Spring is an especially beautiful season in Northern California. The winter rains encourage an explosion of flowers as soon as the weather warms a bit and the sun comes out. Just taking my camera for a walk is an adventure.

So, I’m not going to do a lot of writing this post. I hope you will join me for a leisurely saunter around the garden, maybe with a glass of rose or a cup of tea in hand.

Here are the photos.

In the vegetable garden I am worried about having space for the zucchini and tomatoes that will soon need their own bed. I hate to pull anything out as everything is doing so well. We are enjoying salads every night.

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In the pollinator garden native perennials predominate. It will be interesting to see what grows as the year progresses. It’s been 4 years since I first seeded it with a commercial mix of Northwest optimized meadow wildflowers. This area gets minimal to no summer water and very little attention except to whack it back in the late fall. It’s an interesting and ever changing experiment.

Some small plants were added, the ceanothus, mimulus, and pineapple sage. The lilies were shared garden gifts from friends. The small oak tree grew from an acorn that hitch hiked in a planter from our Oakland garden. The squirrels buried them in all my pots each fall. It’s only about a foot tall right now but seems to be thriving. Hard to believe it may eventually grow in a giant tree like the one that shaded our back deck each summer.

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Here is what it looked like in April of 2020.

Wildflower and pollinator garden April 2020

And now, a walk around the rest of the garden beds starting with those closest to the vegetable garden and rounding towards the garage.

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The rhododendrons are just starting to bloom, the azaleas were first.

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I used to think succulents were boring, but there have been an explosion of varieties in the past few years. Many of them are absolutely gorgeous.

Chores for the month include weeding (my least favorite garden activity), but they are definitely getting out of hand.

We’ve had the second driest winter in 100 years…

As a result we are putting in a rain catchment tank the end of the month. It won’t help much this year but water has become a serious concern. I’m starting to shift the garden to more water wise plants and encouraging the existing ones to dig deeper with their roots.

Thank you for following me around the garden. I hope your own spring garden, large or small, is doing well.