Here, the first wildflower of the season is always the wild cucumber, Marah macrocarpa. This voracious vine starts its strangling growth with the first winter rains, sending forth long, fast-growing shoots with clusters of white blooms. Later it will produce bright green, round, prickly (inedible) fruit 5–6 cm in diameter and 8–12 cm long, before dying back completely in summer.

Here on our block, we are already seeing wild cucumbers scrambling over the lemonadeberry and bougainvillea, sign that the seasons are turning once again.