The Penstemon is Blooming

Spring has sprung. Or maybe it's just mildly sprained. :-)  No, really, we had a few days of sun after a number of days of rain and all of a sudden, one of the pensetmons in my Natives Bed is trying to bloom!

Yes, the penstemon is the little purple-y thing in the middle. It's Penstemon "Margarita BOP" (the BOP standing for Behind Our Porch and is named for the porch at Las Pilitas Nursery in Santa Margarita).

I took the longer shot because I wanted to capture the environs. the greenery at the top of the photo is the penstemon. The greenery sticking its fingers in from the bottom and left side is Ceanothus hearstorium. The broad-leaf thingy below and to the left of the penstemon flowers is a lupine sprout. And all those other little green speck-lets are some combination of California Poppies, Tidy Tips, and/or Goldfields.

That's just one tiny slice of the microcosm that is my Natives Bed.  Woohoo!