You hear that?

Exactly.  What we don't hear is the drone of our generator. Even the purr of a whisper quiet Honda is not the worst sound in the world, we've had 6 months of it.  My man is now an electrician! He finally got it all together. As I write, all I hear are the sweet little laughing or quacking of the ducks on the pond....We are very happy campers today!  Now we can move on to....HOT WATER!

In Search of Spring

Dodecathon aka 'Shooting Star'

Springtime is officially here with arrival of the Pacific Tree Frogs. These are the ones that I've always heard on TV or to those of you familiar with the song "Down of the Farm' by Little Feat-they say....RIBBIT!

This is our first Spring here in the Pacific Northwest, and being plant and nature enthusiasts, we are both naturally excited to see what's right here growing on our 14 acres of wooded meadow. We moved here in August and California is not called the Golden State for it's gold, which is what I had always assumed...nope, it's the color of the land most of the year. . Cali is world renowned for it's wildflowers and The Sierra Nevada and central foothills have the largest concentration, due to it's many elevations and micro climates. 


I got a real taste of this when I wen to Mt. Shasta last Sept. with my daughters, camping. The alpines are simply luscious! I cannot wait to return and see what Spring is like at Shasta. What a real blessing that it's only an hour away!

Panther Meadows

Alpine Scabiosa aka Pin Cushion flower-perhaps?

Not identified. Looks somewhat succulent in nature.

Pasque-love these things!

Pasque flower in seed- My hike part-way up Mt. Shasta.

Onamentals

Went to a Succulent Society Meeting in Sacramento this week. I'm still kicking myself around for forgetting to grab my camera-the drive was so beautiful with Almond groves in full bloom right now. We drove all around marveling at the landscaping and admiring the Camila trees have to be my favorite. I simply must have a red and dark pink one! John, loves the palms, and he did spy his beloved tree ferns growing down there, so I'm sure that's going on our wish list as well... We had a few hours to kill, so we also strolled around a garden center and I picked up a new Abutilon. I adore Abutilon, and did not bring any along during our move as they are such thirsty things, but since they are hardy here, I will not be able to resist collecting them, I'm sure... I also picked up a Hardenbergia-a sweet little purple vine.  I'll need to create as much shade as possible up here and my answer is quick growing vines.

Close-uo of  'Chalo'

Abitilon 'Chalo'

Hardenbergia

The meeting was so inspiring...a member, Mark, showed a movie he shot on a tour a few of the group went on down in Peru. This was well put together set to Peruvian music and his sense of humor made for a very enjoyable hour. Mark is also a potter and he brought his collection to sell. I've been needing a bit of inspiration to get me going on new pot styles, so this was a truly inspiring meeting.

On another note-my Kaffir lime put out only one bloom this year, compared to about 6  last year, but considering the plant stress this year, I'm thankful.  I was able to come up with enough seeds from about 6 limes for a flat of 72 seedlings, so I'm anxious to see how many I come up with.. The nice thing about the Kaffir, is that the leaves are used in cooking and not the fruit.  I love this little tree I picked several years ago and covet these leaves dearly for my Thai dishes.

The Loquat seeds that I brought back from Maui last Winter all came up and really putting on some new growth. I love the flavor of the Loquat and it puts out such mega amounts of fruit.

Loquat