My father-in-law, born and raised on an Iowa corn farm is fond of say that corn should be "knee-high by the Fourth of July." It's only early June and we're well past knee-high with the sweet corn. By the Fourth we'll be eating it!
A floribunda rose I picked up nearly 20 years ago from a little nursery tucked back in the hills of Fallbrook. The lady said it was called "Peppermint Twist" because the red and white spirals of the flower resembled a peppermint candy. When the flower is still a bud it does really look like a peppermint, but as it opens it un-swirls to reveal red and white streaked flowers. Not really heavy on the fragrance, but it does bloom almost [keep reading...]
This is a Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia). Native to tropical regions of Mexico, it grows and reproduces quite easily here in San Diego County. This particular plant is nearly 20 feet tall and produces a profusion of yellow flowers from May through September. After the bloom, I chop it back to about 3 feet tall and it spends the winter and early Spring re-growing.
I didn't always like these plants and even went so far to chop this one all the way to the ground. When it grew back it came back as two plants. One produces pink blooms, the other blue. Kinda neat.
Summer unofficially begins this weekend and as if on cue, Mother Nature is delivering warm weather and clear skies. The sunflowers, which have been languishing all spring, seem to know this and are responding accordingly. It's almost as if this Kong sunflower is lifting its face and drinking the sunshine in today.
Years ago I got a seed packet of German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) which I planted because my wife thought it'd be neat to have some for herbal tea. Since then it's nativized itself in section of the yard and so every spring I have a field of chamomile in which our ducks nest and plenty of critters hide. Even though it's kind of a pest, the flowers and sweet smell are kind of nice. There are worse weeds.
Found this little guy staring at me from an empty flower pot as I was walking up from the orchard. He did some scary lizard push-ups to show me who was boss, so I snapped his picture and moved on before he charged me.
Last winter during high winds and rain one of three enormous eucalyptus trees (about 60 feet) by the pond tipped over. Half the tree's roots remained in the ground, so the tree continues grow on the side facing the sky. I stood on the trunk, pointed my camera down and took this shot.
Fire is terrible, but it sure makes for a pretty sunset. This is a photo of the Las Pulgas fire taken around 7:45 PM last night.
We're used to wildfires in San Diego, but they generally occur in late September / early October, not mid-May. It's been so hot and dry lately that the entire county is a tinderbox. Currently, we're within a couple of miles of four fires to the north, east, southeast and southwest, so any direction I turn is smoke. Fortunately, we're safe. (Wouldn't want to load all the livestock in a trailer and have to go somewhere.) But wow.
