I am looking forward to a riot of wildflowers due to the lovely rains in January, and I wonder how many of you know that a seed can live in this desert earth for up to 200 years without germinating – and then, when it gets some rain just at the right moment, it bursts out with a flower you’ve never seen before! I remember one year when almost overnight all the bushes on the mountains became entwined with long, thin tendrils of green covered with the most delicate, tiny mauve bells, so that each manzanita bush looked like it was shrouded in gauzy veils. Continue reading