Last week, I made a sign to offer gift certificates to anyone who walked by the garden and texted me. No one did. It seemed simple enough, but maybe 1) people don’t want to text a stranger and/or 2) they aren’t as excited about native plants as I think they should!
Feeling dejected and sad, I thought I’d try Nextdoor. So I posted a Free Native Plants post and almost immediately I got a response! And then another! And within two days, I had over two dozen requests for certificates! I’m so excited by this response and the kind, excited responses from neighbors who are looking to improve their communities with native plants. I was worried that my mission wasn’t relevant to people, but it turns out a lot of amazing folks have already planted natives and many others want to start now.
The realization that several of the native plant species I started this year are actually annuals, not the perennials I had assumed, forced me to get those plants out into the native plant garden today. I planted out seven Collomia grandiflora seedlings and seven Lupinus bicolor seedlings. I’m hopeful that with some warmer weather and maybe some supplemental watering, they can get to blooming size by the end of summer.
Seedlings planted today nearest the bricks: Lupinus bicolor to the left, Collomia grandiflora to the right. 
Closer view of my precious seedlings. 
Lupinus bicolor is very delicate looking.
I’m trying to create a baseline of insects and other fauna that come to our yard this year. We had two nests full of Juncos hatch out in the garden, one batch of black-capped chickadees, and I’m seeing a lot of native bees and insects, including sweat bees, bumblebees, a yellow underwing moth, geometer moth, and a plume moth that arrived today near our front door.
The resilience of nature is awe-inspiring. These animals are out there just waiting for humans to give them a chance to thrive!