Flowers

Friday, May 2, 2025 →

Bayfront Park. 📍

A bumblebee enjoying a carpet of asters (probably invasive capeweed 😕) at Bayfront Park, Millbrae A close up of several bright yellow daisies in a field with a bumblebee hovering in the upper left corner of the photo. #BloomScrolling #Bumblebee #Insects #Fujifilm #SOoC

Saturday, April 26, 2025 →

Backyard native flower status: Pink and white California roses and Elderberry. There appear to be flower buds on the milkweed! A pink wild rose in full bloom surrounded by green leaves, with a background of branches and more foliage.

A white wild rose with yellow stamens, surrounded by green leaves.

Clusters of small yellow elderberry flowers with green leaves on a bush against a cloudy sky background.

A cute tiny ladybug resting on a large green Milkweed leaf with visible veins and a cluster of flower buds in the middle.

#Yarden #NativePlants

Wednesday, March 26, 2025 →

Random unexplained photo of a very narrow part of our backyard #BloomScrolling #Ceanothus #NativePlants #Yarden #Fujifilm #SOoC A Ceanothus branch with clusters of small, light purple flowers and shiny dark green leaves. The bokeh background is wooden fence with sunlight streaming through.

Sunday, March 23, 2025 →

Ceanothus and Asian Pear #BloomScrolling A Ceanothus bush with abundant clusters of small blue flowers and green leaves, situated in front of a wooden fence. The ground around the tree is covered with mulch and branches.A close-up of an Asian Pear branch with several small white flower buds and green leaves. One closed bud is being broken into by a European honey bee. Its butt is sticking out, surrounded by tightly closed flower pedals. The background is out of focus with greenery and a clear blue sky.Close-up of Asian Pear white blossoms on a tree branch with a blurred background, featuring clear blue sky and foliage.White blossoms with noticeably pink stamens on an Asian Pear branch with a bokeh background.

Saturday, March 22, 2025 →

I guess both of my Asian Pear trees have a fungal infection. These black spots certainly do not appear to be insect related. I’ve treated with fungicide in hopes of salvaging these trees & this year’s fruit. #Yarden #HomeOrchard A budding Asian Pear branch with clusters of leaf green & white flower buds and some black spots on them. Probably fungus. The branch is attached to a tree with a rocky and mulched ground beneath. A drip hose passes through the mulch, which is encircled by river cobble.

Saturday, March 1, 2025 →

I adore our random bunch of daffodils that grew unbidden under a manzanita in the front yard #BloomScrolling #YardenA tight group of bright yellow daffodils under a blooming manzanita. A coyote bush and sage can be seen in the background.

Friday, February 21, 2025 →

Our backyard Nectarine is now in full bloom! #NectarineTree #Yarden #HomeOrchard #BloomScrolling #Fujifilm #SOoC A small Nectarine tree with pink blossoms in full bloom, set against a backdrop of a wooden fence and a clear blue sky. The tree is planted in backyard with gravel and bare soil around the tree. There’s an unsightly aluminum RV shed behind the fence.

Sunday, February 9, 2025 →

First bloom of our nectarine #Yarden #HomeOrchard A close-up of a budding nectarine tree branch with clusters of pink blossoms against a blurred background of a metal shed.

Friday, February 7, 2025 →

Backyard nectarine is at first pink #Yarden #HomeOrchard A close-up of a tree branch with a single pink flower bud about to bloom. The background features more branches, a wooden fence, a metal shed, and a partly cloudy sky.

Sunday, January 26, 2025 →

. #SilentSunday #Fujifilm #SOoCA far off coyote trots across a sloping coastal meadow with many white flowers, framed by a calm Pacific Ocean and few scattered clouds.

Wednesday, June 5, 2024 →

Our resident scrub jays didn’t have much of a green thumb this year. Or they did a great job eating their cache. This is the only sunflower they grew A single sunflower with a bright yellow bloom and green leaves stands in a garden. A wooden fence and various green foliage are visible in the blurred background. The ground around the sunflower is covered with small pebbles and sparse grass.

Sunday, June 2, 2024 →

Just as most non-native plants stop flowering in time for summer, the California Fuchsias have just begun adding a splash of red. Currently the native toyon, elderberry, and roses are flowering. California Buckwheat is on its way. We have flowers nearly year-round. Native plants are awesome. A close-up of a plant with silvery green leaves and vibrant red tubular flowers. The background is out of focus, showing more greenery and a hint of a structure, likely a house. The plant is bathed in bright sunlight.

Saturday, May 18, 2024 →

Lots of Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies feasting on purple thistle flower nectar at a wildlife refuge today. #PipevineSwallowtail #Butterfly #Fujifilm

A black and yellow butterfly with tattered wings perched on a blooming purple thistle flower, surrounded by green foliage.

Saturday, April 20, 2024 →

We’re planting only one row this year. Just tomatoes, various peppers, basil, and an overwintered thyme. All prepped, just need to plant! #gardening A sunlit garden with a pile of branches, green shrubs, flowering white clover, a drip irrigation hose, gravel paths, and small orange flags marking a planting locations.

Monday, April 15, 2024 →

Today I lucked out and saw a small Painted Lady butterfly delighting in our clover. My X-T5 camera and telephoto lens were thankfully ready to go! 📷 #MBApr A butterfly with orange and black wings perched on white clover flowers surrounded by green foliage.

Sunday, April 14, 2024 →

A gorgeous Barrel Cactus from Joshua Tree National Park 📷 #MBApr A colorful cactus with pink spines and yellow flowers amidst rocky terrain.

Friday, April 12, 2024 →

Uncovered a historical artifact while cutting back the lavender. Guess AT&T hasn’t needed this equipment portal for quite some time. PG&E at least periodically inspects their stuff. Utility manhole cover with “PACIFIC BELL” text, surrounded by rocky soil, sparse vegetation, and lavender flowers, with a partial view of a person’s foot in a black shoe and beige pant leg to the right.

Tuesday, April 2, 2024 →

Pear flowers! This year our two Asian pear trees bloomed simultaneously. Good bet they cross pollinated 📷 #MBApr Close-up of white pear blossoms on a branch with a blurred green background. A bee is visible on one of the flowers.

Death Valley Road Trip Part 5

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Most of the second full day at Death Valley! 

See Part 1 or Part 2 or Part 3 or Part 4

The next day we drove up to Ubehebe Crater. This northern part of the park was painted yellow in Desert Sunflowers bloom:

A barren desert landscape with sparse vegetation, rocky terrain, and hills in the background. Yellow flowers paint the otherwise drab slopes yellow.

There were other flowers too, like this striking Notch-leaved phacelia:

Bright purple flowers with green leaves and reddish stems.

And some Browneyes or Browneyed Primrose (Chylismia claviformis):

A person's hand gently touching a cluster of small white flowers with brown centers and maroon-striped petals, growing amidst green leaves and red stems.

The volcanic Ubehebe Crater with person (me) for scale. My wife shot with a Fujifilm X100V camera using a film simulation that’s similar to Kodachrome 64:

A person hiking in a vast desert crater with reddish layered rock walls.

Here’s what I was gazing at through my Fujifilm X-T5 using the more saturated Velvia film simulation to really make the colors pop:

A large crater with stratified red to gray to black rock layers and a patch of mud cracked dirt and scattered vegetation at the bottom. Cloudy sky above.

Here’s the volcanic crater from the top at the north side:

An expansive view above a barren volcanic crater landscape with stratified rock formations in various shades of red, brown and grey, under a cloudy sky. There are rare patches of green vegetation.

And at the same place, a nice vista of the surrounding northern-most part of Death Valley:

Desolate desert landscape with sparse and yellowish vegetation under an overcast sky. Colorful mountains are visible afar.

We headed back south, so we took an opportunity to pull over to gaze at some incredible mountains:

A desert landscape featuring a road in the foreground with sparse vegetation and a mountain range in the background under a partly cloudy sky. The sun lights up the farther mountains, making them stark against the shaded closer but more colorful & clearly faulted mountains near the road.

Uh-oh. A collection of shoes. What could this mean‽:

A collection of discarded shoes and socks on the ground next to a signpost with prohibitive symbols indicating no camping, no fires, no dogs, and no bicycles. People are visible in the background, walking on a paved path in a rocky setting.

The Mesquite Sand Dunes. Clearly, the dunes are famous for gladly taking shoes and socks that people remove and forget (‽) about. Kind people must collect them hoping that the footwear will be reunited with their owners (or someone desperate for footwear):

Sweeping sand dunes with sparse vegetation under a cloudy sky with distant mountains in the background.

 Mesquite Dunes and faulted mountains:

That’s it for today. Stay tuned for Part 6.

See Part 1 or Part 2 or Part 3 or Part 4

Wednesday, March 20, 2024 →

For the first time both our Asian pear trees are in full bloom! They can pollinate each other so this is very good of news. No Death Valley photos tonight

Friday, March 15, 2024 →

The wind was far calmer today at Death Valley, so here’s a Desert Sunflower without motion blur #BloomScrolling #FlowerReport #DeathValley #Fujifilm A yellow flower with a prominent central disc and bright petals, set against a green, leafy background.

Saturday, March 9, 2024 →

Our full bloom nectarine tree Branches of pink nectarine blossoms against a blue sky with bokeh clouds.

Friday, March 8, 2024 →

Our front yard Ceanothus bushes are nearly in full bloom. They are very popular with all sorts of bees and assassin bugs #BloomScrolling A ceanothus bush with lush green leaves and clusters of small purple flowers, bathed in sunlight. There’s an assassin bug perched on one clump of flowers and a few bees elsewhere.

Tuesday, February 27, 2024 →

Today, our nectarine had its first bloom #BloomScrolling A close-up of a pink nectarine blossom on a tree branch with buds and a bright blue sky in the background.

Sunday, February 25, 2024 →

Northern California is in full almond bloom. Our backyard fruit trees are on the precipice of blooming. The ceanothus in the front yard is starting to bloom and the manzanitas have been in full bloom for about a week now A road stretching towards the horizon lined with blooming almond trees on both sides under a blue sky.

Saturday, September 9, 2023 →

We sometimes spoil our resident scrub jays with sunflower heads loaded with seeds. A juvenile Western Scrubjay looks down at a seed-filled sunflower head that’s on the ground. It is framed by a gravel pathway and some dry grass. Gray down is still on the bird’s back.

Monday, September 4, 2023 →

Gray Buckeye Butterfly today at the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge. #Fujifilm #GrayBuckeye #Butterfly Gray Buckeye butterfly among weeds with tinier yellow flowers. The butterfly has three eyes on each wing. It is orange, brown, gray and white with a fuzzy body.

Friday, July 7, 2023 →

Some real dinosaur stuff happened today at Bay Front Park just south of SFO. This Great Blue Heron caught a gopher, paraded around with it for several minutes, then swallowed it whole. Then the heron proceeded to hunt some more. 😬A Great Blue Heron stands in a dry grassy area with yellow flowers. It has a gopher’s neck in its mouth and the entire gopher is hanging.

Tuesday, July 4, 2023 →

Volunteer Sunflowers in the backyard. The scrub jays garden really well. I continue to be impressed with the new Fujifilm XApp for transferring photos from my X-T5. #Fujifilm #Sunflowers #BloomScrolling

Two sun flowers, one at the bottom and nearby and one about 15 feet away. There’s vegetation surrounding the flowers and a weather station behind the forest Sunflower. The flowers are extremely yellow and well lit.A close up of a sunflower, brightly lit by the sun.

Sunday, May 21, 2023 →

Here is a Black-necked Stilt from the #SacramentoNationalWildlifeRefuge #BlackNeckedStilt #BirdsOfMastodon #Fujifilm
A Black-necked Stilt bird is waking through a shallow brown pond. Small forbs surround the pond, including low laying purple flowers and then, further in the background, yellow flowers. The Black-necked Stilt has a all-white underside and all-black back and top of head. It has long legs and a long black beak.