Brugmansia

All:

My Brugmansia x candida "Double White" has been blooming for over a month 
now.  Is this normal for our area (Central Valley of California)?  I know we 
had an exceptionally mild winter, and mine are in pots on a covered patio, 
but it still seems rather early to me.  A couple of plants that I started 
from cuttings last summer are also blooming, even though they are only 18" 
tall.  The fragrance on my patio this morning was heavenly.  I want to thank 
Kemberly McLain, of Katy, Texas, for her cuttings.  One of the plants of the 
'fragrant yellow-flowered' variety I started from her cuttings is already 
starting to bloom!  My only problem with these beauties is that they seem to 
attract every insect and molusc for miles around, and as a result are always 
rather full of holes and covered with slime.  Any suggestions?

I'm also wondering if my banana, Musa sumatrana "Zebrina rojo," has bitten 
the dust.  I would have thought it could survive a mild winter on a covered 
patio, but the leaves gradually shriveled up this winter, and the resulting 
bare stalks are decidedly dead-looking.  I'm interested in hearing about 
others' experience with this plant.

One more thing.  While walking through an older neighborhood in Modesto 
recently, I came across several houses whose front lawns were covered with 
lovely, pale blue flowers, no higher than the level of the grass.  Upon 
closer inspection, they were somewhat irregularly five-petalled, and about 
2-3 cm across.  They arose from small clumps of rather fleshy, dark green, 
grass-like leaves, 6-7 cm in length.  A very low-growing bulbous plant, 
apparently.  Looks like it thrives and spreads in lawns, and would be a 
wonderful accompaniment to English daisies and other things that are blooming 
in lawns this time of year.  Any ideas?  Thanks.

Kurt Mize
Stockton, California
USDA Zone 9
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