Author: Joyce Gross

This is the best time of the year in the yard. After this, most things start to look browner and browner.

[Show slideshow]

1 2 ►

The Fremontodendron.

Other backyard views.

Front yard.

The rose bushes leafed out and grew.

Nemophila menziesii (baby blue eyes) on left; Nemophila maculata (five spot) on right.

Ceanothus blooming in the foreground. Black sage and Mexican sage behind the ceanothus.

The purple flowers on the left are lupines, annuals I grew from seeds collected in Yolo County. The lupines there had galls (but my plants probably won’t).

Garden activity always needs supervising.

Waiting for the peas to grow.

Everything is growing fast. Every day new plants are starting to flower.

Phacelia campanularia

Phacelia viscida

Nemophila maculata

Mimulus aurantiacus

Eschscholzia californica

Eschscholzia californica maritima

Fremontodendron

Rose

Half of the bush beans got planted over the weekend. Half of the pole beans got planted in pots in the greenhouse, to get them started under warmer conditions. As usual, seeds planted outside have chicken wire around them, with bird netting over the top attached by clothespins.

The rest of the peas were planted also. (There’s a row of raspberry plants in this image also.)

The first radishes are ready! There are three kinds, Celesta, Alta Globe, and Rudolph. They are all good.

The first Mimulus aurantiacus (monkey flower) flowers opened. This is the bush with the scarlet flowers. The bush in front with the orange flowers hasn’t started blooming yet.

The thyme is blooming.

Nemophila menziesii (baby blue eyes).

The front yard is full of native annuals.

Along the front fence. A mixture of annuals, perennials, natives, and non-natives.

I found this while weeding in the back yard. A musket ball? It’s very heavy. Made of lead? It was just outside one of the raised beds, next to the lettuce.

I like looking at the nectarine tree during the brief time it’s in bloom. Here are several photos of it, while it lasts.