Pink cobbity daisies in the foreground, fortnight lilies and gazania in the background. They all bloom like crazy with very little water.

Camellias require more water but they are in the shade all day, so there isn’t much evaporation.

I planted these perennials last year. They died back a bit in winter, but bloom from spring into fall. I can’t remember. what they’re called.

I have white ones as well as the deep purple.

Gazanias make a great ground cover. They require very little water and bloom almost all year long.

This lavender bush is getting huge. I made lavender sugar one year, putting the flowers into a Mason jar with sugar. The sugar picks up the scent, and can be used to make lavender cookies or lavender cake.

Bloodflower milkweed makes lovely flowers, and the Monarch butterflies love it. We have raised many butterflies in our organic garden.

This beautiful sunflower sprang up on its own. I have no idea what kind it is, but it has a short, stocky stem and a huge flowerhead. 

This is the first Mexican poppy of the season. They self sow, spread like wildfire, and require very little water. I love them.

I think this is Autumn Sage, a California native plant. I have three of them, part of my hummingbird and butterfly garden.

I have a few rose bushes along the back of the house. They grow where I clean the watering cans for the chickens. The water does double duty, cleaning the cans and watering the roses and surrounding irises. 

These cheerful little Sundrops need little water, self sow, and bloom year round. Wonderful little plants.

The Gala apple tree in back has some flowers on it this year. Maybe we will get apples from it even though it is still young.

This doesn’t look like much, a few leaves coming out of a twig. But I am thrilled because this is my new Gala apple in front. It is ALIVE! Which is more than I can say for my two Fuyu persimmon trees. I seem to have killed them off.

We have two varieties of Asian pear trees in back. Here is a flower on one that hasn’t produced any fruit yet. Maybe this will be the year? My fingers are crossed.

This teeny, tiny, baby Asian pear is one of three pears that are growing on my newest Asian pear tree in front. It is a grafted tree with four different pear varieties on it. Only one variety set fruit, the one with the lowest chilling requirement.

Whoopee, look at all of the peaches on the Florida Prince peach tree. They are small, but there are a lot of them. I hope I can beat the birds to most of them.

The Katy apricot tree is loaded with fruit this year. I must remember to get a net to put over the tree to keep the birds from getting the apricots before I do.

Some of our fruit trees are blooming, some have produce ready to pick. The avocado tree has both fruit and flowers this time of year. 

This is our entire Valencia orange crop. These oranges are on a dwarf tree in a large pot, and are ready to pick.

We are down to our last few Navel oranges. There were about 50 on the tree at the start of the season. We have eaten most of them already.

Our dwarf Eureka lemon tree grows in a pot and produces about half a dozen lemons a year.

This is our major lemon producer, a dwarf Meyer lemon planted in the ground. 

I am always amazed when a crop thrives in my garden of benign neglect. The white onions are beginning to make bulbs. My garlic crop, however, was a bust.

The red onions are also bulbing up. This one is right next to the soaker hose and doing well. Let’s not talk about the yellow onions. Maybe they are a later variety. 

This may not look like much, but it is the chard that covered Los Angeles. It is HUGE. We had six monster leaves for dinner and it hardly made a dent in what is ready to harvest.

Eek, the Freckles Romaine lettuce is bolting. I must do something with it, quickly. Like eat it!

Here are some kale and mustard plants that are going into a stir fry soon.

More kale.

Uh, oh. Only one artichoke is ready to pick. I need to pick them in pairs so my husband can have one too. Guess who is going to get this one. 🙂

What? Ripe bell peppers in April? Yep.

The collard greens are growing like weeds.