Double Duty Blooms

A profusion of weeds have sprouted recently and while pulling them out I bumped into and was surprised by my guava shrub - it's covered with blossoms and buds.

Feijoas or pineapple guava are a common sight in Southern California, making a good looking and slow growing landscape shrub. I don't think we've watered them enough because they don't usually bloom so profusely. This year's rain must have awakened them and triggered the blooms. Not only are the flowers pretty, the light pink petals are very sweet and delicious - almost as sweet as cotton candy.

From Wikipedia: A feijoa may be used as an interesting addition to a fruit smoothie, and may be used to make wine or cider and feijoa-infused vodka. It also is possible to buy feijoa yogurt, fruit drinks, jam, ice cream, and such in New Zealand. It also may be cooked and used in dishes where one would use stewed fruit. It is a popular ingredient in chutney.

Another plant  I'd all but forgotten is the Banana Shrub I put in the ground a decade ago. The flowers are reputed to smell like ripe bananas but I think they smell more like pineapple, artificial pineapple. Sometimes they're called "booby" flowers in the south because women (of a certain age..) tuck them into their decolletage. My plants are small and spindly with yellowish leaves. I'm adding chicken manure to amend the soil around them and to see if they improve.