Happy Spring!

It's time to pick up the pace with my gardening activity. Most of the planning stage is complete: I've sorted seed packets, made lists of what to try this year, and purchased fertilizers and a few seedling pea plants. I have plenty of decent soil, and a bin full of nicely aged compost. Now if only the weather would get warmer! At least, since the daylight savings time change this month, I've now got a couple hours of sunshine to putter about in the garden after work if I choose.

Steve and I went on vacation to Morro Bay and Paso Robles last weekend. This is a warmer region (an even more Mediterranean-like climate than Santa Cruz), great for growing zinfandel grapes and citrus fruit. The hillsides and valleys are full of wildflowers, too: lupines, poppies, oxalis, lilac, and many more I'm not as familiar with. I took a few pictures of these and of flowers planted in the landscaping of wineries, shops and restaurants.

When we returned home on Monday, there was a plant covered in gorgeous purple flowers on the patio table. It was wilting, so I watered it, then went about unpacking and relaxing, and so forgot about it until the next day, when our neighbor Karl-Heinz was out at the front of the house at the same time I was. He said that he'd bought one of these plants for me and one for his mother, because he loves purple and he'd never seen this variety before. I looked it up today: it's a campanula (bellflower). These are attractive to pollinators, but prefer full sun, so I hope I can find a good spot for it in our mainly-shaded yard. This is also an excuse to buy another attractive ceramic flowerpot! There are some colorful ones at Grocery Outlet these days.