California spring is on the way!

Chris,
I was wondering where you got off to! Glad to see you and the beautiful Narcissus 'Avalanche' .
It doesn't do any good to dodge rain drops, they always get ya.
Are you coming to RU this year? I'd really like to see you there.
I've been waiting with some anticipation to see how your bulb garden looks this year. I was also wondering if the lack of cold has affected their blooming in your area.
We've had an unusually warm winter at our place. My jonquils started blooming early, back in December and are still blooming. I have some muscari coming up, but it hasn't bloomed yet.
Am curious how everyone's bulbs are doing this year?
WIB!
SW

Wonderful, warm, beautiful days down here..no excuse for not working in the garden. I'd just like to know two things.....Who planted all of the these things that I have to cut back every year and how come they're all so low to the ground?

I don't know Sherry, but that's how I blew out my knee. Too low to the ground, pulling weeds, and planting seeds. The chickens were happy to get them weeds, though!
WIB!
SW

And pulling a little clump of weeds is how I blew out my back just before Christmas....when did I get old enough for this nonsense to happen?

I took 103 photos (YEAH DIGITAL) to get my 3 favorites of the bees in the almond that started blooming yesterday. Here's #1:

Here's #2:

And #3. If this isn't "spring in California", I don't know what is...LOL!

I DO wish I could take close-ups like that. Really nice, Ima.

Ima - Amazingly great shots. You can really handle that camera/lens. That can't be a point and shoot....

Thanks! That's my Canon SLR that I bought myself for my birthday after suffering from camera envy all last spring & summer. The enabler, in this case, was that pesky ducbucln and her absolutely spectacular hummer shots. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/982682/
I am saving my Amazon coupons for the telephoto lens my nephew recommended---these were taken with the kit lens & cropped after. That's why I needed to take so many photos....I couldn't see what I was firing at thru the viewfinder...LOL!!!

Happy Chinese New Year, Everyone. The timing was perfect this year for bringing in the quince blossoms to start off the new year with good luck.

Beautiful branches---and so is the celadon bowl next to them (says the potter, who always notices that stuff!)

Happy Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day too!

Lovely imapigeon. Nothing a beekeeper likes better, than the almonds in bloom and warm enough weather for the bees to fly. DH will be thrilled to see those photos!
I did wish everyone A Happy Chinese New Year. But I had to say it Chinese and don't know how to spell it. DH's best friend lives in KL, Malaysia and is Chinese. That's how I know how to say it, although my accent is atrocious. Did anyone hear me? LOL! : - )
I really liked your photo soilsandup. Aren't Quince native to China? They sure do have pretty blossoms.
This made me think of spring today.
WIB!
SW

There is a variety of quince species that is native to China, others are native to other parts of Asia.

It is too early for peach blossoms, so the flowering quince is perfect for Chinese New Year. Singingwolf - I am sure your pronunciation is fine.

Truth to tell, the Chinese are most forgiving, and just happy that you try to wish them a Happy New Year in their language. At least every one I've met has been.
I always try to learn how to say Thank You, and Please and Howdy in every language I can. Get's confusing sometimes, and cracked up the staff on cruise ship we were on, but people know when you are sincere. They'll even forgive you for saying it in the wrong language. Made for a lot of laughs. I had fun.
WIB,
SW

A good practice, SW. I like German - you can get away with saying "bitte" for almost everything! LOL
I know what you mean about saying things in the wrong language, too. I've learned just a little bit of several and sometimes when I try to put a sentence together, they get scrambled!

Yup, I got scrambled eggs for brains. Aloha! : - )
But hey, I'm not typing backwards as often these days. I still remember my High School German pretty good, but not the French. The Sr. High in OK, didn't offer a 3rd year of German, so I took Mechanical Drawing instead.
I'm glad I did. I took the advice of my Step Mother (uww that sounds so strange), Barbara, my Dad's second wife. I usually called her by name, so the step mother thing doesn't usually come up. By the time I showed up I didn't need much mothering, and she was a great mentor.
I did listen to her and still do. One smart lady. I had asked for help with learning perspective to improve my drawings. She suggested I take Mechanical Drawing. I can print neatly too. LOL!
I know the younger generation doesn't get it when a girl enters a male orientated field. Back when I was in High School there was only one other girl in my Mechanical Drawing Class.
They (the boys) liked to play tricks on us. Once and only once did they try to play a trick on me. One of the guys at my table stashed a really big rubber spider in my desk, no doubt hoping I'd scream when I saw it. I guess he didn't know my brothers, 'cause without even thinking about it (and without a sound), I took my sharp pencil and stabbed it and then flung it at him. Hit him in the chest. I thought it was funny. My family thought it was funny. No one tried teasing me like that again. Now a live mouse might have made me squeak. ; - )
Say, I've been seeing Lizards, have yours come out of hiding yet? The Time Portal seems to be a breeding ground for them. : - ) Lots of babies this year so far.
WIB!
SW

The only problem with lots of baby lizards is that it's usually a sign of lots of baby bugs to come.

But at least the lizzies are there to meet them! LOL

I've seen some motion in the bushes and a flash in the open, so I guess 'my' lizards are out - hopefully not the snakes yet!

Right about now is when the first clutches of baby alligator lizards start to appear...with more to follow. If you find what look like round, white, cottony looking balls about the size of a ;arge pea, those are alligator lizard eggs. You'll more than likely find them under rocks, in wood piles, etc.
The females don't protect the eggs after they're laid. The babies are on their own with no help from mom...so don't disturb the eggs and you'll have bug eaters in abundance...and they'll do a good job.
Also, alligator lizards are protected by law in Calif...so just leave 'em alone to do their "work". (They're very good at it ! )

Alligator lizards

They scare me to death. Had one in the house a couple of years ago.
Grandson and I hid in the bedroom. Could not find it until as few months later. It was barely alive behind the sofa. DH rescued it and put it outside. I was mortified, however don't know how it survived all those months in the house. I guess it was a good thing?
Sylvia

LOL Yes, they can be intimidating...especially the really big ones. They can de-tach their tails if you grab it, or if a predator does...it's a defense/distraction mechanism which allows the lizard to escape while the tail remains wiggling. Their tail will grow back eventually, but when it does, it's just cartilage and not as long.
They can also inflict a nasty bite if you get too close to them or try to handle them...a death-grip actually.
Another interesting fact about them: They won't eat anything bigger than their head (and that's probably a good thing ! )and they always swallow their prey head-first.

No doubt this is all way more than you ever wanted to know about them ! LOL

I was too horrified to touch it. Good thing, it would have bitted me and that would have probably have given me a heart attack!

Sylvia

We spent 15 months in the Caribbean, and we would have been completely overrun by bugs if it weren't for assorted reptiles. Love the lizzies!

Yes, I think they're my own little dinosaurs...

Many moons back, when I lived in an apt in the South Bay I had a neighbor who complained to me about my cat going into her yard and killing her lizards just to get the tails. She wanted me to get the cat not to kill the lizards, just take their tails, as those grew back. I stood there amazed and said "OK, we will go inside and I will explain that to her and make her promise to change her ways" and turned and left.

Fast forward about 6 years and I am in a condo overlooking a cemetery (quiet neighbors) with an open area. Good hunting grounds for kitties. I came home from work and left the screen door open for the cat to go outside and went to start dinner. When I heard a noise, I went into the LR and their is a lizard in front of the TV with no tail! He was still in shock and I got a paper towel and picked him up, took him outside and threw him over the fence to the cemetery and he hit the barbed wire on the way over. I felt horrible. Then I went inside and there was the tail in the dining room. Well, I did say I was fixing dinner...

Laughing my head off.
Thank you JD, for explaining about the alligator lizards. We have lots of them, and I have seen their eggs as you described. I am going to see if I can find a clutch to show everyone else what they look like.
I love alligator lizards, if you aren't afraid of handling them, you will discover they are really quite beautiful. They eat lots of bugs, including ants, I believe.
I'm a mean Mom, when ES was almost two years old (he was the one who started walking before he turned 7 months, and then started going out his bedroom window when he turned about one. Hard to keep up with that red headed kid!), I encouraged him to go ahead and pick up a small alligator lizard.
Why would I do that to a kid that young? Well, I didn't want him picking up snakes and I figured he'd get bit by the lizard, but since they don't have teeth and they aren't poisonous, he'd learn a lot faster not to pick up any reptile if he got bit by one. Yup, he got bit by the lizard. Lizard went flying. ES was crying, but he never picked up another lizard or snake until he was much older and had been taught the proper way to pick them up.
I'm not as mean as I make it sound. You have to know that at that time, we were over an hour away from any real hospital that could treat snake bites. I considered it a preventative measure. It worked, the kid is okay, the lizard was dazed but he got over it.
Now I should have done the same thing with my YS, because he did get bit by a snake (probably a gopher snake).
Why is it boys have to play with these things? I mean I was a tom boy with 4 brothers, so I guess I'm not as squeamish as most people of the female persuasion, but I did learn to never automatically take what the kid was handing me, the day YS handed me a stink bug! Yuck! The stink bug went flying and I don't care what happened to it.
Snakes shouldn't be coming out yet, not until the temps get above 80 degrees for a period of at least two weeks. At least that is what I've observed over the years here on the farm. I like snakes a lot, they eat rodents.
JD, I didn't know that the Alligator Lizards are a protected species. They are alive and thriving here and I sure hope you can make it to the RU, so you can see some yourself.
Some guy said we have a kind he's never seen before (I guess he was really into lizards). I'm not into chasing them down, but feel free if you want to. I'll try to talk one of the boys into getting some good photos of them. It's hard to drag them outside these days and away from their computers. Maybe Jonathan.
I've always taught the kids to catch and release back into the wild. With the exception of the tarantula's they've been really good about it. They aren't allowed to capture tarantula's anymore.
We usually have YS carry out the spiders although I don't mind doing it myself. LOL!
Scorpions do live out here too, and while I haven't seen many, I usually take them far away from the house and release them.
The bats are out flying tonight! : - )
They are out of hibernation early this year. I hope it doesn't hurt them if we go back to our normal weather patterns. I'd take photos, but it's too dark to catch them flying. They hibernate in the cracks of the rocks and boulders in the hills on the farm. They eat lots of bugs too! : - )
WIB!
SW

I keep hoping we will get more bats, but from the evidence on the ground, there can't be more than one or two in our house each year. Maybe he's been banned from the gang!

There is a few blossoms my apricot tree and the cherry trees in the neighborhood already have leaves and blossoms. That is the first sign for me that Spring is just around the corner. I can't wait until it comes into full swing next month.

Here's Magnolia 'Galaxy' blooming right now.

And daffodils blooming. The white ones fall over in the rain and stay bent but the yellow ones have small blooms and do well through the rain. Much to be said about a simple daffodil.

Nice citrus crop you have in the background too.

Beautiful, doss! Do you pull the bulbs and plant annuals in the raised bed?

No, I just leave the daffodils. There is enough going on in that bed the rest of the year so I don't need to pull the daffodils and they come back better than ever each year. I'm not that energized a gardener either. There is a saying that friends don't let friends grow annuals. (Plant Delights Nursery) LOL

I agree! I'm definitely not an annual person - my DH keeps wanting me to put in what he calls "bedding plants." I think he's finally getting the idea it ain't gonna happen!

Doss - your garden is so lovely. Are the sides of that planter stone and is the planter a side to a pond or a pool?

That is the nice thing about the parts of California that don't get those drastic winters. We can have some sort of flowers year 'round. When I heard a new friend (from DG) in OH talk about pulling about 100 canna bulbs out last fall, I wondered why. Thinking of taking them all out, then putting them all back in sounds too tedious for me. And annuals? I appreciate them when I see them in commercial spaces, but the work and expense to change everything several times a year is more than I want to do. Keeping up with perennials and doing some veggies is enough for me.

Lynda

The people in colder climes have to do waaay to much work. I don't think I'd have it in me anymore to go to all that trouble. Annuals? Not unless they self sow.

Beautiful photos, Doss.
Spring is definitely on it's way. Sadly, it's not here yet. Frost all over the ground this morning. Soon, only a few more weeks and winter will be over!
WIB!
SW

Love those self sowers (except weedy weeds), including some CA natives. It goes back to that reversed dormant period thing we have here. Some of our plants should probably be dug up and put inside during the heat of the summer, LOL. I can stand and watch them wither away on those 100++ days!

We are spoiled in California. In the dahlia forum, people dig up hundreds of tubers, clean, process and wrap them, etc. I am amazed at the amount of work people are willing to do in the colder areas of the country.

Wcgypsy - I feel the same way about annuals - the only ones that I have are the ones that self-seeds. The rest of my garden are bulbs or perennials. I do have a few perennials that are somewhat invasive and I spend a lot of time keeping them in check.

My nectarine tree just budded. And now it is raining... hope it is only for a day or two to allow the rest of the buds to open up and get pollinated.