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Today started out a beautiful day. Living on the coast, we get lots of fog, especially during the summer when it’s hot in the valley – it creates an inversion layer that holds the fog close to the coastline. Which is why folks from the valley love to come over to escape the 100+ degree temperatures just on the other side of the coastal range.

So, generally, spring and fall are our very best times. Well, today started out with a weak sun, and then moved right into wonderful balmy spring weather.

Hubby and I transplanted various plants into larger pots. We planted the tulips that we misplaced, and which were actually starting to sprout! Now I’ll be able to see them come up from my kitchen window, right next to the artichokes which seem to love our foggy weather!

And, my lovely ficus – a birthday gift eight years ago – finally got transferred to a bigger pot. It is getting rather leggy, and I want to trim it back some, but I wanted to transplant first, to give it a chance to get used to a bigger space before I started to give it a haircut.

I know ficus’ tend to be a bit resistant to change – every year I have to be careful when Christmas comes that I don’t move it to a location it dislikes. One year after I moved it so we could bring in the Christmas tree, the poor thing dropped so many leaves I thought it was in shock – and all from a simple 8 foot move (to a slightly warmer location, no less!).

Anyway, we planted and transplanted and had a great time. The rosemary was blooming on the back porch ( picture on the left), and the hummingbirds were loving it!

The cherry tree finally has some blossoms on it (picture on the right). It gets so pretty – but we never get any cherries – the birds seem to strip it bare in just a couple of days once they get ripe.
I decided to trim back the geraniums and try them in the stone flower beds on the front porch. So far nothing has seemed to grow there, but the geraniums have done great in pots next to the door, so we’ll see how it goes.

I never used to like geraniums very much – I particularly didn’t like the smell of the leaves. It’s so cold up here, though, fuschia, azaleas and geraniums seem to be the only things I can count on. Sometimes we’ll get dahlias, hydrangeas and snapdragons, and sometimes the deer leave the roses alone long enough for me to get a couple of buds. Oh, and gladiolas grow in the fall. I even had some irises show up after 4 years in the ground!

So, everything is kind of hit and miss – except the geraniums. And today I noticed that I don’t mind the scent so much. I think I am getting to where I appreciate the color so much that I am willing to include the smell of the leaves as part of the package!

In the midst of it all, I discovered we had our own crop circle!! (—>) So of course I had to photograph it!

Most of all, I appreciated the sunshine and the time with my husband.

Oh, and by about 4 o’clock it was raining!!