Over the last two weeks or so we have gotten about seven inches of rain. This may not sound like much to Americans, but it's more than we've received in the last several months put together, and is enough to matter. We still need more, to replenish groundwater, fill the reservoir (which last I heard was still nearly empty), and keep everything watered, but this is a good start; I hope not the end. I can hear the stream running down in the bottom of the valley. Rain is forecast for Thursday night.

As far as the garden goes, all is forgiven. The last two days have been notably sunny and mild. I have been fooling around in the big garden, not energetic enough for serious work, but doing a bit of much-needed pruning of the Italian cypresses, tidying beds of overgrown grass and weeds, and having my first look around in months. The plants are looking greatly refreshed and pleased with themselves; the olives, cypresses, native oaks--deciduous, but still holding their mostly green leaves--the Mediterranean subshrubs, rosemary, Salvia greggii, phlomis, artemisia, are fine fettle, along with many others, and the winter annual grass is sprouting tender and fresh green. Some losses: one of my mature, beautiful plants of Daphne odora 'Aureomarginata' died--I think not due to drought--and of course all the 80-90 box are goners: I've been cutting them down to the ground. A number of previously non-prosperous roses are nearly, but not quite, dead. Among the plants I put in the ground a year ago, the pomegranate, persimmon, and Viburnum tinus are dead, not to my surprise: they were purchased plants put in poor ground (though pretty much all our ground is poor), both of which, perhaps, told against them. On the other hand, the two purchased plants of Mahonia eurybracteata 'Soft Caress' held up egregiously! Established shrubs for the most part did pretty well, as far as I've seen so far, including toughies like lilac, forsythia, photinia, winter honeysuckle. Plants are tough! They want to live!

I was really pleased, and not entirely surprised, that many of the plants put in the ground a year ago are alive despite the long drought and very little watering, particularly the Mediterranean-climate subshrubs that I'm using more and more for hedging. Phlomis, of which I have four or five varieties, I believe, is a champion. Another favorite is shrub germander, Teucrium fruticans, a brilliantly silver subshrub, quite large, and handsome as can be. I was wishing, when I saw my lentisk, that I knew where to get more young plants of it. The current one, purchased when it was a baby, now covers a few square yards, very green, very vigorous, very handsome, with foliage that smells to me like Old Spice. IT doesn't fear drought. It's native further south; I don't think I've seen it grown locally, unfortunately. I've had no luck propagating it.

I'll have to get back on the roses. The garden is turning more and more into a landscape garden, which isn't an evil fate, but I do want many roses, and many kinds of plants. Including things like hardy cyclamen, one of the few things in bloom, and a delight of the season. They're late this year, currently in full flower, and cute as they can be.

I would like to hear from Bart, having been wondering about the weather where she is. There was flooding in her part of Italy.