What's Growing: May 2025
ask the squirrel how his feast was
I’m not sure if it’s midlife, or the fact that I’ve moved back to natural landscapes of my childhood, but I notice trees and plants far more than I used to. Each month here on Home Again I share a photo roundup of what’s growing around my home, neighborhood, and city. Glad you’re here!
It’s May! So many things are growing this month I had to wait until the juicy, dripping end to show them all to you.
1. Garden Bounty!
The photo above shows just shy of eight weeks of garden growth, and it was taken after harvesting a bunch of lettuces from the lefthand bed. The zucchini forest on the right is really thriving and I feel rather ambivalent about most ways of cooking and eating zucchini, so I welcome your favorite recipes.
Also outperforming my expectations in the garden are the blackberries, which I didn’t have high hopes for but are yielding literal handfuls of edible fruit!
2. Neighborhood Walks, But Make Them Colorful
The area where I live is known for its hedgerows, its chaotic mix of tidy English gardens and wild native California landscaping, and its similarities - climate-wise - to the Mediterranean. There’s a lot to take in, horticulturally speaking, especially this time of year!
I thought this wall of crimson bottlebrush were just plain ol’ hedges, but they had a colorful showing in May.
Tiny marguerite daisies made me happy on one morning walk, and while bougainvillea is so prevalent around here that it wouldn’t normally catch my eye, the electric purple color of this one was unexpected.
Neither the roses (above), nor the mustard (below) are native, I do love a human-made fence communing with nature.
3. Coulter's Matilija Poppy
Speaking of neighborhood walks, I am thrilled every year when the Matilija poppies blossom on this nearby property. I love these enormous poppies. They’re impressive in stature, with stalks reaching several feet skyward, and at the same time flimsy as florals, with big, crepey petals that flap and droop randomly. They also remind me a little of a fried egg.
4. Plums, Apricots & Nectarines!
This may be the first in a few years that all three of these fruit trees produce for us (often one or more take the year off). The apricots (center) look like they’ll be ready in June, the plums (left) in July, and the nectarines in August. Stay tuned!
5. A Poppy Update
In last month’s What’s Growing post I shared that a little California poppy plant had sprouted in one of the spots in my backyard where I scattered some seeds this winter. I’m pleased to report that the little sprout has grown!
That’s me, below, pretty proud of my seed-scattering abilities.
7. No 🥑 News Is Good 🥑 News
I don’t have an avocado update for you because I’ve been too busy picking avocados, giving away avocados, achieving optimal ripeness on avocados, and eating avocados.
You know you’re living in abundance when you find yourself happy for the squirrel who beat you to the punch on this gorgeous avocado, and not mad that he stole the grocery store equivalent of $4. We’ve enough to go around this year.
Finally, because no one asked, here’s a musical theatre YouTube video to accompany this month’s What’s Growing post. I saw this musical on Broadway in 2023 and Philippa Soo’s “The Lusty Month of May” was hands-down my favorite part:
What’s popping up in your yard lately? Hit reply (if you’re reading this in your inbox), or pop over to Substack and leave a comment to let me know!
More in the What’s Growing series:
How do you keep pests/critters out of your raised beds?
Your garden is amazing and I am beyond jealous of your avocado bounty! I love seeing your photos and reading about what's growing every month in your area. I grew up in the bay area and each month your photos take me back to my childhood. I definitely am not a horticulturist and am pretty terrible at identifying plants but I recognize many of the flowers and bushes and can picture them being in my yard or neighborhood as a child. We also had an apricot tree and grew blackberries in the backyard and I have many fond memories of both. Hopefully you get a nice harvest from all your fruit trees this year!