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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 21, 2018 15:54:48 GMT -5
Sunrise yesterday on the first day of spring  Despite the "red sky in morning, sailors take warning" saying, it turned out to be a pretty nice day. Sunny and in the low 70s. Not here yet, but expecting rain from the "atmospheric river" to dump on us tomorrow night. Maybe an inch or more. Not as bad as people to the north of us will get.
Here's some spring blooms, for all of you folks still experiencing winter. Flowers from bulbs always a harbinger of spring. Freesias and the white is Sweet Alyssum.
And they are oh-so-fragrant.
Pond a little scummy, lol. The critters still like to bathe in it and drink out of it.
A few more - Buttercups 
The rest are not bulbs - violet
Aloe
Another aloe. The hummingbirds love the bright red-orange flowers.
Another Aloe. This one from Q years ago. It is called umbrella, parasol or parachute aloe. Something like that... 
Just now found out the name of this! I had been trying to ID it for years. It is Aloe capitata
a unique Aloe from Madagascar. I can even buy them at a nursery close by in Fallbrook (CA)!
A weed. I think it is sourgrass or Common Yellow Woodsorrel. The succulent stems have a tart taste, I used to chew on them as a kid. Now I find out it is in the oxalis family, and should not be consumed in large amounts due to the toxicity of the oxalic acid in them. Huh... What ya don't know....
Although some hummingbirds live here year round, some only pass through on migration. This one is a migrant, a Rufous hummingbird. This is the first year I have seen them in my yard. Never seen one with reddish-brown before.
They are pretty quick, I've been trying to get a better photo for a month now. Four or five other types can be found here. The Rufous has a distinctive sound to their flight. Not just the typical wing beat/whirring sound, but a burring sound, like they have a couple feathers made of metal. I have not seen any information about this online. Mrrockpicker can't hear it, it is too high pitched for his hearing. Cute little bugger.
He blends right into the neighbor's tree, colors an exact match!
Probably their biggest threat is from cats, although I have seen two male hummers doing battle on the ground! I found one of them dead a day later. Before I remembered to go pick it up, something hauled it away! The rufous hummers are very territorial, and will run off any other hummers that come through. Don't know if this guy and his mate will stick around and nest or not. I'm thinking not, but they have been here for over a month now.
We have doves and sparrows attempting to nest in inappropriate places, like under the patio roof, just above the barbecue. No way! Go somewhere else! The doves have tried it too, we chased them off. I leave them alone when they nest in the tangerine tree. Must have had a hawk of some kind the other morning, had a pile of dove feathers in the yard.
The skunks are also out and about, although, they are here year round. Just trapped one last week, it had been digging up my yard! After trapping it, we hauled it off and released it in the refuge on the other side of the lake. Once the culprit was caught, and I felt it was safe, I attempted to plant some dymondia cuttings, cover some more area. Darned if another skunk doesn't come and take his place, doing some more digging. At least he hasn't touched the new transplants - yet.
I am sure I can trap it, but I no longer have use of the truck every morning. (mrrockpicker back to work, a good thing.) I guess we'll still have Sunday mornings, if we don't go to the swapmeet!
In case you wondered, no, I didn't get sprayed relocating the skunk. Have moved at least six of them, so far. More worried about getting caught turning one loose, lol.
Happy Spring, everybody! Jean
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Post by rockjunquie on Mar 21, 2018 16:31:39 GMT -5
Tthank you, Jean! I needed that post. So Springy! Expecting snow today and tonight. Winter just won't leave, but I can always look at your beautiful pictures. I did have my daffodils come and go and the pansies look good along with some little muscari (I think that's what they are called). My 100's of hostas are peeping up, too. They were all fooled by mother nature.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 21, 2018 16:47:22 GMT -5
You're welcome, Tela rockjunquie. I think a little bit of color is a downright necessity in the dead of winter. Are your emerging plants injured by the cold, ice and snow? Don't usually have a problem in the spring here, and, obviously, never from snow, but in the fall we can have frosts that will burn my tomato plants. I should be out there working the garden now! Maybe tomorrow, have gotten lazy, lol. |
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Post by rockjunquie on Mar 21, 2018 16:50:58 GMT -5
You're welcome, Tela rockjunquie . I think a little bit of color is a downright necessity in the dead of winter. Are your emerging plants injured by the cold, ice and snow? Don't usually have a problem in the spring here, and, obviously, never from snow, but in the fall we can have frosts that will burn my tomato plants. I should be out there working the garden now! Maybe tomorrow, have gotten lazy, lol. So far, everything is fine. My grandson has taken over the gardening. He absolutely loves it! In fact, he just got back from the nursery with a venus flytrap and 2 different pitcher plants. He's crazy about plants. He started with air plants and now he's hooked. He planted the pansies and mums and they have been doing pretty good. He has all kinds of plans for the yard come spring. It should warm up in a coupe weeks. |
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Post by woodman on Mar 21, 2018 17:01:17 GMT -5
Real nice, all I here in Northern Oregon is the Daffies! I do have a hummingbird that wintered over, a Anna's. Head completely flashes red.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 21, 2018 17:09:18 GMT -5
rockjunquie That sounds great! A free gardener. Just kidding. It's neat that your grandson likes plans and gardening so well. Maybe he can go into the plant biz in the future? Not only do I have to tend the plants at home, I go to my dad's once a week and tend the plants up there. He has some several year old narcissus plants in pots, as do I. They will come up each spring, but the stalks only get maybe four inches out of the round before they bloom! It just doesn't get cold enough over winter here. I know to remedy that, you should either pull the bulbs after you've allowed the plant to die back and put them in the fridge for a month or two. I suppose if you have room, you could put them pot and all in the fridge if the soil is thoroughly dry. Just haven't worried too much about it, I guess. My dad buys new plants in the spring. Because of the warmer clime, he can grow plumeria, cymbidium and phalaenopsis orchids outside over winter as well. A lot of people have trouble taking care of them, but I just neglect the heck out of them and they do just fine, lol. Same with staghorn ferns. If you baby them too much, you end up killing them with kindness. They don't like their feet wet, you have to let them dry out between waterings. Overwatering succulents the best way to kill them, too. Expecting a good amount of rain over the next couple of days. I need to cover the base of some of my cactus (potted ones) to keep the rain out, so they don't get too soggy. I had a two foot tall potted saguaro (bought from the cactus vendors in Q years ago) that would be alive now had I done that. More problematic are the 12 foot tall San Pedro cactus along the back fence. When they get too much water, the weight bends them over and they snap off! Only solution is to try to tie them up. Bob did that to a few of them last week. There's a different type farther north along the back fence that I noticed is leaning. Better get that one, too. Bob has another hour to go on his first day back at work. After being off for six weeks, the ten hour day is going to kill him. Hope it goes well for him.
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Post by wigglinrocks on Mar 21, 2018 18:13:35 GMT -5
Wonder if I could see flowers here if I shoveled the snow out of the way . Doubt it . Looks great at your place , thanks for sharing .
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 21, 2018 18:20:14 GMT -5
Thanks, Rich. I'm glad you enjoyed the pics (and warm thoughts). You know the saying, "It is 5:30 somewhere, you are already two drinks behind"? Well, the way I see it, even if you are in the dead of winter, nasty weather, short days and everything, it is SPRINGTIME somewhere! Jean
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller 
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723 
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 22, 2018 9:45:40 GMT -5
Western Oregon is pretty well on its way with spring too.. We have many flowers and trees in bloom, most of the birds are back....Grass is growing, weeds too...LOL
Great photos Jean.......
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 22, 2018 9:51:53 GMT -5
Western Oregon is pretty well on its way with spring too.. We have many flowers and trees in bloom, most of the birds are back....Grass is growing, weeds too...LOL Great photos Jean.......
Thanks, Mike. Just wanted to bring a little visible cheer to people still in the throes of winter, lol.
I imagine a landscape in shades of grey full of dormant plants and trees can be a little monotonous and depressing. Not to mention the cold!!
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Post by socalagatehound on Mar 23, 2018 1:05:14 GMT -5
Great pics, Jean. Good thing you didn't wait until today to take them. I don't remember seeing the sun once today.  |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 23, 2018 7:21:36 GMT -5
Thanks, Craig. Right you are, socalagatehound. Looks like more of the same today. Storms of this last type seem to fizzle out more often than not. Could have used more rain. Had put off watering yesterday, thinking I'd get free irrigation, along with a free car wash, lol. Now I have to use bought water. |
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Post by Garage Rocker on Mar 23, 2018 8:36:40 GMT -5
Love the Spring pics. Always nice to see what we have coming. It would have been really encouraging, if we hadn't got hit with 3" of snow on the first day of Spring.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 23, 2018 9:20:08 GMT -5
Love the Spring pics. Always nice to see what we have coming. It would have been really encouraging, if we hadn't got hit with 3" of snow on the first day of Spring.
Thanks, Randy. Must be just the colorful content, as I know the quality of the pics is nowhere close to what you can do, lol.
Whenever I get depressed thinking about living in SoCal, it picks me up a bit when I think, "But at least there's no snow!" Can't say as I blame people moving here from the cold climes. I know I couldn't function in places like that!
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,723
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 23, 2018 9:53:51 GMT -5
CRAP!!! We just got dumped on, with two inches of white crap!!! At least it will be gone by tomorrow!!! GGGRRrrrrrrrr!!!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2018 13:03:56 GMT -5
We just got dumped on, with two inches of white crap!!! I thought maybe it missed us, as I awoke to a dry morning. A couple hours later it was 40F, but this was out the window... We already have some flowers, though nothing like those S. California blooms yet and now buried for a few hours. Except for hummingbirds, some of the summer residents have already arrived (goldfinches, tanagers, mourning doves, orioles, kestrels, etc.) and are huddled under tree branches waiting this out. |
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,359
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Post by quartz on Mar 23, 2018 23:38:36 GMT -5
fossilman Mike oughta be real happy tomorrow A.M. if the weather guessers are right, supposed to be worse than today. Thanks for the piece of spring Jean, something to uplift the mood here.
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