Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana) flower bud. These flowers are going to be huge.
Flowers
Turns out native California grape flowers ate definitely not showy but are well loved by small pollinators.
I think these are as showy as native California grape flowers get. Will report back.
Backyard elderberry in full bloom. Fence behind it is six feet tall.
Wild California Grapes are coming along — these are the flowers buds.
Front yard Clarkia update: nearly full bloom. Hoping the white lined sphinx moth caterpillars show up soon. Though, this year there is far less forage than the last. Not enough rain.
This HUGE bumble bee really wants the Toyon flowers to open up! Been buzzing around for several minutes.
First bloom of our backyard California wild roses (Rosa Californica)!
Snakefly hunting insects on a bed of elderberry flowers.
Yarrow is now in bloom and the carpet beetles are gorging themselves on pollen.
Got to pay attention to notice avocado flowers. Our “Bacon” Avocado tree is flowering. Our “Mexicola” variety is not— too bad because they’re type A and B so would have pollinated each other.
First elderberry flowers in the backyard.
What do you need this morning? Bee butt on Gilia flowers and Baby Blue Eyes.
It’s high time we start taking photos behind the flowers. Apricot flower.
Cherry tree in full bloom.
Our front yarden sage plants (first two photos) and all the Ceanothus are now flowering.
Our apricot had its first bloom today. A few weeks ahead last year. This tree has rarely yielded fruit. 🤞🌳
Our cherry tree had its first bloom today.
2020 Spring: Blooms to Come
2/28/20
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:
First front yard California poppy bloom of the year.
Our cherry tree’s super close **together** buds are opening up! Soon flower buds will rapidly drop on stems, bloom, and then by late May... ripe cherries! If the birds don’t get them first.
Hard to oppose California’s almond bloom! ❤️ Our apricot will bloom mid March and the cherry late March (but it’s nearly girdled by boring beetles).
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
2/14/20
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.
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.
No sight distance through the evergreen toyon. It’s very happy. So is our manzanita — getting ready to flower. 🐝🌳
An indoor aloe succulent growing a flower stalk.
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. 🐞🐝
Also in bloom! Eriogonum fasciculatum (California buckwheat).
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).
