First two California natives transplanted

Since there is some rain in the weather forecast, I figured it's a good time to start transplanting the California native seedlings I've had in pots for several months.

These two Coyote Bush Baccharis pilularis plants are the largest of our seedlings, and have been thriving in a large plastic pot. Hopefully they don't get too shocked by the transplant. I plant these mostly because the flowers that bloom on these plants in late autumn provide food for monarchs.

The soil in the field is hard clay, and digging holes in this is like trying to dig through cement. The process required wetting the soil with a little water, then digging with a shovel. In addition to the "cement soil" there are large rocks. Fortunately, our nice next door neighbor has an arsenal of tools, and lent me a digging bar that breaks rocks. That helped a lot.

Several hours later, both holes were dug, and in went both plants. Usually for native plants, no soil amendment is needed, but I mixed in some earth worm castings to help the seedlings.

Fingers crossed for these two.

Thirty more plants to transplant.