Winter Harvest - Ceanothus blooms

My ceanothus just bloomed for the first time.  In honor of that a ceanothus post.  Ceanothus blooms are rich in saponins, which produce lather when rubbed with some water.  So basically ceanothus blooms make soap.

I learned this the first time while doing the self-guided nature trail at Huckleberry preserve.  I tried just a few flowers and produced a tiny bit of lather.  Then I tried it for real on my Native Californians' use of plants walk at the UC Davis arboretum.  The women leading the walk gave us each a scoop of dried ceanothus flowers and some water to wash our hands. It was a bit gritty, but left my hands feeling smooth and clean.  So this winter I've decided to collect and dry some flowers for use while camping or backpacking.  They also said the seeds made an even better soap.

These blooms were gathered from a landscaped city park where they were protruding out towards the sidewalk.  Since the plant is hedged I figured they weren't long for this world anyway.