Friends of the Regional Park Botanic Garden, Tilden Park, Berkeley

Fawn Lily We have really been on an up-and-down, wet then dry cycle this winter, but by now it seems obvious that we will have sufficient rain to provide an abundant and beautiful spring. Already the Garden is responding to the rain and the recent warm weather. A visit soon will show how well our natives respond to local conditions. Everything is beautifully leafing out, and many early bloomers are at their full glory, while the true winter bloomers have almost finished.

For example, many of the manzanitas (Arctostaphylos spp.) and silk tassel bushes (Garrya spp.) have already '"done their thing" and only a few lingering blooms remind us that they flowered over a month ago. But don't give up on all the manzanitas, some of the later-blooming ones are still reaching their peak and deserve a closer look for their honey-scented flowers.

Meanwhile, ceanothuses are beginning to blossom although there is much more to come in the following month or month and a half. While that's happening, the shrub genus to particularly pay heed to is Ribes (gooseberries and currants), whose fresh new leaves and gorgeous trusses of flowers are in top shape. Only the chaparral currant (R. malvaceum) is past its peak; the pink flowering currant (R. sanguineum glutinosum) is breathtaking, and the golden currant (R. aureum) and Catalina perfume (R. viburnifolium) are making a lovely display in the Santa Lucia and Channel Islands sections, respectively.

Do visit our Bulb Bed; the first beautiful flowers are now fresh and gorgeous. They include the white or fragrant fritillary (Fritillaria liliacea) with nodding white bells, the fawn-lily (Erythroniuim multiscapoideum) with mottled leaves and lilylike white flowers with a yellow base, and the lava onion (Allium cratericola) with its tiny clusters of pink flowers.

Scattered around the Garden are also creamy, fragrant coast wallflower (Erysimum menziesii concinnum), California poppy (Eschscholzia californica), and various trilliums (or wake-robins, Trillium spp.).

Finally, don't neglect the less obvious but no less important plants that are fresh after our recent rains. They include a range of ribbonlike liverworts, mosses in several different genera, and a diversity of colorful lichens that live on rocks, branches, and tree trunks.

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