Summer is Coming

Astilbe

 This last week has been unusually cold and rainy, like most of May. It was still in the 40's at night  three times this week with the heat still coming on yesterday, June 2, at night.  I don't ever remember it being this cold this late. But the weather forecast promises summer is coming tomorrow with temps in the high 80's. We are getting wildfire haze from Canada that is going to block some of the sunshine. The astilbe under the trees in the side yard have just bloomed.

 

Salvia

I have three salvia plants that bloomed right on time in mid May.

Red Hot Poker

There are three of these plants in the garden, but only one has bloomed last week.  I don't see any bloom stalks on the other two.

Greater Burdock

This was a surprise!  I found it under the trees in the backyard about a week ago. I have not been in the backyard for a couple of weeks because of the constant rain. I've never seen it in the yard, and the seeds must have been dropped by animals.

 

Wax Leaf Privet

There are several wax leaf privet bushes that line the back of the house, and they are full of white flowers.

Miniature Roses

In an area where the deer never roam, I have planted miniature roses that I got from the grocery store. I got them to have some flowers in the kitchen in the early spring, and planted them last year when they finished blooming. There is a yellow rose plant next to this one that is just about ready to bloom.

Cool, Cloudy and Rainy

Clematis Samaritan Jo

 For the last three weeks we have had mostly clouds, rain and cool weather. There were a few days of sun and 70 and 80 degree temperatures, but we have been mostly stuck in the 50 to 60 degree range and have had one or two nights in the 40's.  My clematis vine brightens up a semi shade corner of the house.

Cotoneaster

Despite the cool weather, most of the May flowering plants bloomed on time like the cotoneaster bushes in the front yard.

Peony

There are several peony bushes (which the deer won't touch) in the yard in different colors, red, pink, and this yellow one that's my favorite.

Catmint

The catmint that lines the front walk bloomed right on time.  The azaleas in the neighborhood are done flowering, and the iris in the yard have come and gone before I got a good photo of them.

Spirea

 The spirea bushes in the yard just started blooming.

Blueberry

The berries on the two old blueberry bushes in the yard are finally turning blue.  We've noticed a real drop in the squirrel population in our yard since this winter.  We used to have lots of squirrels chasing each other all over the yard, climbing the trees, and walking on the deck railing.  This year we have only seen one squirrel in the yard. 

Flirting With Freezing

Magnolia Flower

 The first two and a half weeks of April were cold and rainy. We had a freeze which killed the blossoms on our three magnolia trees. This is the third year in a row that the magnolia blossoms were killed before a lot of them even opened. Although we've had some nice days in the 70's and 80's this week, it is still going down in the 40's at night.

 

Jack Frost Brunnera

The brunnera plants were just starting to bloom when we had the freeze. Some of the blossoms died, but most had not bloomed yet and came through ok.

Lady Ferns

The lady ferns are popping up under all the trees.

Cherry Laurel

All the cherry laurel bushes in the yard burst into bloom this week.

Blueberry bush

The two old highbush blueberry bushes in the yard had buds on them.

Clematis vine

This clematis vine called Samaritan Jo has buds now also.

Peony bush

There are several peony bushes of different colors in the yard that are budding.

Bursting Into Bloom

Daffodils

 My last post showed the first daffodil to open in this garden. A week later the whole row has opened thanks to a week in the 60's and 70's.

Bradford Pear

The Bradford Pear trees were barely showing buds on March 22, and a week later with the warm weather, they burst into bloom. They are a week or more late to bloom.

Weeping Cherry Trees

Same story with the cherry trees. Barely budding on March 22, and bursting into bloom a week later.

Magnolia Trees

The magnolia trees in the backyard were just starting to bloom on March 28. A little late just like the Bradford pear and weeping cherry trees. They still have not fully bloomed because we had a freeze one night last week.

Brunnera Jack Frost

I have four brunnera plants that just poked through the soil last week.

Clematis

This clematis vine on the trellis that hides our trash cans just started showing buds last week.

Pansies

The four pots of pansies on the deck that were frozen to single digits and snowed upon in winter have survived and are coming out of dormancy are starting to bloom. 

Spring, Finally

First Daffodil Bloom

 Spring is late to this area.  After a very snowy and bitterly cold February, there were signs of spring the end of the first week of March.

Maple Tree

None of the trees in the yard showed any signs of leaf budding until the end of the first week of March. The Bradford pears trees in the yard showed no signs of budding.

Hellebores Cinnamon Snow

I have several hellebores in the back yard under a stand of trees that usually bloom in February. This year many of the flowers just started to open the first week of March also. Many of the flower buds are still tightly closed.

Pansies

 I have four pots of pansies in railing pots on the deck that I planted last fall. They have been snowed on, frozen to single digits many times, and they are still alive. They looked brown and dead, but last week some green started showing through the winter damage. Two blooms appeared this week. 

Winter Holiday

Joshua Tree

 

My family took a weeks vacation in January to Palm Springs. One of the sights we visited was Joshua Tree National Park.  We visit a national park almost every year. We had visited Joshua Tree National ten years ago. It seemed to me that there were a lesser amount of Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) this time we visited.

Cholla Garden

 We saw the cholla garden in Joshua Tree National Park. Teddy Bear cholla (Opuntia bigelovii) also known as jumping cholla tend to grow in clustered formations.  They seem to jump at anything that brushes by as a way to propagate. They have barbed spines that make it hard to take them out of skin.

Rock Formation in Joshua Tree Nat Park

 There are many rock formations in the park that attract climbers.

Windmill Farm

We toured one of the several windmill farms in Palm Springs.  Winds come through the San Gorgonio Pass. There is enough wind energy to power almost the entire Coachella valley. There are over 3,000 wind turbines in Palm Springs, one of the largest in the United States.

Winter

First Snow

 

The first snow we had here was January 2, and it was very light.

Second Snow

The weather turned extremely cold and six days later we had 81/2 inches of snow. This is the same area of the yard as the first photo, and you can see the deer tracks in the snow.  We had bitterly cold weather (it did not get above freezing) as much of the country did for almost three weeks. We had single digit temps in the morning during that time. We finally got above freezing, and the snow which was ice hard, finally started melting.  We could finally see grass.

Yuletide Camellias

The three Yuletide Camellia bushes were still blooming at the first light snow  on January 2.

Yuletide Camellias

After all that freezing weather and snow, the Yuletide camellias are looking tired and worn. But there are still buds that haven't opened. We are supposed to get 50 degree temps one or two days this week.   At that time I will be checking on the helleborus plants in the backyard

Third Snow

We got our third snow storm (along with a lot of the country) of about 9 inches last night the 11th of February. We are looking at another storm next week.

Amaryllis

When I can't have flowers outside, I have them inside. One of my sons gave me this amaryllis bulb for Christmas and it finally bloomed a week ago. When it is so cold and snowy during the winter, our family likes to vacation for a week in a warm climate.  I will share photos from our January trip next time.