Flowers
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! 💚 🌱
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 × 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:
A closer view, using Pixelmator Pro’s ML Super Resolution with crop:
And plenty of lakes — here’s Long Lake:
And plenty of Basalt of Hidden Lakes:
The Shooting Star flowers were brilliant:
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 — 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.
Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana) flower bud. These flowers are going to be huge.
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.
