Thursday, May 01, 2003

May At Last

March winds
April showers
Help to bring
May flowers

I've been waiting several months to say that little poem. Flowers bloom here all year long, but now it is May and official flower blooming time. The poem is sentimental. I remember my mother teaching it to me, and I remember thinking it was very clever. I remember I wanted to know the names of the flowers, like my mother. I have learned many flower and plant names. There are many more I do not know. Last Summer I read the entire Sunset Western Garden Book, and others. I very recently unpacked one of my favorite books, which I am reading again. "Carrots Love Tomatoes" is a very interesting book for fruit and vegetable gardeners. It gives insights that I have not found in any other gardening books, and its author looks like a woman I would love to meet and dig in the dirt with. The two leafed sprouts of hundreds of carrot seeds have sprouted all around our tomatoes.


Calla
The callas bloom again and again, especially when I cut them for a vase.


Cilantro
This cilantro is a volunteer from the first seeds I planted in the pasture 2 Summers ago. Now cilantro pops up everywhere, which is wonderful. This one is going to seed. The tiny flowers are clustered, and resemble Queen Ann's Lace. I will scatter some seeds and save many more for cooking.


Wild radish
At least I think this may be wild radish. It looks like the flower on my chart of California native flowers. It is part of one of the Islands Geoff did not mow. The stems are somewhat spiney, and the flowers remind me of small snapdragons, or something like sweet peas.


Poppies
A classic of California hillsides and valleys. Ours were part of the wildflower seed collection I scattered two years ago. They are still returning, along with brilliant blue cornflowers and yolk yellow calendula.

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