I’ve had this Japanese maple for almost 20 years. I bought when I was living in a townhouse in Pleasanton. My yard there had zero sun. The townhouse faced northeast. It was 2 stories high, and there were 2 large trees to the southeast. The townhouse was nice and cool.

From there, we moved to a house in Livermore that had zero shade. I had one plant that liked the sun, and all my other plants suffered mightily. After that, we moved to the house we’re in now. There used to be a large cedar tree in our front yard. Heck, it was the front yard. DH was always afraid it would fall on the house, but I thought it kept the house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

The tree was beautiful, but it dropped a layer of detris that was 2 inches thick every year. It was so much work to grow things under it. I was 6 months pregnant, it was hot, and it had taken me an hour to clean up a 10 foot by 1 foot area. That was it for that tree.

Fortunately, the Japanese maple was well established. It has done just fine in the blistering heat of summer.

Shasta Daisy

My mom gave me this shasta daisy. It was growing all over the place in her garden when they moved to Alameda. It’s done really well in my garden.

Some might consider it to be invasive, but you can easily control it. It doesn’t spread far. If you keep it deadheaded, it doesn’t spread at all.

Almonds, coming soon!

Pulguito can’t wait for the almonds. I’m not sure why. He doesn’t particularly like almonds. Perhaps it is because we have been eating the apricots, and they are good. There is nothing like fruit ripened on the tree. The flavor is crisp. And when the fruit is warm from the sun, it is a little piece of heaven.

Columbine

And I leave with an image of a columbine. Lovely, what?

But the almonds are blooming.