Out of the pots and into the mud

With all of this rain, especially steady soft rain, it's a great time to transplant from pots to the ground. There is no danger of frost, and the plants can benefit from all this water.

Yesterday, in the midst of the rain, I transplanted both a digitalis penstemon and a coastal buckwheat plant. We've had the penstemon in a large plastic pot in the backyard, and I was concerned about transplanting it during the drought.

The plant is getting big, as you can see in the photo above, and now finally has a lot of room to grow. Both hummingbirds and bees love the nectar from its blossoms that look like this:

I purchased the coastal buckwheat plant last fall, and it has been doing well in a small pot in the backyard. The buckwheat will grow into a shrub. I planted it more than one foot away from the penstemon to create another area for the pollinators to visit.

The buckwheat plant is currently 6 inches wide and 6 inches tall. It will be fun to observe the bees visiting it this summer.

Coastal buckwheat