The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra- la...

It's springtime in northern California. Many plants begin to grow when the first rainstorms hit around November. Wildflowers start showing up early in February, and many hit their peak mid March to May. There are summer wildflowers that thrive until mid June or July, but our dry summers mean that flowers and other plants start to fade by then. Our hills are gold with dry grass and plants after that; in fact this is the source of California's name, the Golden State. In other words, our growing season and time of greatest biological productivity doesn't mix with the calander. Life's quite different here. Our climate is defined as a Medeteranean climate... cool rainy winters, warm dry summers.

This isn't a wild daffodil; parents and others planted these flowers next to a schoolyard. But I liked it a lot! I'll try to post other wildflowers and other growing things soon.