Welcome to Spring in California

Yes, November is when Spring arrives here on the Central Coast of California, and up and down the state. Then we get a couple months of winter (with bits of spring mixed in). But by February it's right back to spring again (with bits of winter mixed in). Spring is my favorite time of the year - I'm so glad it begins before winter in our part of the world!

Today's sunrise over the Santa Cruz Mountains, the view from our home.

Zoomed-in shot (you can see the area zoomed in on, in the lower right third of the first shot). First day we've had mist in a while. Been too hot and dry. Roll on rainy days.

Seedlings are popping up in Experimental Bed #1 - and everywhere else. In this photo - mostly common madia (with the long arms) and clarkia (with the sort of guitar-shaped cotyledons). These are the grandchildren of the local natives I grew from locally gathered seed. 

And - hooray! Finally I am growing our local native wartleaf ceanothus - a shrubby form. I've been trying with seeds and cuttings for a few years and this seems to be their year! This year's cuttings also did not take, but a month in the fridge then a couple weeks in the flat and see how these seeds are popping up!

Yes, we do also get fall - not like in some places, but -- fruits and nuts and seeds of all sorts, and yellow leaves of big leaf maple. It's all going on at the same time - I guess it's like one of those pictures where what you see is what you focus on. I'm focused on spring!