What's blooming now

It's so wonderful to see plants in the garden thriving, especially after some winter rain.

Some plants are blooming for the first time since they were transplanted, and some flourishing after diligent strategic watering and a dose now and then of organic fertilizer.

In the above photo you is the bright yellow blossom of the Woolly Sunflower Eriophyllum lanatum 'Siskiyou' . Growing in our native plant garden in the front yard, this plant has spread to about three times its original size when it was a seedling last year.

It is native to California, its habitat from the coast up to the high mountains, and into parts of Oregon.

The flowers provide a nectar and pollen source for bees and butterflies.

Meanwhile, in the backyard, the orange tree is full of blossoms.

Last year it yielded just six oranges.

This is probably because another tree growing between a neighbor's yard and ours grew tall leafy branches that kept the top branches of the orange tree in shadow for most of the day. Our neighbor said it was fine with her if we cut the "volunteer" tree branches that were shadowing the orange tree.

We trimmed some of the "volunteer" tree branches as well as all of the dried orange tree branches. Then we watered the orange tree once a week for about five minutes throughout the dry summer months. And I fed the ground around the tree a couple of tablespoons of organic fertilizer once a month from April through August.

Apparently all of our efforts have resulted in a healthier tree.

The few oranges that the tree yielded last year were very juicy and tasty.

Hopefully we'll get more than half a dozen ripe oranges this year.