The Eve's Necklace is Blooming!

My Eve's Necklace (Sophora affinis)tree has it's very first blooms on it! I am so excited! I bought it 4 years ago when it was only 3ft tall. I planted it on the North side of the house and I wonder if that is why it took so long to bloom or maybe it was just too little before? It is shady in that spot, but now that the tree is much taller, it reaches up to the sun. Anyway, here are the blooms in all their glory:

Ooooooh pretty!



Here is the tree:



Then there is the Golden Lead-ball tree. It looks like a poodle in the spring:



It is setting tons of blooms:



I just put in a few rock penstemon in the front hell-strip bed. I used to have Texas Betony there, but the last couple years have been so hot and dry, the betony shiveled up and died. it does much better in partial shade on the east side of my house. I wanted something around the same color as the betony, but that would take the glaring mid-day sun and drier conditions better. Rock Penstemon (Penstemon baccharifolius)fit the bill. I hope it does well.

Here it is:



Here is a link to what it looks like in bloom and its characteristics: Rock Penstemon

And here is my new Fuschia. I torture myself with these every year. They don't like our really hot weather, but last year I had one last into July. I love Fuschia so much though! Coming from the Northwest, we always had huge ones hanging on our house every year. I just have to have at least one. You really have to keep them watered, keep them in filtered sunlight, and let them dry out between waterings. Get them too wet, too hot, or put them in too much shade or too much sun and they will promptly die on you.

But isn't it pretty?: