Backyard Blooms!

[PRR]

I read that Donner Pass is impassable?? I last crossed it one July and even then, the scent of snow was in the air.

[Lectroid]

good pic of Trabuco Creek.

Its 8ft wide in that pic. 2weeks ago it was 20ft wide. Before this last rain could step over it.
I think when the snow melts it will grow to 20ft again.

Last time I lived out there with rain like that was winter of 2007-2008.  If you know the Brookhurst overpass over the Santa Ana River, I saw the water just 3 ft or so below the roadway.  At least 100 yards across at that point and probably 15 ft. deep, and flowing fast.

How have the desert areas been blooming?  We used to try to get out to Joshua Tree in the spring for the good blooms.

[sluckey]

It's Azalea time in Mobile. The whole county looks like my backyard!

[sluckey]

more...

[sluckey]

one more...

[shooter]

We had color (see #198) 
back to black n white for a couple days


the 2nd pic is where the flower in #198 is/was, might still be 

[PRR]

Overnight nor'easter. Foot+ on the ground. Only microscopic melting expected this week.

[shooter]

yep that's what hit us, 6+ inches, but the ambient air was warm and the next 3 days are 40-50 so by this evening it's like walking through a fresh cement pour

[sluckey]

Brrr... You guys ever hear of Sarasota?   

[shooter]

 
I spent 5yrs avoiding snow for the sunshine, the problem is there's 777 million other folks doing the same, fooled them, I stayed home the last 2 years 

[scstill]

A few beauties from yesterdays hike in Whiting Wilderness

BTW - great looking azaleas

[Lectroid]

Overnight nor'easter. Foot+ on the ground. Only microscopic melting expected this week.

Nice scene. Reminds of my time in Connecticut.

[sluckey]

Overnight nor'easter. Foot+ on the ground. Only microscopic melting expected this week.

I'd love to have that pic in a 1920x1080 (or larger) size.

[sluckey]

Katrina Rose about to pop. Google it. There's a neat little side story...

[shooter]

we have wild roses here, 4 petal.  a mature bush will grow about as much as your wall hanger, in a year
as perimeter fencing, nothing better, throw brush over, let grow, throw brush....

[sluckey]

That wall hanger was two 10" high plants last April! Actually, that rose belongs to my daughter. Mine has not been nearly as vigorous.

[PRR]

yay! finally!

[shooter]

took a beating, still hanging in


the violets and moss are popping, always a good sign warm is coming

[tubenit]

My dogwood is blooming.  The cherry tree bloomed earlier but now covered with leaves.  All 4 of my Japanese maples have the leaves turned burgandy.

I've got Azaleas that are pink, white, chinese red and deep red all starting to bloom. 

Honeysuckle blossoms are starting to show up. And the hostess lining the edge of the woods are up and starting to really leaf out.  Late Feb when we had warm weather, I have a large forsynthia bush totally bloomed out in yellow.


It's a fun time of year!


With respect, Jeff

[scstill]

A few beauties from today's hike. Super Bloom SoCal.

[Lectroid]

Spring in Virginia, including my overgrown lawn.  Getting up to 70 today, so no more excuses...

Tulips, jonquils, and a tiny grape hyacinth, one of the prettiest little weeds anywhere.

[shooter]

we're finally waking up in the north country!

[sluckey]

I like quiet little trickle pools. If that pool was down here in Bama, there would probably be some big fat leopard frog tadpoles, a crawdad or two, and possibly a few dragonfly nymphs. All fun stuff for a country boy kid. 

[acheld]

Shooter, those are beautiful shots.   

Here in MD, the trees will be fully out in a week, and the poison ivy in my yard is telling me that it wants its place along with the damn deer and the perky foxes.

Spring is sprung, and it is lovely.

[shooter]

yep, plenty of leopard frogs, the big ones usually don't survive the barn cats, spent an hour in the lawn chair last night plinking my 22 at paper plates, listening to the frogs singing for sex:)  We've had crayfish here a few times but my pond is "intermittent" so they don't fair well during the dry season.  Hoping to rent a mini-excavator this year and dig a fish pond downstream.  If I can get to 10' then i'll try and drive a shallow point down from there so I have year-round water.


Our poplars and red maples are just starting to pop, the sneezing knows!!  Got the early taters out sprouting, tilled a 2nd pass so I put in a row of giant sunflowers from last years harvest.  should have the fence electrified within the week, 9KV - take that raccoon!


shot this pic of the water plants and got the diving Beatle by chance (top of frame)

[Lectroid]

Shooter,  what are those little blue flowers called?

[shooter]

 
'lil blue flowers


i used to know in the way back days.
my yard was the repository for all the stuff parents didn't want in their yard.  so the 90's kids would bury their pets here, plant the flowers they started from seed in class, store the POS cars and assorted junk...  I didn't have many rules, the one I did have "NO dead or alive humans buried here:)"

[Lectroid]

  I didn't have many rules, the one I did have "NO dead or alive humans buried here:)"

Yeah...sounds reasonable to me.   

[sluckey]

Shooter,  what are those little blue flowers called?

Just use Google Lens.

[Lectroid]

Of COURSE Google has a thing for that!  Why didn't I just assume that?

I have a phone app called iSeek that does the same thing.

[PRR]

Actually front-yard blooms.

[shooter]

nice colors, we have a bunch in the purple only
got the mower deck fixed n installed late yesterday, test driving was fun trying to avoid all the 2" flowers


not gonna upgrade from my flipphone so they'll stay 'lil blue flowers 

[scstill]

Since we are on the subject...
Here are a few SoCal purple and blue flowers from Tuesdays hike
with Google Lens provided names :-)
These delicate flowers are just a sample of the covered hills, they call it super-bloom

[shooter]

I've seen the blue-eyed flower in NM wandering dry creeks n such.


The snow left yesterday, made in to 40 with a stiff wind today
the "Michigan cedar" is a juniper type bush, was well shaped til the last ice storm, split the main trunk in 4, pealed down about 3 foot.  The new look's growin on me 

[sluckey]

Cedar looks odd, for a cedar. Otherwise, not too bad. I could get used to it. What's the yellow bush in the other pic?

[PRR]

What's the yellow bush in the other pic?

A 4sithea. (Read it like a kindergartener.)

AKA 'forsythia'.

[shooter]

 
I had to spend to much time with "S.T.E.M."  English class is where I caught up on my sleep, I'd wake up an She'd be talking about party-sipples, then i'd wonder what I missed at the party

[RadioComm]

the "Michigan cedar" is a juniper type bush, was well shaped til the last ice storm, split the main trunk in 4, pealed down about 3 foot.  The new look's growin on me 

 

So my story... Thirty years ago, when we had just bought our current house, I come home from work to find my Wife and her Mother had planted a blue spruce five feet from the house. I told them: "Ladies, a blue spruce needs *a lot* more room to grow. Let's find another another spot for it. It's a baby sapling, it will be no problem to move it." Of course two against one, they were right and I was wrong. I'm someone who prioritizes my battles, so without a fight I let this one go. I figured the sapling is not a problem right now, I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Ten years go by, and yes it started becoming an issue. I took my pruning saw, got as close to the trunk as possible, raised my arm as high as possible, and that's how high this tree is going to be. Yep, it looked like a hamburger. Short and flattened wide. Successfully stunted its growth height wise, but it still grew outwards. We really liked the awkward artistic shape, so for the next few years, I regularly trimmed it to a smaller diameter. But finally got rid of it all together. So took 15 years to have my "I told you so" moment, but still enjoyed it 

[shooter]

...about that same time... 


we moved here 33 years back, the tree pictured was a "bush" tight to the house, 3 foot from main entrance.  couple years go by, I asked the 'ol guy next door about transplanting; "long as you mark North, don't do it on Sunday, it'll grow just fine"


wrapped a strap around base, other end to Jeep, couple good yanks and she's out, drug it around the drive to the current location about 100' away
Norwegian Spruce, ~~ 60 foot tall, n 40+ foot wing span.

[PRR]

> spruce needs *a lot* more room to grow.

We figure this land was logged-off about 1948. But the clear-cut is infested with spruce seeds. Seedlings 3 foot high and 3 feet apart. Decades later some have died and we have 70 foot spruce 6 feet apart. The dirt is less than 3 feet, the root-"ball" is a pancake. If one blows over it lodges in the next. Or the other way, across the driveway. Or on the power line.

I did a lot of spruce-weed cutting 5 years back. This year though we have to attend to a ginormous (for its site) overgrown apple tree. I just got a pole-saw and a one-hand saw, both electric chain.

[shooter]

Apples good burn'n but no fun cutting.
Feb/Mar had a nasty Ice storm, lost a 62' limb from my 100 yr old Silver maple, 28" at the shoulder, about 1.5 cord!


These showed up a few days back, we call 'em Buttercups, swampy marsh environment

[rake]

I guess this is a bloom of sorts? Sorry no pics ans I had to act fast!
I was at the computer in the house yesterday afternoon finishing the last of the court papers (father's estate) and all of a sudden it starts to get dark in the room. Look out the window at the desk and the sun is shining. Turn to my right to the big window and it's completely blacked put with honey bees. ON THE INSIDE! Call the neighbor (bee keeper) and he's here in seconds! found the hole where they got in, plugged that and started to vacuum the little buggers up. Took over an hour to get them little buggers out the house! Jon said it's most likely a wild hive splitting and that's why they swarmed. he was able to get the bees out of the vacs and in a mesh bag. In one of the bags there was a queen. She was set in a trap and the swarm went to her and was also trapped. He said he'll set up a colony with her and they should be good. Luckily, they don't sting when they swarm. He said that there's a lot of drones so they could split again soon. Freeky shit!

[shooter]

took this pic shortly after my wild hive split

[scstill]

Wild Sugar Bush on Morgan Trail in SoCal
Also known as Sugar Sumac.
Supposedly the Indians used it for sweetener.

I'm thinking the top picture might be the flower buds
The middle picture is for sure the flower
The lowest pic is a google photo of the berry
Guess I'll need to return for a tasting

[sluckey]

Very pretty. Is that flowers, berries, or ???

[scstill]

And since we were on the subject of bees
Here is a little guy photo bombing my pic of Scorpion Weed

[shooter]

your images jarred a memory from youth; "berries white, poisonous sight, berries red, makes you dead"
double-check with locals, i wouldn't trust google for wild edible advice

[scstill]

Yeah for sure
Especially with sumac as part of the name.

[scstill]

I know this thread is about plants but here is a cool story from a few days ago
Riding MTB in Whiting Wilderness Park when I came across these two guys
Right in the middle of a fast trail.
Decided to put some branches to protect them from becoming a speed bump.
But then thought they should be moved off the trail.
Grabbed the snake by the tail to drag them to the bushes
The snake let the lizard go and the lizard turned on me ready for a fight
a stick helped me move him off the trail as well
Stupid lizard.

As an added bonus couple of teenage girls witnessed the fun,
but didn't want to help with relocation.

[shooter]

the snakes head has a nasty habit of creating a circle about it's tail, with your flesh as bulls-eye, always use a stick.
 
after a climb i walked back to retrieve packs and I find a Diamondback with a mouse butt sticking out it's mouth, and a hole in the back of the snakes neck, with a mouse head sticking out, both deceased.