Spring 2021

The weather has been consistently warm for the last 2 weeks - so I've decided it's time for me to clean out my closet and put away 90% of my colder weather clothes for my summer stuff. It's April though - this isn't it. So I always plan some outfits that will be useful for when it turns. 

My yard is blooming - without me even doing anything to it. My Iriss' are blooming and we had white ones this year and some yellow ones are coming in, that I did not plant. 

I guess I could start my veggie garden - in years past when I have, the weather has changed and practically flooded out my tomatoes. We have a long dry growing season - I usually have tomatoes clear into and after Thanksgiving. 

We bought a patio orange tree. It will be fun to watch it grow and produce. 

More poppies this year on our hill. 

Planted the Queen Anne palm on the hill and this date palm container, we just moved it up onto the hill where the irrigation is better when we have our hot dry summer. 

This is the best time here; before the hot dry winds and smoke from fires. Sadly, it doesn't last that long. 

The "green" around my house

So what's going on at your house? 

Do you go all out and decorate - complete with lights and all? 

The "green" is all around in nature - 

My dusty millers are such a pretty soft green. 

Looks like I have white Iris popping up that I never knew I had. 

Last year I had the rootbeer-colored ones.

 I wonder how many new ones I have? 

This was my mother's bell. 

She used to collect bells from all over. 

I donated most of them but this one I really liked. 

Although not an Irish teacup - this was my sister's. 

She bought it in Spain. 

These shamrocks or Oxalis were given to us about 6 years ago from my 

Father-in-law. My cat started munching on them, so my husband just planted them in our front yard and they have flourished ever since. 

They are especially meaningful this year as we lost him in Dec 2020. He was 94. 

Happy St Patrick's Day

Susie, Snow and Daffodils

 

Susie, amazed at that white stuff she rarely gets to see.

This is what we woke up to last week. We only got 5 inches here but Shasta Dam was snowed in with snow still on the ground, Saturday when we drove up there - 11 miles away! 

My daffodils broke off from the weight of the heavy wet snow. Oh well, there's always next year. 

Spring is coming

 

Early signs of Spring are starting in my yard. This morning in my front yard, I have daffodils starting to pop up. 

I have little shoots just beginning to show themselves in my planter boxes. 

My tomato plant never died out - and there are still some green tomatoes - but they are not very tasty. The texture is off. But my husband will still eat them. He's like Mikey. He'll eat anything. 

Nasturtium WATCH

Leaves, leaves and more leaves

This counts for Christmas decorating, doesn't it? 

I've not yet decorated except for the tree but I have been baking and making up some old family recipes and meals that bring me comfort. I'm missing my mom's country-fried pork chops so I made some the other night, with some mashed potatoes and homemade pan gravy. It was so good. Not something I should eat all the time though. I also made a peach cobbler from canned peaches. I was craving it so I made it. It was so good. 

Right now my energetic husband is blowing the leaves in the yards and then will mulch them. It's a never-ending job until the leaves have all fallen and ours have just started. He wants to put up our nativity, so he is getting the yard ready. 

I think I mentioned he finished the patio.  I am pleased it is done. 

Tomatoes are still popping

 

Now, this just pleases the heck out of me. My Roma tomatoes are still coming in. I have about 10 of them. The weather has been sunny and mild but I do have to keep watch if the nighttime temperatures drop. 

These are the tomatoes I planted in a big barrel under my front window. It was an experiment. The summer heat usually burns my tomatoes so I don't yield many. This summer, I decided to put some in the front yard where there is dappled shade from the trees. I also believe it is helping them withstand the nighttime cold temps as it is sheltered. Next spring, I will plant more veggies in the front yard. 

Silly, but they give me HOPE...these little tomatoes still struggling to grow in December. Maybe there is a lesson in that for me. 

Keeping busy

The husband is making some good progress. 

Still have some pretty flowers blooming. I plan to pull out the morning glories for the winter. They usually grow all year, but I planted too many and they are too thick - I want just a small vine of morning glories rather than a WALL of Morning Glories on my picket fence. 

I will plant some seeds by the back fence - to cover up the different sections we have replaced. 

I pulled out the remaining sunflowers. 

I really need to lay down a weed barrier before the rains that are forecasted for later this week. 

I plan to do a deep cleaning of my kitchen before the heavy-duty holiday cooking as well as clean and organize my cupboards and pantry. I have this one drawer, I use for my silverware and it needs a wooden stabilizer underneath because it keeps getting jammed. I'm thinking of just changing everything around. Perhaps the flatware is too heavy and I should instead use it for kitchen towels instead. 

At our age, changing the placement of dishes and glasses can really mess with us. I did it a couple of years ago, with our glasses and cups. I also did it with our pots and pans. They use to be placed in a bottom cabinet - but was hard for me to find them. I had to sit on the floor to find something. I moved them over to my pantry. Works great but every now and then, when my husband cleans out the dishwasher and puts away the dishes, I will find a pot or two, in the old place. We are creatures of habit. 

Yeah, it's time to do some deep cleaning before I start in with all the Christmas clutter which I really want to minimize this year. We'll see. 

My front yard at Twin Cedar

 

I still have some Roma Tomatoes on the vine. They seem to grow better when the 105+ heat goes away. That is why I experimented and planted them in a pot outside my front window. 

We really need to paint our trim next year. 

We were supposed to do it this year but the smoke and fires kept us indoors. 

I have some flowering as well. 

Looking up toward the big incense cedar in my yard. 

I noticed these small, white berries seeds which turn into one-inch-long cones 

that are produced at branch tips.  

These seeds provide treats for many varieties of birds and wildlife.

Beautiful color green. 

The photo doesn't do it justice. It takes up all of my front yards - It is our front yard centerpiece. We lovingly nicknamed our place Twin Cedar.  I've often thought about changing my blog name to that - too much of a hassle. 

It's impossible to grow a decent lawn - but we won't cut it down. Who needs a green grass anyway here in California? It really doesn't make much sense. I'd rather grow drought-friendly flowers and plants. 

It's not Fall here yet - these are my Liquid Gum trees or Sweet Gum. 

We have 4 of them on the other side of the picket fence - street side. I love privacy. 

I'm surprised these came up. I bought a box of Impatient seeds from Dollar Tree. 

I sprinkled them in the pot and here they are. 

This lasts all year - The dusty miller I've had for years now. I just cut it down and it comes back. 

My yard; My happy place

The morning glories I planted late are blooming. 

I've read where they are annuals in other parts of the country. 

Here they survive unless we get rare snow and even then, it just kills off the foliage. 

They start back up once the temps get warmer. 

There is still so much to be done n the yards and the air is back to being healthy. 

I sat in the sun and loved every minute of it as it warmed my face. It has been a long time. We had extreme heat and then the fires, bad smoke, and unhealthy air. 

Today we have a slight breeze; nothing major. Just enough to make that nice sound of leaves rustling among the tall trees; letting us know that soon, the leaves will turn and fall as they are supposed to. They haven't changed colors yet. We need a couple of really cold nights - the leaves are dry just need that cold snap to give them notice to change. 

Zinnias 

See the 2 bees? 

I still have about a dozen sunflowers and a few more to bloom. 

I am so glad I planted these later so I could have a Fall bloom. 

The Marguerite daisies are starting to bloom again. 

They have 2 blooming cycles. Spring/early summer and Fall into early winter. 

My California poppies bloom twice a year too. Just like daisies. 

Did some cutting and harvesting the head - 

Placed some around the yard for the birds - 

Some of the stems, were too hard for me to pull up - 

I pulled up what I could and cut them to size to fit in the refuse can. 

They resemble bamboo. 

The sunflowers are hanging in there

Once again, fire is threatening my community.  The Zogg Fire. We're all fine and I don't believe we are in any danger. We did finally make a purchase of a gas generator in case we lose power. We purchased a 9375/7500-Watt Electric Start Gas Portable Generator. I feel better prepared. 

My sunflowers are struggling, with the smoke. 

I have nursed these flowers since they were seedlings -

with a gleam in my eye of what was to become of them. 

They have been a JOY to my heart, this strange summer of 2020.

Maybe a couple more weeks - of sunflowers. 

Then it truly will be the end of summer. 

My Saturday garden

 

Every morning I can't wait to get out there and check what is new with my sunflowers. 

Nevermind that the rest of the yard is an overgrown mess. 

I planted this one in an orange home depot bucket.  

I have them everywhere. 

The lone, rust-colored sunflower. 

A pretty yellow one. 

Soon the oleanders won't be blooming as much. They LOVE our 100 heat. 

Our flowering Pomegranates - still produces. We have 3-4 trees. 

You dry these out and they look good in a bowl or included in a Fall wreath. 

I will have more zinnas soon.