#perrenials

   Last year I dug the grass weeds on either side of the steps at my father’s house and established a flower bed that he could appreciate while he was sitting on the porch. One of my biggest concerns was that an old bleeding heart that my mother had planted when I was a kid had been ‘built over’ and imprisoned behind lattice when the porch was renovated. I felt awful seeing it trying to survive without enough light and very little water, so I removed the lower lattice and dug it up early in the spring.  I didn’t know if it would survive, but it did ok last summer. And this year . .

it is full sized and full of flowers! Surrounded by daffodils, iris, and bluebells, ready for another 40 years of life.

My daughter been working hard at her perennial flowers

Mountain Blue Penstemon (P. laetus) A Sierra foothill native- I grew this from locally collected seed. To watch it sprout, grow, and finally have it bloom for me feels incredible. Native plants really are such treasures and more people should propagate them