Lovely Bean Volunteer

During the cold, rainy winter months, a small little bean seed sprouted.  And grew, and grew.

Now that the sunny warm weather of spring is here, this little volunteer is blooming prolifically.

Outgrowing the wooden stake, I added room for additional growth by tying a string to the top of the pole and then to a nearby light fixture.

l love to stake the bean plant at an angle because they dangle away from the leaves and become very easy to see during harvest.

A Dilly of a Plant

Flowering Dill

You have got to love Mother Nature.  No one makes color choices as brilliantly as she.  Just look at the bright yellow blooms against the deep emerald green (hello Pantone).

This is Dill 2.0. 

I planted a bit of dill last summer.  It grew and was enjoyed.  Then it bloomed and set seed.  These seeds replanted themselves and grew over the winter and into the spring. 

Now, More flowers...and hopefully seeds which create another wonderful plant for me to enjoy. 

Thanks Mother Nature for the beautiful colors and for the robustness of your plants!

Small Batch of Sweet Peas

Harvesting peas from the garden.  So sweet and fresh.

Last Night the Rain Spoke to ME

 

Because April showers, bring May flowers... 

Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me
 
Last night

the rain

spoke to me

slowly, saying,

what joy

to come falling

out of the brisk cloud,

to be happy again

in a new way

on the earth!

That’s what it said

as it dropped,

smelling of iron,

and vanished

like a dream of the ocean

into the branches

and the grass below.

Then it was over.

The sky cleared.

I was standing

under a tree.

The tree was a tree

with happy leaves,

and I was myself,

and there were stars in the sky

that were also themselves

at the moment

at which moment

my right hand

was holding my left hand

which was holding the tree

which was filled with stars

and the soft rain –

imagine! imagine!

the long and wondrous journeys

still to be ours.

~ Mary Oliver ~

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Snap Peas Means Spring

Beneath the soil and mulch, lie seeds of the snap pea, waiting for the water and sun to coax them from their hardened shells.

The delicate white blossom will create a delectable snap pea.

This snap pea is ready to eat.

So happy I got the snap peas planted this spring.  We are having sunny warm days which is encouraging a vigorous garden.  Looking forward to adding these to salad and stir fry.

Marching in with Berries, Buds and Blossoms

Laurus nobilis (Bay Laurel) Buds and Blossoms

Raphiolepis (Pink Indian Hawthorne)

Lorapetalum (Chinese Fringe Flower "Razzle Dazzle")

Rosemary Prostratus

Nandina Berries

 Wishing the clouds would shower us with a few more rainy days but for now, it's sun, sun, sun.  Irrigation has been reinstated as the grass was crisping up after multi-days of warm temps and sunny skies.  Spring is peaking around the corner for us in SoCal with plants bursting forth with buds and blooms.

Bolting Arugala

Delicate white flowers of a bolting arugula plant.

I love growing lettuces in my garden in the winter.  The rain and the cold create the perfect combination along with sunny afternoons to foster the tender plants along.  Sometimes, though I get a little ambitious and plant more than I can use.

Before you know it, the plants, which have not been harvested regularly, decide they have had enough of all of the components (sun, rain, cool weather) and wham, bam: bolting.  After lettuces bolt, they typically are too bitter or in arugula's case, too hot, to consume.  I just let nature take its course: the flowers will produce seeds and repopulate the garden with new arugula plants.  Because these plants have bolted now, I think they might possibly reseed before the end of lettuce season, if we don't get an early hot (think too much sun) spring.