Meanwhile on the patio...

One of the plant beds, which is in bright shade, is slowly transforming into a lovely lush area, with mostly native plants.

This photo was taken after several days of rain a weekend ago.

On the lower left is one of the California Blue-Eyed Grass Sisyrinchium bellum.

It has produced a lot more leaves this spring.

This plant is generally found on open grassy slopes, and in redwood forests.

To the right is an Alum Root Heuchera maxima plant that has been blooming for at least three months. It is a perennial native to the California Channel Islands.

In the background is a Mimulus cardinalis ‘Golden Form’“Golden Monkey Flower”.

It is native to Santa Cruz Island, with lovely blossoms that look quite different to other Monkey Flower plants.

I pruned the plant to two inches in the winter, and now it is 1 foot tall x 1 foot wide.

It can grow to 2 feet tall x 1 1/2 foot wide.

The lovely lavender colored flower is a "Poppy of Troy" Papaver setigerum.

I always read that this is a rarely seen poppy.

But I must be very fortunate because somehow they keep reseeding all over the patio, sprouting in pots where other plants are growing.