I'm so glad I planted my wildflower seeds early this year so they could take full advantage of the big rains we had in January and February. Thanks to those winter storms, I now have several patches of well-established California native wildflowers growing in both the front and back yards. Some have even started to bloom.

So far, the early bloomers include this Baby Blue-Eyes (Nemophila maculata), which is happily flowering in several spots in the front yard.



And this lovely yellow flower, a Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa), has just started to bloom as well.



A few other varieties appear to be on the verge of flowering, although I'm not sure which ones. I got so many different seeds from the Theodore Payne Foundation, and my planting method involved mixing them all together and then scattering them on any available bare ground. Wildflowers are much easier to identify once they've bloomed.

I've also been enjoying the big patch of lupines--or Blue Bonnets as we called them in Texas--that's growing on the grassy slope below our house. I'm not sure how the seed originally got there, but every Spring there seem to be more plants with their beautiful blue flowers covering the hillside. Every time I drive by, it makes me happy to see them growing there, especially since I have a hard time growing lupines in my own yard.

Luckily, I've got lots of other wildflower blossoms to look forward to over the next couple of months. The good rains this year have made sure of that.

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