Join me on a stroll through the rainy-day yard

Just came back from a rainy day stroll through the yard.  We haven't had a full day of rain for a long time. The plants must be so happy. I can almost hear them slurping up moisture, growing greener and fuller by the moment.

It was wet out there but not too wet to take the camera along to capture a few snapshots.

Growing beneath one of my birdfeeders are several volunteer sunflowers.
It's almost as if the rain is encouraging them to open up their petals.

Looking back at the house from beneath one of the white mulberry trees

Although the trees are not fully leafed out, I was surprised to see a few white mulberries ready to pick 

Pausing on my way up the hill to Ralph's high garden, I looked down on the sheds' pine needle-covered roofs

A volunteer papaya covered with fruit is growing out of one section of Ralph's compost bins

Below are a few pictures of some of the many veggies growing in Ralph's two gardens, the high garden up the hill from the house and the low garden, growing on the west side of our house

Pretty pink-stalked Swiss Chard plants

Peas - three different kinds growing on a fence
I munched on some and picked a bunch only I mixed them up by putting them all in one basket.  Now Ralph has to sort through and separate the English peas from the Sugar Snaps.  The snow peas are easy to tell apart.

Look at that!  Raspberries ripening!

Lots of little broccoli side shoots ready to be eaten for dinner
Yup, I picked some of them too

Ralph loves his greens
Here are containers of two kinds of lettuce and tatsoi growing next to containers of broccoli plants

More lettuce growing in the low garden on the west side of the house

Containers filled with potato plants
I love potatoes the way Ralph loves his greens

Below is a picture of a stinkhorn fungus.  It's not a vegetable and definitely not edible, but nonetheless, I found it growing in the garden next to the pea vines.

After meandering up and down the rows in Ralph gardens I headed over to the starfruit tree to see if any fruit was ripe.  Lots!

Next stop was to check out my flowers.  Ralph grows veggies.  I grow flowers.  Except he puts much more work into his vegetable gardens than I do to my overgrown, weedy flowerbeds.  That's okay.  Even with all neglect, I still have plenty of pretty plants to enjoy.

Honeysuckle growing up the clay wall along with confederate jasmine, which will bloom a little later in the season

The bottlebrush trees are covered with sticky red blooms attracting birds, butterflies wasps and bees

This jewel orchid that I got at a plant exchange
(thank you Mark and Judy Loftus!)
just recently started to flower

A little bit of this, a little bit of that
Many different plants growing together on a low table

My kitchen window garden
Another assorted group of succulents, bromeliads, wildflowers and perennials
in the forefront with white mulberry trees in the distance

Lots of oak leaves covering the walkways

And another edible - a pineapple - growing under the Louis Philippe Rose bushes.  I keep waiting for it to turn yellow so I can pick it but it's taking so long to ripen, I worry that the feral pigs will get to it before I do.  I might just have to pick it while its still green to be sure I won't miss out.