The last of the harvest brodaiea discovered in a shady spot.

Peeling manzanita bark changes reveals the ochre underneath.

Yarrow is one of the late bloomers this season emerging from underneath dead branches.

Tadpoles dart around in the last of the seasonal water.

These Farewell to Spring brighten up a field of dead grass.

One of our seasonal ponds, well, puddles, has gone completely dry in the last week.

A carpet of carpenteria blossoms is all that of hundreds of flowers.

Milkweed flowers appear to be quite the delicacy. They tend to be bitten off instead of forming the slipperlike pod seen above.

Willow shrub begins to bloom in my garden. Beautiful wine colored flowers. The surrounding sage has finished blooming.

A beautiful blue purple thistle grows in the scar of burn pile. I haven't been able to identify it yet.

The finches are swarming the bird feeder this morning. They'll go away during the heat of the day.

More Dudley's clarkia against the dry grass. These fragile pale flowers signal the end of spring this week.

This ceanothus in my front yard is spreading out and blooming adding color and lush green to the garden. The native ceanothus bloom only in the spring.

Mule's ear of the daisy family grow tall this year. They will bloom late into July.

A late spring clarkia. Spring is over next week and these are beginning to fade.

Phoebe (lab mix) continues her time honored tradition of jumping in every body of water she encounters.

This is the white brodaiea, the fourth color of brodaiea and last of the season. The sequence is yellow, pink, dark pink, purple and white. This grows in the marshy areas and is smaller than the other ones.

A gorgeous Mariposa lily from above. Note the bee inside. There are only a few of these left as summer fast approaches.

The seed pod of globe lily, the remains of a spectacular, man eater. May there be even more next year.

These pale pink flowers are a type of clarkia. These late spring flowers look beautiful with the beige (dead) grass.

Ceanothus berries form about a month after the blossoms. The berries look lush and healthy this year.

Buckeyes in bloom. I love the vertical swoop of the blossoms.

A field of harvest brodeaia by the driveway. They are in full bloom now -- a beautiful blue purple. The grass is browning out as my favorite season ends.

A tiny yellow finch hangs on the bird feeder outside my kitchen window. They love the niger seed.

Sometimes there are nine or more, but this bird was only one who did not fly away.

Sort of nondescript, these morning glories, but the first time I had ever seen them at the ranch.

A stand of gay, or mountain blue penstemon. These grow at the edge of live oak shrubs, another spectacular late spring flower.

The nightshade plant in my back yard is forming seed pods. Nightshade is in the tomato family. In past years, these have been eaten as they began to turn purple and grow to maturity. We'll see.

Twining brodaiea are flourishing this year, springing up under the oak trees. This one is past full bloom.