Rain: Rain--and Hail

The last of the recent storms has now passed through. Beautiful, clear, sunny day today in Santa Rosa--a sharp contrast to yesterday's heavy rain and pea-sized hail. Yesterday's precipitation added 0.20 inches to the 2011-2012 rainy season total, which now stands at 26.05 inches (at least at my house). That's still well below the annual average for Santa Rosa, which is around 32 inches, but much better than looked likely as recently and the end of February. Despite the nice weather today, I've mostly been stuck indoors working. I hope I'll have something more interesting to write about once current projects are out of the way, delivered to clients.

Plants I'm Growing: First Blooms--Solomon's Seal, Rhododendron "Double Eagle," Wisteria, Echium Gentianoides (April 9-10, 2012)

A lot going on in the garden at the moment. In the past few days, Solomon's Seal, the rhododendron called "Double Eagle," the Wisteria at the back of the garden, and Echium gentianoides have all come into bloom. I've been very busy with work this week, so it's been hard to keep up with the flowers.

Double Eagle" starting blooming on April 9. The plant had no flowers last year after a spectacular 2010. It's spectacular again this year. The whole plant is covered with yellow flowers (pictured). Echium gentianoides, a rather open, delicate-looking, true blue Echium also started blooming on April 9. The Wisteria started blooming on April 10--but only a few flowers are open on one or two flower clusters. Solomon's Seal, a lovely little woodland wildflower that I feel nostalgic about because of childhood associations with the East, started blooming on April 10 as well (top photo).

Rain: Better late than never (April 9-12, 2012)

It started raining last night. The forecast is for rain the next few days. Normally we get comparatively little rain after the end of March, but any addition is welcome, as we're still considerably below normal for the 2011-2012 rainy season (which ends on June 30). We've had 0.95 inches now since last reporting. That brings us to 24.30 inches for the season. Average annual rainfall in Santa Rosa, California is 31.91 inches, so we are still about seven and a half inches below where we should be, but at least we're approaching the normal range

[Update: Heavy rain on the night of the 11th. We got another 0.95 inches overnight. The total now stands at 25.20 inches for the season.]

[Further update: An additional 0.65 inches on the 12th brings the total to 25.85 inches for the 2011-2012 rainy season. We're getting there...."]