Recipe for the week:

Muscari (Grape Hyacinth)

Apply 2" of rain in a steady drizzle with occasional glugs.
Whip lightly with moderate, persistent winds.
Allow to soak...

That was the recipe through today, and as you may have heard we went from 1/3 of our seasonal rainfall to date, to almost 2/3 of it, in one week. Good news for the garden, bad news for people who enjoy a dry winter, and we'll have more rain next week so hang on to your (rain) hats.

Today I went out to see what'd been blown down, and how much the weeds have been enjoying the rain. Answer: "not many things," and "greatly." I also planted a few things Matt and I picked up at the Sloat Garden Center in Marin today. They included:

Lithodora diffusa

2 Lithodora diffusa - these went in between the California fuchsias (Epilobium canum) along the little wall by the bench, as suggested by our friend Corinne who visited the garden last week all the way from Wales.
1 Yucca gloriosa variegata - saving this for later.

1 Lewisia cotyledon (Cliff Maids) which is a sort of succulenty, pink-flowered California native. Saved this one for later too.

Santolina "Lemon Fizz"

I weeded the steps a little bit, and planted a couple more plants that have been waiting patiently for a while now: 2 Santolina "Lemon Fizz" and one Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage) directly opposite the bench where there's a bare patch of dirt that has been awaiting some inspiration for quite some time.

It's worth noting that the top step under the arch is rotted away. Matt came and chose a piece of wood to replace it - this time we're going to varnish it to hopefully prevent it rotting again so fast. In the meantime, watch your step there! You can see the missing top step in the second picture, above, as well as one of the new Santolinas at the bottom right.

Then I went down to the terrace bottom and planted a few spiky things. 3 Yuccas, 1 Opuntia ficus-indica, a large Agave scabra (probably), an Agave angustifolia and a Crassula ovata (Jade plant.)  There are still loads of plants to put in there, but it's coming along gradually.