Flowers

Front yard update. Poppies are now blooming, joining the creeping sage and the Ceanothus (California Lilac). 🌱

light purple sage flowers, golden poppy flowers, and violet ceanothus flowers.

Backyard Elderberries are seeking pollinators.

yellow elderberry flowers against elderberry leaves

Our β€œBacon” Avocado tree is blooming basically right on time as compared to last year on April 11th. It has yet to produce any fruit and it is supposed to be self-pollinating. 🌱🌳

Spring mornings in our front yard. Sage and Ceanothus are in full bloom. πŸ’šπŸŒ±

sage (light purple) and ceanothus (violet) flowers.

Ceanothus (California lilac) is magnificently blooming. 🌱

The nectarine is about to start shedding its flowers. Leaves are growing. Since it is pretty young starting its second year in the ground, I’ll be super impressed if it successfully fruits. 🌳🌱

A slow, rolling bloom for the apricot this year. It didn’t fruit at all last year. Here’s hoping for a fruitful year. (it has fruited before so we know it is possible) 🌳🌱

Our β€œBacon” Avocado flower buds are developing nicely. Also, the fig is waking up. 🌱🌳

avocado flower budsfig showing leaf growth

First apricot bloom. Hopefully, as in past years, far more will follow. Figure this flower puts pollinators on notice. 🌳🌱

This should be my last nectarine flower photo. This year. 🌳🌱

pink to magenta nectarine flower

The nectarine is up and at β€˜em with many glorious blooms. 🌱🌳

First bloom today of our nectarine! 🌳 🌱

Got a warm spell in California so now I expect the nectarine to bloom any day now. The local almond trees already have.🌳🌱

The Fantasia nectarine (planted Jan 2020) is still in swollen bud stage. Has been for days. It’s sooo close to blooming. Here’s hoping it’ll produce fruit for the first time this year!

swollen lateral flower bud with a red tip

Front yard update: the manzanitas are in full bloom! The poppies are trying to take over. Waiting on the Ceanothus (California lilac) to bloom… they’re the most showy.

We’re craving Manzanita flower blooms in the front yard. Almost there… 🌱

Our first front yard daffodil flower of 2021. Bloomed about two weeks later than last year (Jan 24, 2020). A small pollinator is already taking advantage! πŸ’š 🌱

The front yard California fuchsias (Epilobium canum) are still flowering and providing forage to the hummingbirds. I really need to cut these back but…. the hummingbirds! And other small pollinators!

Unidentified hummingbird enjoying rosemary flowers today. Maybe a Black Chin. Doesn’t seem to have the colorations of an Anna’s.

Cistus Γ— purpureus (Purple-flowered Rock-rose)

For today and a while after the election, Twitter & Instagram apps are removed from my devices. So far I’m avoiding their web counterparts. Instead, let’s enjoy some tiny coyote bush flowers!

A bug that we call the European honeybee, enjoying cultivated native California sage flowers. 2017. #mbaug

Hummingbird enjoying succulent flowers.

Hidden Lakes, Lassen National Forest

We went on a hike to the Hidden Lakes in the Caribou Wilderness on the Lassen National Forest. It started at the Hay Meadows Trail Head, north of Lake Almanor, California. It was six miles of relatively flat hiking with periodic steep inclines. The trails were not at all crowded, though we brought masks just in case.

We saw a male Western Tanager (bird). I cropped to zoom:

Western Tanager on a snag

Continue reading β†’

Volunteer tomato is flowering. Who knows what kind of fruit this might grow (if pollinated). So too blooms our late April direct seeded peppers blooming.

The California Buckwheat is now blooming β€” cool hot pink anthers!

The toyon is in full bloom and it is impossible to photograph its flowers without pollinators. A very popular plant!

Bee butt on the first understated blooms of our cultivated Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia).

The backyard native California grapes are about done flowering and beginning to swell.

Pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana) flowers.