Last weekend I was in the Bay Area visiting my mom. The sky and the green hills were particularly beautiful that day. You can see “Niles” painted on the side of the hill. That has been there since I was a little kid! My mom said they periodically go up and whitewash it.

And just turning in a different direction:

Then this weekend in my garden:

the flowering almond is doing very well this year:

This plant just says “Springtime!” to me.

Some new hyacinths that are an unusual color. And Noah didn’t knock them down either 🙂

Icelandic Poppy. I am going to get more of these next year. I think they are one of the plants that does best if you plant it in the fall.

A pretty color combo.

This camellia is one of the first plants I ever planted here (28 years ago!) It has never done well in its current location, and MLG and I were planning to move it, and then this year it decided to put on a big show!

Chinese Fringe Bush. This plant almost gave up when I had it in a container, but now after being in the ground for a couple of years, it is doing extremely well. It blooms through several seasons, and I have seen it used in commercial landscaping, so I think it is a pretty easy keeper. I think the flowers are very different and pretty.

Muscari?

The tulips came back!

And plenty of daffodils and narcissus.

I’m including this picture for my gardening/landscaping friends. It doesn’t look like much now, but I am most excited about this. One day a couple weeks ago, I just got it into my head to put all the rest of my Japanese maples into the ground. And the very next time MLG came around, he dug four giant holes in this hard rocky ground, and got those big trees out of their giant pots, and put them in the ground for me. I’m hoping they will be much happier there, and will give me a better show next fall.

Yep, spring has arrived in Northern California!