Southland Heeds the Call of Spring

After enduring two months of the heaviest rainfall in two decades while hunkered under a cardboard box, Herman Barron, a five-year veteran of Skid Row, sauntered down 2nd Street on Thursday, counting his few blessings.

On his back was a tattered jacket. On his feet, a pair of Reeboks with no shoelaces. All his meager possessions were gathered in three plastic bags.

But all around him was sunshine . . . glorious sunshine.

“This was a rough winter, the worst. I got soaked many times,” he said. “Now it’s wonderful. It’s a blessing, this sunshine.”

From Skid Row to the once-parched slopes of the Tehachapis, from the now-brimming reservoirs in Santa Barbara to the green expanses of lawn across suburbia, spring has sprung and Southern Californians are heeding the call.

After surviving six years of drought and a deluge through January and February, spring has arrived in the Southland in a way that few can remember.

Back-yard gardens are filled with blossoms. Lawns that once looked like something from the lunar landscape are green again. The disgrace of Southern Californians trying to drive in wet weather is just foggy memory.

“This is absolutely the most wonderful spring we’ve had in years,” said Shirley Kerins, curator of the herb garden at Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. “Everything is just bursting . . . the weeds as well.”

Kerins said that even at the lush Huntington Gardens, the drought hurt many plants and trees. The long rains, however, have given the greenery a deep watering.

Steve Burback, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said that the last trace of rain to fall on Los Angeles came March 28--just 0.27 of an inch.

The rainy season usually ends in late April, he said. But given the weather patterns, he expects little more rain to fall, certainly no big storms.

For Southern Californians, who can come down with a serious case of cabin fever after just a few hours of fog, the prediction is great news.

Reclining in the shade of an avocado tree, Johnnie Alonzo and small group of friends at the Century Freeway Garden near 118th Street braced themselves for a hectic day of watching the cabbage grow.

For nearly 20 years, the neatly hoed gardens have been a rural haven in the midst of Watts. For the gardeners, planting in the spring is a ritual that they look forward to. No rain on your head, no hot sun beating down on you. Just pleasant weather. You hoe a little, rest a little.

Alonzo, a retired construction worker, said he had to plant his carrots, beets and beans a bit late this year because of the rains.

But so far they have been coming up like gangbusters. “It’s going to be a great garden year,” he said.

The only thing the gardeners worry about is that a good harvest may mean more vegetable poaching by people who just cannot resist a little home-grown corn or cabbage.

“Oh . . . it doesn’t matter,” said Cliff Johnwell. “We always plant enough for them too.”