Beautiful photos.

Was a bit surprised to see (5th & 6th slide in) what appears to be Solanum Dulcamara. I get it with great frequency and the flowers are actually quite lovely. My fault, but by the time it's noticed, it's really tangled up around shrubs and conifers.

Oh wow, how fantastic. I kept picking out new favourites, and then another flower would scream "pick me". No clue what they are but I think that, in the end, my choices would be the unusual spotted heart-shaped leaves and the chartreuse lenten-rose-like blooms. And all this in winter? Wow again.

I did notice that, in your beautiful photos, the background foliage was actually proportionately predominant in the composition. It was the pop of colour in the flower that ultimately won the eye. Sort of like the woman who is wearing her classic little black dress but isn't really properly dressed for dinner until she puts on her bright red lipstick.

You can run the slide show clicking on the "show info" option and everything will be labled as to species and my comments. Absolutely right about the predominance of green in the garden; my take on recreating a high elevation tropical cloud forest garden when I can't move to the tropics...

Magnificent, as always, David!

I think I'm cranky today... (I'll use the excuse of today being a funeral day for a friend's husband - he died much too young, leaving behind devastated children and wife.) Nice flowers but I always like to see flower pictures that show them in a larger context - e.g. with their immediate companions or showing their place in a bed or overall garden. DH is always taking close-ups (I find out which plants he likes by looking at what he's photographed!) When I want him to take a picture of something for me, I have to be VERY specific about what to include or I'll get a close-up :-) That said, you sure have some nice flowers down there!

duluthinbloom - I'm wondering if that is actually Solanum crispum, rather than S dulcamara.

I don't know, flora. I looked up var. Valerianum. You get dizzy trying to compare pictures on Google, but it's so similar to the Bittersweet/woody nightshade/dulcamara that grows with abandon in my shrubbery.

I can't dispute anything beyond what I'm familiar with plant-wise. And Bahia knows his plants, for sure.

The two Solanum species may look similar in flower on an image search, but my plant is definitely not a hardy perennial or herbaceous perennial returning from the roots after freezing. This species was originally first brought into California's nursery trade by an employee of Suncrest Wholesale nursery in Watsonville, who brought it back from Navidad, Jalisco in Mexico. It is evergreen here with our typical winters only down to 29/30ðF, but the foliage turns purple and defoliates at 27/28ðF or so, and is heavily damaged below these temperatures. We must lack a pollinator here locally, as it never sets fruit. In the warmer years, it typically starts blooming about late May until late December when the cold and winter season rains shut it down. I suspect in Mexico it readily blooms all year round. My species identification is my best guess based on the local species native to this part of Mexico. Suncrest nursery only lists it as Solanum spp from Navidad, Jalisco state, Mexico.