If you’ve lived in New England, you’ll know that March Is Mud Season, as I’ve written before. It is a wicked month, when you are teased by a few days of warmth and then tossed back, mercilessly into winter.

When I lived in Massachusetts there were some years we were able to travel to California in March. It was a blessed relief. The days were warm and sunny and the pink-flowered rhaphiolepis (Indian hawthorn) was in bloom everywhere. It was just the cheer our winter weary souls needed to persist until May.

On my daily walks in the neighborhood I’ve taken special note of plants that remind me that it is March in Southern California. They are shared below and identified.