Some Spring Sitings

My nasturtium ocean.

Carrots are coming!

Potatoes among the cilantro.

Peacock in our backyard!

Hummingbird babies-to-be! This photo is about 2 times the size of the real one!

Blossom distribution -- right side with lots of blossoms is in the direct morning sun. The left side with few blossoms is in the shade, behind the right side.

This one color of alstroemeria continues to bloom, but is the only color showing among all that I have.

Hardenbergia vine bloom is so very welcome in January and February, when there's little else blooming.

That tiny central blotch of lime-green offsets the main lilac color of the hardenbergia.

Yellow chasmanthe is statuesque.

Species poinsettia -- the tallest branches at the back -- have puff-top "blooms".

Bulbine succulent starts is almost-year-long blooming. You'll see that it's cone-shaped, and as the bottom open flowers dry up, the stem extends upward some 3 feet with always a few open flowers by the time it finishes blooming in December.

     With more glorious rain promised from now through the weekend, I’m wallowing in my “nasturtium ocean”, with its two-foot-tall "waves" and blossoms just beginning to surmount the 9-inch wide leaves.  Talk about plants loving the moisture! 
      And tiny carrots are beginning to join the lettuce, spinach, bok choy, cilantro and parsley for our nightly salads.  Even a potato or two from remnants of last year's planting that I’d missed harvesting and had come up this year through the now-cilantro bed.  Yum for both eyes and mouth!
     Yesterday afternoon’s talk on the telephone was interrupted by streaks of bright blue outside my window when two peacocks moseyed up the ramp to the garden, so I followed with camera in hand and got a couple of shots as they left our property. 
     Calls to the Arboretum and the Humane Society elicited these results:  Arboretum peacock escapees from years ago have become “feral”, traveling through underground culverts as well as walking and flying to far-flung locations.  Because they’re now wild, they shouldn’t be fed or even approached closely.  This morning, when retrieving the newspaper, I found white blotches on the driveway pavement below a palm tree, so perhaps they’d spent the night after leaving our property. 
     Another “wildlife” sighting was a hummingbird nest.  After a couple days of being “buzzed” as we passed one bush near our front door, we found a nest with a couple of eggs.  We’ve made a point to use another door, to allow Mom to stay sitting on her eggs without our disruption.
     Both daytime temperatures of high 50s to low 60s, and nighttime temperatures of mid-to-high 40s to low 50s are conducive to both seeding and transplanting.  With the soil staying moist between each rainstorm, better germination is a likely result.  So keep sowing – especially wildflowers! – and transplanting spring edibles and ornamentals.
     The low 40s even contribute to the accumulation of low-chill hours for our dormant fruit trees.  Since we haven’t had over-70s daytime degrees lately (which cancel out below-41-degree chill hours), these staying-low temperatures may indeed add up to enough hours to have our trees feel they’ve had sufficient to blossom and set fruit later this spring.  Hopefully the chilliness and moisture will last through February to keep the trees “asleep” and dormant longer so they'll gain energy for their summer exertions to come.
     See February Monthly Tips for tasks to consider – when you can finally get out into the garden but not compact the soil by walking and digging!