Yarden

Our milkweed are literally popping up now. This is their third year #Milkweed #Yarden #NativePlants

Several milkweed stems with young vertical leaves are popped out of the ground. They have very thick stems despite being only a few inches high. There’s a trunk drip line visible and a 1/4-incu line with an emitter in view.

3/20/26 →

The two avocado trees (type A & B) are in full bloom & the bees are going to town. Meanwhile, the two oranges, ceanothus, poppies, and sages are flowering. It’s a lovely but intense smell out there 🤗 #Yarden #HomeOrchard

3/18/26 →

Today the yellow-skinned New Century asian pear is in full bloom. It is just in time to help pollinate the brown skinned Hosui asian pear, which is at the end of its bloom. The New Century asian pear tree wants to be a cherry tree. #BloomScrolling #Yarden #HomeOrchard A New Asian Pear tree, quite young, has many clusters of cherry-stemmed white flowers with yellow centers. The leaves are narrow and freshly green.

3/15/26 →

My wife seeded these tomatoes indoors February 1st 😍 #Gardening #Yarden

Four juvenile tomato plants, about 6-8” tall, in medium compostable pots green to teas leaves. Some leaves are narrower than others as they’re all different varieties

3/14/26 →

In the central valley, it’s very much Iris and California Poppy Season/ #Yarden A giant Iris flower, very purple or indigo, with orange in their petal center, stands among bright orange clusters of California Poppy that are not quite open for the day. A coil of hose and a trigger sprayer is on the ground below the iris.

3/14/26 →

After over a year of being fallowed (b/c life), our crop rows are now dressed with compost & fresh drip tape deployed. In a few weeks, planting our seedlings of peppers, tomato, eggplant, & holy basil will begin #Yarden #Gardening

Three crop rows, separated by about 1.5 feet of gravel, have fresh drip tape down their centers. A corrugated shed is open in the distance. The yard is surrounded by wood fencing and shrubs

3/13/26 →

Now blooming: Type-B “Bacon” Avocado tree. I think this is the male flower. We also have a Type-A “Mexicola” Avocado but it isn’t blooming yet. When the “Bacon” has male flowers open, the “Mexicola” has female flowers open and vice versa. Avocado tree flowers are neat #Yarden #Avocado #BloomScrolling A photo of a single avocado flower among clusters of flower buds. It is all within a thickly foliated canopy with dark greens, reds, and light yellows. The flower itself is rather understated, with tiny yellow-orange anthers in the center

3/8/26 →

Another daffodil #Daffodil #BloomScrolling #Yarden

A daffodil with white petals and a yellow to orange central trumpet. It’s planted in a yard with bark, gravel and river cobble. It’s sunset where a rear fence is in sun but the ground is not.

3/7/26 →

Our backyard right now with purple flowering ceanothus. The bright green shrubs are elderberries preparing to flower #BloomScrolling #Yarden

A row of tall ceanothus with dark green leaves and clusters purple flowers set between two tall elderberries with bright green leaves set against a blue sky and a wooden fence. The shrubs are pruned toward the ground, providing space for shade and keeping ladder fuels in check

3/6/26 →

House Finch showing their spring colors #HouseFinch #BirdPhotography #Birds #Yarden #Fujifilm #SOoC

A house finch, with bright red upper body, perched on an at-capacity yellow seed feeder. Its chest is facing the camera but its head is cocked to the left, as if it is eyeing the seed port. Some one out peanuts in the bottom feeder tray

3/6/26 →

Our “Hosui” Asian Pear tree is now blooming #HomeOrchard #Yarden #BloomScrolling

Two white open Asian pear flowers with red anthers on a young tree above a rocky path. There’s tree has several visible flower buds. There are blooming yellow daffodils in the background along with a narrow elderberry shrub and a bird bath.

3/1/26 →

Yesterday, Manzanitas, Daffodils, and just barely visible on the left, sage, show their spring colors. These daffodils were volunteers so the bulbs either came in with the mulch or a previous home owner planted them and later they got smothered by a lawn. #Yarden A tight cluster of daffodils present their yellow flowers of trumpets surrounded by a frill while manzanita bush on the left shows off its aging light-pink colors, and a sage plant on the right shows a few purple flowers amidst lush green growth. The ground has small rock and dried up leaves.

2/21/26 →

This is my accidental winter moss garden. Our rear fence and winter-happy native shrubs (ceanothus and elderberry) provide ample shade & the ground rarely dries out in the winter #Moss #Yarden #Mosstodon

A 1-2 foot wide and longer area of ground covered by moss and surrounded by small rocks. There's various pieces of wood and smaller amounts of rock in the moss. Green long stemmed moss with blunt ends grow on the ground, with various sticks and rock interspersed. There's a fly resting on a rock and there's a tiny brown mushroom just in view.

2/20/26 →

Backyard Daffodil #BloomScrolling #Daffodil #Yarden

A bright yellow daffodil is illuminated by the sun, though its interior is in shadow of itself. The flat leaves kind of curve in and out of sun. It’s planted in a mulched area and there’s blurred gravel behind it.

2/6/26 →

It is almost asparagus season! Last year we had enough for a snack. Perhaps this year we’ll have a nice side dish #Asparagus #Gardening #Yarden

A reddish green asparagus spear about 1/2” thick is in front of a hand. It is about twice as wide as the hand.

2/1/26 →

Today I juiced & heat pasteurized about 20 pounds of backyard mandarins for breakfast juice. Quite the bounty this year. Here’s a photo of one compost bucket filled with some of the remains #HomeOrchard #Yarden

A small 1/4 gallon (maybe?) plastic bucket full of bright orange mandarin skins, pith, seeds, and pulp. It’s sitting in front of a sliding glass door, against cabinets on a linoleum floor with a speckled leaf pattern.

1/30/26 →

I better prune my fruit trees & grapes today. The trees are already a few weeks away from flowering #HomeOrchard #Yarden

1/19/26 →

This Orange-crowned Warbler was flitting between our backyard nectarine and grapevines, snatching gnats that had beacons made of sunlight shining off their bug wings

#Yarden #HomeOrchard #OrangeCrownedWarbler #Birds #BirdPhotography #Fujifilm #SOoC

A very yellow Orange Crowned Warbler is perched on a tiny dormant stem of a grape vine almost as thick as the bird is round (maybe 2-3 inches). The bird is looking to the left, with something reflecting in its eye. The grapevine’s bark is splitting off. The background is completely blurred.

1/8/26 →

This morning, my wife caught early sunlight slowly lighting up our citrus trees #Yarden #HomeOrchard

A mandarin tree and a Valencia orange tree catch early sunlight, illuminating a strip of oranges and foliage with a bright yellow glow. The sky is clear and a eucalyptus tree in the distance is fully lit.

12/26/25 →

Our “Bacon” Avocado tree produced fruit for the first time this year. “Bacon” varieties have very thin skin and, no, they do not taste like bacon. The wind knocked one off and it was ripe. But the bottom had been punctured and insects may have enjoyed its flesh. However, plenty of the fruit was unscathed and we enjoyed a very creamy, lightly flavored avocado! After years of waiting & babying the trees, a nice reward. #HomeOrchard #Yarden #Avocado A "bacon" variety avocado on a cutting board. The bottom quarter has turned dark green compared to the rest of the skin. Its skin is densely spreckled. The "bacon" avocado is cut in half, and pitted, showing where the puncture happened on the bottom, and that some insect(s) likely already dug in for a meal. Its flesh looks soft and is greener near the skin and a olive-yellow toward the pit. A knife lays to the left of the fruit. On a cutting board, the "bacon" avocado is being smeared across a tostada shell. It looks very creamy and indeed it was easy to spread. One hand is holding the tostado and another is smearing the avocado flesh with a fast moving spoon.

11/14/25 →

Backyard Hooded Oriole alert! #HoodedOriole #BirdPhotography #Yarden #Fujifilm #CropToZoom #SOoC

Atop a wooden stake is perched a Hooded Oriole, looking to the left, with its bright orange body, black kerchief, wings with black and white stripes, and a somewhat visible cape of brown with black spots. Its tail is black. The background is just off white blur. A front facing Hooded Oriole perched on a Ceanothus branch with many green leaves. Its black kerchief is prominent.

11/5/25 →

We were gifted some daffodil bulbs! The instructions recommended seven inches deep, but I only have the patience to dig to five, just deeper than the trowel. I helped them along by mixing in some fresh wormy compost. #Yarden

A triangular garden patch, surrounded by river rock, just planted with a paper label with "Dutch Mill Bulbs" and "A Mixed Daffodils". Some tree stakes can be vaguely seen in the background.

10/20/25 →

Here are some random through-the-glass-slider photos of a few of the migratory songbirds finding food-a-plenty in our backyard: Yellow-Rumped Warbler & Lesser Gold Finch #YellowRumpedWarbler #LesserGoldfinch #Birds #Yarden

Three Yellow Rumped Warblers forage among brown asparagus fronds. Their yellow bellies are highlighted by the morning sunlight

A Lesser Goldfinch, back to camera & head turned in profile view, is perched in sweet basil foliage, it feasting on dried seeds. It has a yellow face, a black helmet, and white on black chevrons on its black tail.

9/6/25 →

My wife discovered another, smaller avocado fruit in our “Bacon” avocado tree. So that’s two! Very exciting. We still need to continue research harvest time for this variety. It’s a minefield on the internet for that 🤨 #Yarden #HomeOrchard #Avocado

A small, finger length avocado amongst broad dark green avocado leaves and tree tape.

9/5/25 →

A Nuttal’s woodpecker visited our front yard Toyon yesterday! #Yarden #NuttalsWoodpecker #Birds

8/16/25 →

It’s the backyard Asian Pear harvest! Yellow are New Century variety and the brown skinned are the more familiar looking Hosui variety. They are odd spindly trees right now. I’m not used to pruning central leader trees, but vase shape. #Yarden #HomeOrchard #AsianPears

A colander with a mixture of yellow and brown skinned Asian Pears A very spindly Hosui pear tree with multiple stakes and lots of tree tape. It has pears still. The sky is blue and there’s more vegetation along a fence in the background. Drip line and gravel are in the foreground. A New Century Asian Pear tree with small yellow skinned pears. It’s better branched and dilated compared to the Hosui tree. In the background, there are ugly metal structures behind a wood fence. In the foreground is gravel and drip line.

8/15/25 →

Our cultivated California native seedy grapes are ready. The two plants mostly feed Northern Mockingbirds, Western Scrub Jays, and in the late fall, Kinglets, but some grapes will be for the humans in the form of a compote. As a bonus, gaze upon our lone avocado! #Yarden #HomeOrchard

Many bunches of ripe purple grapes hang from a grape vine. A hand is holding a metal colander filled with ripe red grapes. It's being held under a grape vine. An avocado is hanging from an avocado tree. It has a long stem and a narrow, green speckled body. A hand is nearby acting as a scale. It's about five fingers long and three fingers wide.

8/4/25 →

Sorry to those that are squeamish about spiders, but this Western Spotted Orbweaver was just asking for a photoshoot. This spider took the night-shift last night in our front yard #WesternSpottedOrbWeaver #Spider #InsectPhotography #Yarden #Fujifilm #SoOC

Plan-view of a Western Orbweaver spider with a fat, round abdomen and a tiny brown cephalothorax (head). The abdomen has patterns of brown within a matrix of coffee with cream. Its spider web can be descerned from the background, which is all blurred out. Its legs alternate between brown and coffee with cream. It has hairs on its head. It has spikes on its legs. The underside of the Western Spotted Orbweaver, which appears reddish probably because of light conditions. It has four clear white spots on its abdomen and an elongated white spot just below its head. Its chelicerae are visible. The background is completely blurred out.

8/2/25 →

I think this is the last nectarine harvest. About 6 pounds. The shield bugs were showing up and nectarines were dropping fast from wind and bird pecks :-( They were effortlessly plucked off the tree. Next harvest: Asian pears! #HomeOrchard #Nectarines #Yarden

A nectarine tree with almost a dozen dropped fruit on the gravel and dirt area below. The tree still has a few dozen nectarines on it. A collander of very ripe dark red to orange colored nectarines sitting on a scale. The scale is on a plastic covering upon a tile counter. The scale reads 6 pounds and 5 ounces, so there’s about 6 pounds of necartines.

7/27/25 →

Another nectarine harvest. This time, 4 pounds. Smelling more fragrant this time! A few came off with a tug (yellower stems) but most still need shears. Also, our milkweed has busted open their pods and omg the tufts are so soft! #HomeOrchard #Nectarines #Milkweed #Yarden

Four pounds of dark red to red to yellow nectarines piled up in a metal colander. A milkweed pod is releasing its seeds, which are ready to wind carried away by their fluffy, white tufts. The pods are cone shaped and split down the middle to release their seeds.