I wasn't sure if I had missed most of the wildflower show at Jepson Prairie Reserve but I thought I'd go see this morning. Jepson Prairie is a natural area owned by the Solano Land Trust. The website says: The reserve protects one of the best few remaining vernal-pool habitats, which are found only in the western United States and few other places in the world, as well as precious remnants of native bunchgrass prairie that once covered one-fourth of California.

Today's weather is a bit crazy for May. The reserve is just about 10-15 miles southeast of our place and I was watching the black clouds as I got closer. As I got out of the car I saw lightening and decided to wait it out for awhile (in the car). So I drove down the road through the reserve.

I can't find my bird book so I'm going to count on my best birding friend (I was going to say Claire, but now there are more birding friends out there) to chime in here.

No that's not snow in the background. It's the hills that are drying out.

As green as it is in my pasture and in the surrounding farm land, the Central Valley would be a desert without water. So the prairie is drying out and I missed a lot of the wildflowers for the year, but not all.

The flowers that are blooming now are the ones that can handle the drying conditions. Now I don't have the excuse of "I can't find my wildflower book." I used to know most of these flowers and now I can't remember them. But I still enjoy them.