How do you know its Spring in Merced

Spring's arrival  in Merced is a tricky date to guess. Sometimes the central valley in California has Spring significantly before Easter. The first year we moved out from Colorado we left a spot that had ice on the trees and snow on the road. This was the week after ash Wednesday. We arrived in the Central Valley where every day was a barbeque day outside and the evening temperatures continued to mirror the daytime highs in the 70s-90's. What a contrast.

I think the way that you know its Spring here is that you can open the window in the house and not have to remember to close them after noon. Yet, there is little need for an air conditioner during this time of the year. It one of our three free months from PGnE, our utility provider.  The grass needs to be watered one time a week. The trees need to be watered deeply once every other week. The crafty gardener can have a blast outside for most of the day without worrying about the weather.. except wearing a hat... please and some liquid sun protection, internally and externally.

In my case, its time to lose the T shirts under until fall comes.

The heavy air around my house is full of smell of citrus blossoms and sweet alyssum flowers.  Last weekend before the orange blossoms took center stage, a whiff of iris was swirling through the air. Heather, my eldest daughter had never smelled iris before. I told her that she had but that she did recognize it. Its often the base to very subtle aromas in perfumes. She picked it up. Her sister Linzi, who was also home, confirmed that this would be the last visit that we would have of Heather as she prefers not to be in the valley when it gets hot.

The front porch garden is in fantastic shape. The flats I planted on March 5th are in their peak form. They might get one more month before they need to be uprooted and replaced with the summer hot hot hot mix. We have climate that gave wilting petunias their reputation. I will take some shots of them and share them all on facebook.

Where ever you are enjoy the Spring!  : ) Pat