Gardening is never the same from one year to the next. Climate change, changes in precipitation and horticultural practices all lead to different outcomes.

In our yard, this is the year of the Western Star Flower or Trientalis latifolia. (Also seems to be called the Pacific Star Flower.)

The Western Star is a magical groundcover that sends up small flowers that seem to hover above the plant. We’ve always had some, mostly in the front under the cedars that make up our driveway garden.

Last year we tried transplanting some to other parts of the yard. We thought we had limited success with that.

We thought wrong.

There are HUNDREDS of Western Stars and they are everywhere, in every part of the yard. It seems like every day we discover a new bunch in a new place. If nothing else grows this year, it’s still been a great year in the garden.