CA native Eriogonum giganteum, Saint Catherine’s lace, makes a bold statement when grown with feathery grasses.

Summer Romance arrives wearing a floral/fruity fragrance. #RoseWednesday

A pumpkin or sunflower would be fitting camouflage for an orange, gray bird grasshopper. #InsectThursday

Brown turkey, the first of four fig trees ready for tasting.

New fungi for a new month. 🍄 Forest Bouquet II, 2012, Alexander Viazmensky (Russian, b. 1946). Watercolor on paper, 40.5 x 30.5 cm (16 x 12 in.)

You have a bouquet of fragrant, long-stemmed beauties to enjoy. 🌹

My daughter told me that I’m turning into a hermit and need to leave the property more often, so I went for a walk and made a new spotted orbweaver friend.

California Dreamin is staying strong during this week’s brutal heat wave. #RoseWednesday

It’s been so blazing hot even the red-shouldered hawks need a wading pool.

I grabbed a flashlight and headed outside to view the night-blooming cactus, Cereus. The petals resemble feathers.

I feel for these kids. Because of intense bullying I graduated from HS two years early, only to find myself in college with a professor who announced to the class to look at me as an example of someone on drugs because I couldn’t sit still. Didn’t even drink soda. The extra

Thanks, Andi. My friends are great travelers. 🥰

You’d need high ceilings and a sturdy vase to bring this inflorescence indoors (I haven’t tried). I planted a weighty bulb of Drimia maritima twenty years ago and the towering blooms reach 6’ every summer without any care.

An Anna’s hummingbird zipped into the house and her tiny claw got stuck in the door sweep. I released her foot and pulled off the dog’s fur before she flew off, returning for a second look, then disappeared into the sky. You can hear her lightning fast wings beating as she zooms

A Bewick’s wren decided to explore the indoors. Out you go.

Ballerina rose is a graceful 6-10’ arching shrub that can also be used as a manageable climber. #RoseWednesday

Out leaped a Pacific chorus frog as I watered the raised vegetable garden.