary for hours! -- or prune older stems lightly to a side branch. It can be sheared, but I like its natural shape best.

There are a number of varieties which differ according to growth habit, leaf size, and flower color -- this one, which I think is simply plain old Rosmarinus officinalus, is about 3 to 4 feet high (1 to 1.2 m) and upright, with long, elegant needle-like leaves, pine-green on the top and silvery-white underneath, and light blue flowers.  It is in another of my garden's brutal spots, a narrow bed between the house and the driveway, with the afternoon sun beating down on it.

Rosemary grows very well with lavender.

Saucer magnolia

Magnolia soulangeana, or saucer magnolia, is I think one of the most beautiful of spring trees.  This deciduous tree is a slow-grower up to 25 ft. high with a 25-ft. spread (7.6 m).  It is recommended for Sunset zones 1-10 and 12-24 -- the blooms are subject to frost damage, and the tree tends to do poorly in hot, dry, or windy areas. It requires moist, well-drained neutral or slightly acid soil, with deep and thorough watering.  Flowers are white to pink or purplish-red, and appear in early spring before the leaves expand.

M. soulangeana is named for French plantsman Étienne Soulange-Bodin (1774–1846), a retired cavalry officer of Napoleon's army, who first bred the tree in 1820 as a cross between M. denudata and M. liliiflora, two ornamental magnolias native to China. The saucer magnolia has since proved very popular as an ornamental shrub or small tree in England, Europe, Japan, and the United States.

The blooms pictured above are from M.s. "Alexandrina" (also found as "Alexander"), which has large, elegant blooms of deep purplish-pink with pinkish-white insides.

In my garden, the leaves in late summer have a tendency to get sunburned, and they usually fall much earlier than most trees in the area; on the plus side, the bare grey branches are quite striking.

Sunset notes that the saucer magnolia is "also erroneously called tulip tree" (Liriodendron tulipifera, also in the Magnoliaceae family). The name is also spelled M. soulangiana.

A young saucer magnolia, possibly also "Alexandrina", in a charming cottage-garden setting in north Fullerton.

Evening sky