Snowmelt continues to flow into creeks and to create ephemeral waterfalls
while wildflowers and shrubs have started filling the mountains with color once again. Each week
brings something new.
Last weekend, we found a hillside covered in blue ceanothus and bright yellow bush poppies.
Phacelia distans
Owl's clover
Fortunately, the hillsides that were blackened two years ago are slowly recovering with wildflowers.
What a great treat to discover new bursts of color coming out of the otherwise dismal landscape.
Scarlet bugler
Lupine
Showy penstemon
Being surrounded by such beautiful native plants has inspired me to be a better gardener.
These are a few of my favorite flowers that I have planted in our backyard a couple of years ago. Summers get mighty hot and dry plus we have resident chipmunks, squirrels and gophers so not everything I plant is successful. These are doing pretty well though.
This spring, I planted one of my all-time favorite flowers - the California Poppy. Currently, I have 3 plants. Maybe one day, I'll have a huge orange field replacing my present dirt patch. That is certainly a dream of mine!
Happy gardening from King Frog and me!
Click on photos to enlarge.
Photos and content by Robin Roberts.
For more information about native plants of California or to purchase them, go to
Tree of Life nursery. https://californianativeplants.com/
I just discovered this website which includes some educational virtual workshops. I plan to make a trip there soon.
