When life gives you a lemon tree

We have a lemon tree in our new home.

With lemons waiting to be picked everyday 

And we bought a new wind wheel right beside it because we love wind wheels. Now we all sit and stare at it and exclaim, "oh the wind's blowing from that way!" ( as though it matters at all) every time it spins. 

Check out the lemons from the garden: 

Yes, the tomatoes are from our garden too: heirloom and grape tomatoes, juicy and sweet

Oh and there are some string beans and mint and thyme too, I kept the beans away to cook tomorrow. Yum!!! The mint and thyme need some TLC, which I've started giving, starting today. 

I'm going to be baking lots of apple pie soon, when these turn golden yellow:

If I get to them before the squirrels do

We also have cherry and peach trees but no fruits right now. The hummingbirds, sparrows and several local birds visit our garden multiple times, everyday. 

The  garden has flowers too, mostly hibiscus 

Apparently this one's also hibiscus:

If you look closely at it, it does look like one

Updated: My loving, intelligent sister A did some digging (no pun intended) and found that this purple flower is called Rose of Sharon.

There is another plant in the backyard that blooms a peachish-orange hibiscus but I plucked a flower this morning for the prayer/ shrine area in my kitchen (which I think would be a bit impolite to take photos of- culturally ingrained in me from several temple visits) so I don't have a pic right now.

Updated with a picture:

Any guesses to what this one's called? Wish Google had an app for that :

And this one?

Updated:
My sister A, who is turning out to be a proper sleuth, found that these white flowers with crinkly leaves are geraniums. The name reminds me of potted plants sitting by the kitchen window sill. I wonder who gets to name these flowers?

So pretty, right? As someone who dislikes artificial flowers and married to someone who dislikes plastic flowers, having the real thing right at home is the real deal indeed. 

This is what we see when we enter and leave our beautiful, ridiculously old and beat up but tremendously joyful home in the Bay Area. There's something about rustic charm in this garden that calms my senses, makes me happy and makes me wonder...

...how the heck are we going to maintain this beautiful garden when California is in the middle of a massive drought?!!!!! 

This garden reminds me so so much of my childhood home in Madras, that A and I plan to quickly acquire pairs of green thumbs and take care of all these lovelies. As a reminder of my amamma's home, I want to plant curry leaves and coriander soon. Of course, planting coconut will be the best but that might be a bit much. Besides, since it might be challenging to find legit coconut climbers in the area and I don't want coconuts falling on my head, I shall postpone this decision. 

We shall figure this gardening thing out. All in good time. Hopefully motherhood has given me some mad skills to take care of all my new babies. 

Come, visit me. I'll cook you something from my garden.