Winter Rain refreshes the Natives

These photos were taken in our garden prior to the atmospheric rivers that have been pummeling California several times this past week.

In the above photo, one of the branches of the Blue elderberry tree is sprouting.

It's like magic. In the autumn the young tree's branches and trunk looked like bare, dried up sticks.

One of my neighbors, also an avid gardener of native plants, encouraged me by telling me that the Blue elderberry trees go dormant in the fall and look like sticks but then sprout leaves and grow taller after winter rain.

Here is proof that he is right.

Both Pacific aster plants that I planted near the Blue elderberry, have a lot of new growth at their base as well as several inches away from the base.

The Ray Hartman ceanothus that I planted in the same area as the Blue elderberry is now already an impressive 5 feet tall! It is producing many buds.

Okay, I know that all you can see in this photo are different shades of green.

But if you look carefully, you can see that one shrub is filling out most of the frame, with straight branches and very small dark green leaves.

This is the Ray Hartman ceanothus.

A year ago it was 7 inches tall. Now 5 feet. Now that's fast-growing.

Both Island mallow shrubs are always in bloom, much to the delight of visiting Annas hummingbirds and Yellow-faced bumble bees. I often see them sipping nectar from the blossoms.

The Dark Star ceanothus is also producing buds.

It will be so great to see them in full bloom!