blooming in the rain

Interesting weather this weekend.

We had a nice break from the winter rains yesterday.

Temperatures were still low, in the 50's, but we still had some sunshine.

I discovered our first blooming grape hyacinth in years.

They certainly didn't bloom during the drought years. But the wonderful winter rains are bringing up the bulb plants.

And yesterday I went to one of my favorite local nurseries, East Bay Nursery http://www.eastbaynursery.com/

to buy wood chips. I ended up with 3 large bags of cedar shaving chips, two 3-cubic bags of potting soil, and a couple more plants including this lovely "Margarita Bop" penstemon.

Apparently it will grow into a wide shrub.

What a lovely plant!