A picture is worth a thousand words

Larkspur, snapdragon, hollyhock, petunia, bachelor's button, and coreopsis. There are some nice yellow pear tomatoes setting fruit inside the tomato cage, too.

The snake in the garden

Here's another picture of our "lilies of the field" garden under the key lime tree. In addition to the nasturtiums, bachelor's button and larkspur are beginning to bloom.

All the citrus trees are in bloom now, and the smell is delightful. Unfortunately this week I have learned that for every gardening Eden, there is a snake determined to spoil the pleasure one can enjoy in it. The snake that is rearing its ugly head for me right now is seasonal allergies, something I'd previously thought myself immune to suffering. Ha!

Actually, allergies are not usually caused by citrus, or the other kind of things in my garden. Flowering plants like citrus and these nasturtiums are insect-pollinated rather than wind-pollinated, and usually the pollen grains produced by insect-pollinated plants are too large to be inhaled and cause trouble. It's more likely that my symptoms result from the neighbors' ash and mulberry trees, or from the current crop of spring weeds infesting every patch of ground in the Valley area.

Asian pear tree in bloom

Our Asian pear tree is loaded with blooms this year. Last year, it didn't produce a single pear. It is my understanding that some fruit trees bear heavy crops in alternate years. Maybe we will get some this year!

I noticed the first bachelor's button flowers open this morning, and a few of the larkspur as well. There are also blossoms on many of the citrus trees, and their fragrance is beginning to fill the air. We had a nice dinner last night of roasted asparagus and steamed sugar snap peas, and today I will need to pick them again.

We found the pond plants Paul gave us Saturday new homes in the streambed. The larger ones look a bit droopy, but the watercress wasn't fazed by its abrupt relocation.