Category Archives: Flowers

Beauty In Desert Weeds

It’s the freakin’ desert, after all. Okay, Death Valley’s worse, but even just a couple miles from civilization it can get brutal out here. Hot. Dry. Unrelenting. You have to be tough to survive in the wild under these circumstances, and tough often is the same as “something only a mother could love.”

Most of the yard, front, back, and sides is either “desert landscaping” (i.e., colorful gravel) or artificial turf. Along the edges, all over, are these scraggly-ass looking things. I really need to find the yard trimmer at the front of the PODS unit and clean them up, that is, chop them to bits and dispose of them.

But there’s this one by the front sidewalk, right next to where I found my new little lizard friend:

What are these pretty, pink flowers at the base? At first I though it was a piece of plastic wrap or trash that had gotten caught there, but they’re definitely flower petals.

Maybe?

Upon closer examination, those flowers have a woof and a weave to them. They’re frayed on the edges. They’re fake.

So that leads to the next mystery – who put them there? It certainly doesn’t look random or accidental.

Does our quiet little suburban neighborhood have a secret weed decorator?

Was it the lizard?

Leave a comment

Filed under Flowers, Forever Home, Photography

Favorite Rose

‘Tis that time of year again – the roses next to the driveway have started to bloom, and the one that’s my favorite color has popped.

There’s just a sublime quality to this particular mixture of red, orange, and yellow.

1 Comment

Filed under Flowers, Photography

Wildflowers Along The Trail

While yesterday’s hike was an ordeal (and I’m still practically crippled from the DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, but it will go away in a day or two), the spring wildflowers all along the trail were spectacular.

My phone battery died before the first of six-plus miles was done, but before that happened, I grabbed images of these to share:

Leave a comment

Filed under Flowers, Photography

Purple Trumpets

They’re everywhere. Just in case the hummingbirds aren’t happy with the standard fare in the feeders.

Leave a comment

Filed under Flowers, Photography

Chasing The Last Photons Of The Day

Flowers will move to track the Sun through the day. (See “heliotropism.”)

Tonight I went out to the front yard about an hour after sunset, still a bit of light in the western sky.

Down by the mailbox, it was strinking how the flowers were all lined up, all pointing west. It was spooky, like, 1960’s British, low-budget, horror movie sort of spooky.

There were still a few solar photons creeping over the horizon, and by god, they were going to photosynthesize them OR KNOW THE REASON WHY!

I was very careful to not let my shadow fall on them. Never underestimate the potential power of eldritch horror lurking in the innocent flowers at the beginning of a 1960’s British, low-budget, horror movie!

Professor Quatermass taught us that.

Leave a comment

Filed under Flowers, Photography, Sunsets

First Flowers Of Spring

As usual around the Willett back yard, one of the first positive signs of spring is the sprouting of those little pink flowers on the crab apple tree.

Usually they show up around eye level, but for reasons unknown, this year they’re way up at the top of the tree.

They weren’t there yesterday, but two little groups were there today, brought to my attention by the hummingbirds hitting on them for a quick snack.

One of these days I should get the last of this nylon netting off of the top of the tree. Most of it down lower was removed years ago because hummers kept getting caught in it (which is sort of the point, I guess, but I don’t give a rat’s ass about the pathetic little amount of fruit that the tree might theoretically produce and I like the hummers) but I’ve never gotten a big ladder to remove it from the top.

I might be more motivated if I owned the house and/or was planning on being here for many years. But I don’t and I’m not, so I am decidedly “meh!” about the project.

Meanwhile, just on its own, the image of delicate, beautiful pink flowers surrounded and trapped by netting seems to be saying something about our situation in general on a number of levels, so let’s just go with that. Artistic interpretation is left as an exercise for the student.

Leave a comment

Filed under Flowers, Photography

Spurge

As 2024 comes to an end, the lawn plagues continue. While the gophers continue to rule in the front yard (the landlord sent over an exterminator but I think that he fed them instead of killing them), in the back yard the weird red plants are back again.

The grass in the back has never come back after the two-year drought when we were forbidden to water it at all. But in the last month, along with the annual return of the juncos (blessed be their return!), the weird, bright red ground covering has grown back.

The PlantNet app on my phone IDs it as likely being Spotted Spurge (or Green Creeping Spurge, or Ridge-Seed Spurge, or one variant called “Kiss me quick”), Euphorbia maculata L.. 

Wikipedia says that it’s considered a weed and has sap that is mildly toxic. Whatever. Any port in a storm. At least something’s growing back there.

Leave a comment

Filed under Critters, Flowers, Photography

December Rose In Another Light

Yesterday I shared pictures of a beautiful yellow rose that had burst out, viewed in the bright morning sunlight as I was headed to the office.

Then when I got home, it was dark (winter solstice tomorrow!) and it was lit up in a different light.

The iPhone was unfortunately highly confused about what to focus on in that lighting, but this is an obvious learning experience for us all.

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Christmas Lights, Critters, Flowers, Photography

December Rose

As I went out to the car this morning to go to the office, I saw that the first (and only, so far) rose of December had exploded open.

We’re still in California, not Texas, but this one would do Texas proud!

Leave a comment

Filed under Critters, Flowers, Photography

Security Barriers

It’s a sad state of affairs when every public place that can have a large crowd, like a stadium, has to be surrounded by security barriers to keep anyone in a car or truck from driving onto the site with evil intent. But that’s the world we live in.

The upside, when the property owner allows it and desires to make it so, is that the barriers can be more than just concrete and steel ballisters and K-rail.

At Dignity Health Sports Center where the LA Galaxy play soccer (and where we had our ALS Network event this last Sunday), they’ve made an interesting and excellent choice.

Not only are the barriers made of planters, the plants used are colorful and unusual. I like colorful! I like unusual!

It also makes a nice little habitat for a bunch of small critters, including spiders. I wasn’t sure if the webs would be visible in these pictures, but I got lucky!

The PlantNet app on my phone IDs this all as “milkbush,” also known as “pencil cactus.”

It’s native to South Africa and commonly used for decorative landscaping. It’s also highly toxic if eaten, and if the stems are broken the sap can cause irritation and burns.

Interesting!

Leave a comment

Filed under ALS Network, Critters, Flowers, Photography