The blackberries are ripening nicely. We've harvested a few bowlfuls and enjoyed them on ice cream -- not quite enough are ripening daily to add to the freezer.
Lots of flowers are showing their colors... volunteer sweet peas and snapdragons along with an iris that has bloomed for the first time since we moved into the house. Each year it has produced a spray of leaves but never any more. This year, it produced a half dozen cream and chocolate colored flowers.
The wild flowers, yellow and blue are making their way through the tall grass and are a delight to see.
Ferns are all over the higher part of the hill, too. This maidenhair fern has been growing up near the deck for years and often goes unnoticed because of all the grasses and poison oak that surround it.
And of course the poison oak is growing better than any other plant on the property! It's beginning to turn red, so that should make it a little easier to see -- and hopefully avoid -- the next time I'm working on the hill.
Even the flowers we planted are looking good... or at least they were two weeks ago!
