April Fools day

Here it is, a new month.   A day for jokes and pranks around here.  My son Matt has always been able to "get" me on this day.   Even though I'm forewarned.      He's pretty sly.

We had thundershowers last two days and more to come today.    Partly cloudy, then bright sunshine.   It smells so fresh outside, the air is so clean for a change, and the plants are drinking it all in.      I love spring rains.     They help wash the pollens down and clean off the leaves and flowers.       Here are some pics I took a few days ago.     

 Lulu loves to follow me around while I putter in the garden.    She's a good little companion.    Nikki is stretched out on the patio in the sun.

I love the oxalys that blooms this time of year.  The pink blooms for months on end, but the yellow volunteers for about a month.    I brought them from my mom's garden 20 years ago, and they have made themselves right at home.  I know they are considered weeds, but I consider them one of the first signs of spring, with there cheery bright blooms and the beautiful green of the foliage.    Soon, I'll be pulling the all out secure in the knowledge that they will return again next year.  

 Pamela brought some little starters she took from her larger forget me nots.   They looked half dead by the time I got them planted, and now they have taken root and are producing some blooms.   I'm so tickled to see the, they are such a sweet soft blue.     It's fun to share plants with friends.  

I bought this little chimnea  a few years ago for my deck.   Now it found it's way down to the spot beside the base of my stairwell, with the old windows I bought from one of the original farmhouses in Salinas.     They were painted yellow, but the paint's mostly gone now.    I like the diamond shaped panes and the shadows they cast under the stairs, where I have other plants growing in pots.   Oxalys is growing in the pot that came from Watsonville with the pottery fish from Moss Landing a rock I painted years ago, and some succulents from La Selva Beach.    There is a tiny voluteer birch tree trying to grow here too.   I'd better dig it out and put it in a decent size pot.   There is hardly any soil in this flattish green pot.  

I hope you enjoy visiting in my little garden.    Wish you could come and relax there and explore a bit.