Elderberries

I seem to be easily excitable. A few days ago I walked out front and noticed the changes to my Blue Elderberry tree. Yes, it has added yet more blossoms. Yes, the last sets of blossoms are now becoming green berries. But the truly exciting part is that the early sets of green berries are turning BLUE! Woohoo! My less-than-a-year-old Blue Elderberry has gone from a little twig in a one-gallon pot to a small tree with masses of ripe elderberries!

These berries are supposed to be the beloved of the birds, tho I haven't yet seen the birds around the tree. I've tasted a few of the berries. Some are quite flavorful and some of those are actually getting sweet. If the birdies aren't careful, I might just beat them to the punch.

The vast majority of the wildflowers under and around the elderberry are gone for the year. Some of the clarkia are still blooming, but, for the most part, they're just about finished for the year. I'll be keeping an eye on the seed pods to see about harvesting them.

In the meanwhile, the areas where I cut back the California poppies have poppies starting to grow again from the bases of the seemingly dead, whacked-off plants. One has even put on a fresh blossom... and it's pink!

I still have plenty of hacking and hewing to do out there because it's summer and the spring wildflowers are looking quite seriously sad.