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snow

Videos

by Lorraine on March 2, 2011

Okay, at last…this will be my first attempt of posting some video that I shot of my garden last month and hopefully I won’t mess things up here and I will do it correctly without too much trauma.

My garden is constantly changing each day and for a while, we had some very warm weather that triggered many plants to bloom too soon.   Then we became swamped in several rainstorms and then after that, the temperatures dropped so low that we had even a wee bit of snow.

Needless to say, all of these weather changes have caused confusion for not only my garden but for all kinds of plants and crops.   The good news for farmers who grow stone fruits, is that at least the cold weather would be good for their production but for plants that have bloomed out of their normal cycle, it could be damaging.

But, I guess I don’t really know.  However  for my garden that is filled with native plants from California, there’s been quite a bit of confusion, lately.   Bulbs were coming up and as a matter of fact some of the native Irises in my garden were sending out shoots, but not now.  Frost in the mornings put an end to that attempt to show off.

But more on that in a later post because I want to see if I can manage to a share a video that I did at the end of February of the garden. At that time the Ceanothus and Monkey Flowers were blooming and so was the Howard McMinn manzanita. 

Plus, there is a brief appearance of Theo, too!   Note his beautiful blue eyes…and his jaunty harness!

The manzanita’s flowers have since turned brown because of the freezing temperatures but the Ceanothus, Monkey Flowers, Channel Island Poppies, continue to bloom.   And there are even a few California Poppies starting to put on their show.

Well, it seems that I can’t load the video, because it exceeds the allowable size for my web site.   Drat!   Back to the drawing board, but I will learn how to do this.

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Snow-Free California

by Lorraine on January 12, 2011

It’s an amazing and gorgeous day here in southern California.   While the east coast and Canada are being buried underneath snow drifts, the sun is shining and the sky is clear.

The temperatures are expected to reach 80 degrees by Saturday and then slowly descend down into the mid-70’s by the following week.   No wonder so many people want to live here.   Our weather is very appealing and there is no snow to shovel and icy roads to navigate!

With all the rain that has fallen in the last two months, my garden has exploded in growth.   Several plants are starting to bloom and many bulbs are coming up through the earth and everywhere I look, I see something new and changes in the landscape.

There are lots and lots of California Poppy seedlings and I know I will have a visual feast of glowing, orange flowers within the next couple of months.

It’s really too early for this kind of activity and I guess you could call it a “false” spring, as we could still have some very cold temperatures, as it’s truly winter.  And if that should happen, it will kill or at least cause some of these early bloomers, to die back.

The warm sunshine has brought many different types of birds into the garden and they are feeding on the seeds they find as though they are at a banquet.  And  I half expect to see some lizards due to the warmth but I guess they are still sleeping, tucked away under the rocks.

They know it’s not Spring as of yet.

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