Native Garden
2020 Spring: Blooms to Come
Here in the Northern Sacramento Valley of California, the blooming seems to be happening all at once with the unusually dry and warm late winter.
Apricot is about to start blooming:
The cherry will be blooming soon too:
Western Red Bud (Cercis occidentalis) is about to bloom:
California lilacs (Ceanothus ) “Ray Hartman” are about to bloom:
And here’s a California gilia.
First front yard California poppy bloom of the year.
Bees seem to never **rest** when manzanitas are blooming. I gave up trying to photograph them.
Mid-February 2020 Update: Home Orchard and Native Plants
It has been 19 days since it last rained here. The outdoor temperatures have been in the mid-70s. The area’s almond orchards are blooming in waves about a week earlier than last year.
Our deciduous plants are waking up! We planted a nectarine this winter and it is beginning to grow. Our California Roses, which are in the same family as nectarines — Rosaceae — are also beginning to grow back. The elderberries are starting to fill out and the Ceanothuses are a few weeks away from flowering. The Manzanitas are already flowering white and pink lanterns. We’re still harvesting mandarins and they are very sweet now. There are two Valencia oranges on the verge of being ripe enough.
We had to irrigate our citrus as it’s been literally too gorgeous; the rain needs to come back. But please, no hard freezes.
Our recently planted nectarine is starting its journey growing branches:
The California Wild Roses are putting on new growth:
The California native plant garden is very green right now and soon there will be plenty of flowers. The blue oak will wake up near end of February.
Wildlife scaring and killing outdoor cats like to hide under our native ceanothus. I regularly scare them out in hopes they’ll eventually stay away from that unpleasantness.
No sight distance through the evergreen toyon. It’s very happy. So is our manzanita — getting ready to flower. 🐝🌳
Frosty morning in the yarden 🐝
Cut down this years’ California fuchsias yesterday to encourage & release a new year of growth.
Front yarden update: California Buckwheat’s dead flowers are showy red and the Blue Oak has decided it is winter. California fuchsias still have flowers for the hummingbirds. Front of the house illuminated by mostly bug friendly amber lights. 🐞🐝
Front yard native plants currently in bloom: Epilobium canum (California Fuchsia; red flowers adored by hummingbirds) and Baccharis pilularis (Coyote Bush; small, pleasantly scented white flowers loved by small pollinators).
Barely photographed a bee on our holy basil. They were extremely shy and did not loiter. 🐝
Western toads in the backyard 🐝😍
A front yard native garden update! Fuchsias & Cal Buckwheat are still flowering. Coyote bushes are struggling to flower (tiny pollinators love them). The Blue Oak has no complaints. Poppies & yarrow are back after a couple of soggy thunderstorms. Toyon barely has berries.
Praying Mantis on the grapevine. 🐝
Another very good Praying Mantis hanging out in my front yard. 🐝
This Preying Mantis (or others like her) has been hanging out on one of our California wild grape vines for a few days now. It’s lovely to have critters take refuge in our plants. 🐝
California Wild Rose (Rosa californica) flowers are incredibly fragile. This backyard plant became quite happy when I added it to the drip irrigation.🐞
The audio sync feature on Apple’s tvOS 13 is 👌 Also, here’s a🌈 🌈
