Freesia in bloom

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It's March 11th and the freesia that I got from Easy to Grow Bulbs are starting to bloom. They are beautiful, but I have to admit a couple of things - I didn't realize that they were going to wait until March to start to bloom, and when they did, I didn't realize that they would be so top-heavy that they would fall over. I tried a trick with some sticks from my olive tree, but I can't keep up with the flowers. I will have to design something better for next year. Maybe I'll look to see how the florists do it. I think I've seen some type of thin wire with a twirl at the end to hold the flower stalk.

Anyway, here is a clump of freesia that is growing near a mescal agave (Agave parryi) at the foot of a dwarf date palm (Phoenix roebellini). Off to the right you can see a little bit of ice plant and some asparagus fern. This is what I would call a *transitional area* of The Tropical Paradise, which gets more sun that the northern part of the yard, but not quite so much as the southeast corner. And so, this is where the sunlight starts encouraging blooming the earliest, and this is where it will get hotter the fastest. On the other side of the yard, the freesia haven't started blooming yet.

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