Jubilant Success

A surprise Flanders Poppy coming up in one of the veggie beds – was a windy day and a tad difficult to keep in focus.

   

There are a few things I’ve not had success with here in my little mountain home.  For one, I’d like decent photos of the various birds that come by. But, most are pretty skittish and take off at the whisper of sound or hint of movement. Today, I get to check another off my list.

I hadn’t really anchored the row cover on my veggies as well as I should (1 inch binder clips work, but they’re not to be had locally and I haven’t taken the 40 minute shopping drive just for them). So, I check it in the mornings and realign the bricks holding it down. I’m told my deer fence you see in progress will be finished Monday (fingers crossed).

Spotted a California Quail behind the compost bins, held my breath and ran for the camera. They shuttled off into the shrubs, unseen through the lense, while I went immobile and, quietly, shallowly breathed until they ventured out. Even raising the camera was an exercise in slow motion.

Mr. Quail stays out in the open, watching, while Mrs. Quail hides and dines in more protected areas.

My brain was screaming the command – “Get away from the hose!”  (it’s kinda ugly in a shot, you have to admit) but he simply ignored me.

 Aren’t they a cute couple? (I’d better put up some “No Hunting / No Trapping” signs).

This post is participating in Sundays in My City over at Unknown Mami.

Spring Exuberance

For Sundays in My City, I could put up a picture of a bag of composted steer manure as I’ve been working hard to get the garden ready for vegetable planting.  “What are you doing in your neck of the woods? Hauling dirt, compost and manure.”  Interesting? Not so much.

 

I’ll focus on more fun things instead. A friend had given me this plant and I have no idea what it is – posting it to one of the garden sites and will come back and update if anyone can help me out (they did – it’s Billbergia Nutans Queen’s Tears). It really is these colors – the blue, lime green, yellow stamens and brilliant hot pink. One of the odder plants I’ve ever seen. Here it is in bud – so striking.  Most of the year, it’s simply plain green and spiky.

 

Continuing my lizard theme from last week (that was a California Alligator Lizard) – appears they look for places to “snag” their old skin when they shed it. This one was tangled up amongst the wisteria.

I’d also found a complete skin in 3 parts. I need to link this pic to a friend who does pottery and likes to make odd things to see if I should mail it to her – she’ll probably come up with something fantastic. Lots of ewww factor for me. I could hold it with a paper towel and put the fabric it was laid out on in the sink with heavy duty detergent first then into the washer. It creeped me out a tad.

 

More creepiness. I’ve not caught the eyes on these little buggers in photos. They move pretty quickly and can be hard to capture. Carpenter bees are generally considered beneficial insects because they help pollinate various crop and non-crop plants. But, they do bore holes in wood and must be controlled (using the preventive measures wherever possible).

Looks like I better get on it and do some exploring of the painted wood of the house near the Goldflame honeysuckle. It’s always covered in them. They’re a bit bigger than bumblebees and all black or mostly black. Supposedly, even pressure-treated wood isn’t immune from their activity.

 

Happily, do no harm bumblebees also enjoy the flora and fauna out this way. You’ll see the Carpenter bees, bumblebees and those smaller bees all buzzing the same shrub, our native ceonothus, a.k.a. California lilac. They cover a lot of the hillsides. The wild ones get kinda rangy with long limbs and growth mostly at the tips. I try to chop the ones closer to the house in half every year or so to keep them fuller.

 

For pretty, The Dutch iris are in bloom. Every spring, I’ve become enamored of all the differing flowers and blooms again. It’s always such a welcome burst of life after winter.

And, for those of you with questions about bugs, homes and gardens, I highly recommend checking out  University of California at Davis Integrated pest management – IPM. They’ll recommend preventative maintenance first and least toxic methods for bug control.

This post is participating in Sundays in My City.

Gardening Best Buds

My garden friends aren’t all good looking, but anything that gobbles down bugs is a-ok by me.

Caught this guy enjoying a morning in the sun while I was out filling the hummingbird feeders. He’s actually about twice the size of the ones I normally see.

Some of my daffodils are still in bloom. (This is Pheasants eye).

As are the petunias that overwintered.

This post is participating in Sundays in My City at Unknownmami. Pop on over to see what things are like in other parts of this small world of ours.

This week, Spring!

This weekend we’re blessed with the cuddly warmth and gentle sun of spring. I so love it – the blaring 100 degree sun of summer is too much and the damp chill of winter ok in small doses. But spring, long slow sigh – it’s resplendent in joy and life. I could have snow again – did at the end of last April. Our spring is often short to non-existent – rushing to high temps as the snow melts. I’ll enjoy it while I can and say a prayer its visit with us is prolonged this year. Would you like unbridled cheerfulness? My new favorite daffodil, Red Devon.

No matter where you are – it grabs your focus with its bright blast of color. This isn’t to say that I don’t still adore Poeticus Narcissus like Acatea (could be Pheasant’s Eye – lost my records last year in the abominable computer glitch of ’11).

Pink Charm is another quiet beauty.

Muscari are tiny and like to hide from the unobservant.

Wisteria breaking bud, just short of it’s riotous celebration of spring.

These delightful primrose charmers tugged at my resolve (to not buy flowers that are simply wild animal treats).

And, to those who celebrate it, Happy Easter. Notice the teeny wild lupines, spring is so  utterly gorgeous out here in the mountains. Light green eggs courtesy of my neighbor Terry’s happy little chickens.

This post is participating in Unknown Mami’s Sundays in My City.

In like a lamb and out like a lion

Spring?  The phrase is supposed to be in like a lion and out like a lamb for March, but hey – this year has been anything but normal. Yes folks, it’s snowing today – not unusual for some of your locales, but very much so here.

Above is Narcissus Pink Pride today. As soon as I saw this on the computer, I went inside for a flashlight and camp lantern to try to get a bit of light into the shot – but in the few moments that took, this flower had hit the ground. Below is a shot of Pink Pride last weekend.

Scilla Siberica today, big fluffy snowflakes are weighing these down.

Scilla Siberica last weekend

Narcissus Dickcissel today

Last weekend, a happier Narcissus Dickcissel

Ruby Swiss Chard

Calibrachoa

Last weekend, a hawk. I’d been thinking I hadn’t seen many hawks. Predator birds. Also heard the screech owls move back in. Predator bird. Haven’t seen ANY hummingbirds at the feeders, unusual for me. Hoping the snow of St Patty’s Day simply sent them to lower elevations for a bit (Cornell notes they “eat smaller birds”, sigh).

This weekend, really big wet snowflakes, sadly empty feeders.

This post is participating in Sundays in My City – stop by to see what others are doing in their neck of the woods.

Hope Springs Eternal

It’s a rainy, dreary Sunday – indulging myself in indoor hobbies and this morning it’s gardening.

I’ve mentioned Winter Sowing seeds before (here and here), something I’ve been a fan of for years – it works.

   

My efforts are well underway. Some of the milk jugs had snow inside them (last weekend’s storm), but this week the seedlings are taking off as though that blast of chill startled them awake.

   

Knautia  on the left and closely Planted Pam’s Choice Foxglove on the right. The foxglove seed is at least 8 years old, so I didn’t expect such great germination. It’s a biennial – doesn’t bloom its first year, just sets a base of leaves that look like most weeds. Will have to mark where I plant them (and give away oodles).

The knautia are hardy here and have pretty neat seed heads (above is the knautia in maroon and lavender with seed heads), so I’ve planted white plus that wonderful deep maroon and lavender.

   

Short Blue and White Columbine on left. I’d run out of the larger milk containers I prefer for sowing. The smaller ones work but will have to be planted out sooner (and watched for overheating more closely).

     

Today’s efforts are centered on the “warm weather” seeds – eggplants, tomatoes and peppers. Many folks winter sow everything, but for these I like bottom heat and pushing them to get to a nice size for planting out. My new growing season is shorter than the previous home and I want to grab every moment. I’m pre-germinating the seed (detailed instructions here) then I’ll move it to the “root trainers” on a heat mat under shoplights. There’s a phrase “hope springs eternal” – last time I filled the four root trainer trays and got heavy into indoor seed starting – I lost almost all of them to damping off (I think the well water must really have those spores, never had such an issue previously). But, I’ve got a plan – we’ll see if it works. Today’s efforts also include mailing a few gift seed packets off and starting more herbs in jugs.

   

The beds during last week’s snowstorm and today (time to get the weed wacker out). The lowest bed is where I planted most previous year’s potted bulbs. They get a bit stressed in ‘too hot’ pots over the summer, so I’m taking what lived and nursing them with good soil plus bulb fertilizer. Hope to then get them in the ground to naturalize once they go dormant in a few months.

I’m also giving a go at Lavender cuttings  (and a few others) in the milk jugs. My endeavors will yield  either abundance of plant material or lots of food for the compost bins. Fingers crossed for the former.

This post is participating in Sundays in My City at Unknown Mami. 

Almost, but not quite, Spring

Finally, a real snow storm this weekend! A few days short of spring and this is the first snow I’ve had stick here at my little mountain home.

When I was out quickly snapping these shots (company – so no fussing about with settings etc) the snow on a length of telephone wire fell – FFFWWWWUUUUUUUMMMPP. Very loud, I’d forgotten how loud the sound of falling snow can be.

This is the first dusting of snow in the back, always such a cozy view when embraced by the darkening storm.

My sadly stressed internet connection (satellite) – hmmn, why isn’t Maggie posting yet? Although AT&T is constantly working their poles here, no Uverse, no internet worthy cable. It’s satellite or dial on the mountain side.

   

Murphys Irish Days – the Pringles sized (read huge, and I’m quoting a friend) snowflakes amused everyone – at one point I think from the right angle you’d have captured at least ten folks shooting the snow from their phones. The storm lessened the crowds for Irish days somewhat – but those who ventured down stuck it out and had a great time (you could pop in or out of a winery for a taste or some warm mulled wine to keep you toasty, hot cocoa was offered every few blocks). The booths stayed open until almost the end of the show time as the crowds stayed – we were all so amused and happy with our snow. The Irish days shots are from Kady’s iPhone – mine had memory full and I’d grabbed my camera but not the memory card (ouch!). Waking early to make scratch coffee cake – that we could have before needing to leave for the parade – put a damper on my photo prep.

First crocus this season (pre-storm photo, but the crocus are fine, they adore a bit of snow).

First Narcissus Tete a Tete and Muscari of the season.

This post is participating in Sundays in My City over at Unknown Mami.

Hiking About

I periodically share my shots of sunsets from the back deck.  Grabbed my camera and hiked back into the undisturbed areas of the property.  This is what those trees look like from the ground.

I plan to play more with shutter speed and light.  Would prefer less glare from the setting sun, but like a bit of it. As the hiking expedition was also in impromptu seed scattering event, I hadn’t put enough thought into bug repellent or securing the bottom of my jeans against ticks to truly hike about. I’d just paused from repotting, grabbed the camera, grabbed the seeds and headed down. Once there, the “uh oh” hit me. Could not totally concentrate as I was wishing I’d looked up the dormancy habit of rattlesnakes and wondering if you stepped too close or into one of their dens through the leaves, they’d wake up and bite.  Didn’t have my phone on me – so, yes, was operating a tad distracted.

Without leaves to identify it, poison oak would be just more brush I’d be rubbing against. The pine needles and leaves are deep – you uncomfortably sink.

The wider open areas are where the plough originally fire cleared 5 years ago, then you come up to dense brush you can’t really hike through. Above lower left, the young pine, scrub oak and manzanita are more clearly visible – they’re so densely making a comeback that from a distance it appears to be grasses.

Although they lose all their lower limbs, these Douglas Fir (yes, your Christmas tree all grown up) do sport lovely green growth at the top. Did you know the shedding of lower limbs is an adaptation of some pines (Ponderosa as well) in fire prone areas? Nature never ceases to amaze.

This area was cleared, saving the oaks, and is also rampantly growing back. Another pass for fire safety will be needed soon.

Not sure what downed the Manzanita, but it affords you a glimpse into the denseness of growth beyond.

Do wish I’d done better on this one – watching where I was stepping and finding I couldn’t get as close as I’d like to the base.

My sister spent time as a florist in New England – she’s always telling me to cut Manzanita branches and go sell them to florists in the bay area. Those conservation minded needn’t worry – these things are springing up everywhere. Unfortunately, they’re an “oily tree” – the kind that explodes and makes brush fires much worse. You do need to thin their growth near property (if you’re smart, more than the 100’ required).

May have to call this my fairy tree as I see dancing figures in the branches of this one .

Healthy manzanitas have fantastic red bark.

I know as I learn more, these shots might become stellar, for now you have a bit of a tour of California interior oak woodlands.

This post is participating in Unknown Mami’s Sundays in My City. There are many accomplished photographers and writers there sharing a glimpse from their neck of the woods.  And, remember Murphys Irish Days combined with Ironstone’s Daffodil Days is the weekend of the 17th – c’mon up if you can. Sonora’s Celtic Faire is the previous weekend, the 9th.