Accent on Natural Landscaping

Donna VanBuecken

More Super Blooms in California

It appears there is a silver lining in all the terrible environmental happenings going on in California these days. Southern California is experiencing a super bloom.

The Super Bloom

Over the past two years, much of Southern California has been super dry with drought conditions. This has kept the invasive grasses and other non-desirable plants from blooming, preventing them from forming seeds which would typically have sprouted last year and taken space from more desirable native species. Then the heavy rains this past winter allowed the dormant native forb seed to absorb the extra moisture and to germinate and bloom into a super bloom. And, with the cool weather they have recently been experiencing, this should mean the super bloom will last that much longer.

Blankets of Wildflowers in Southern California

Walker Canyon Ecological Reserve in Southern California has been in the news recently because of their super bloom, so much so people have been coming from all over just to view the blooming phenomenon and to take photos. But in so doing, are trampling the forbs — just like the buffalo of old? Hey — one way to outsmart extincton!

Video courtesy Nắng Ấm Cali and YouTube.

More Super Blooms 2019

Southern California sites you may wish to visit on-line:

Other sites in California you may wish to visit on-line:

See also the Theodore Payne Foundation’s Wild Flower Hotline.

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First Snowfall of 2018-19

First snowfall of 2018-19 season highlighting what’s left of this past summer’s prairie.

Although it’s not the winter season yet, we had our first snowfall here in Northeast Wisconsin. I love how fresh and new a good snowfall always makes everything look. But now I wonder if I’m ever going to get the rest of the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) leaves spread out over our yard. I’ve found over the years, that the leaves from the three huge maples that line one edge of our driveway do not break down as readily as the native maple leaves do. The Norway Maple leaves tend to smother underlying plant material, so we typically make every attempt to get them broken up and moved around in the fall as much as we can.

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Flower Stalks for Bee Nests

The genus Ceratina often referred to as small carpenter bees make nests in dead pithy wood and stems as shown here in a cut stem. Photo by Heather Holm.

One of the things I learned from Heather Holm‘s recent participation in the Fox Cities Book Festival was to leave the flower stems from my prairie plants standing for use by the solitary bees for their nests. What a novel idea! Heather suggested cutting the stems of the prairie plants at about 12  to 15 inches above the ground, anywhere from late May to early June — well after the overwintering insects had left their beds. [Read more…]

More Yellows of a Late Summer Prairie

Late summer is a great time to see all the yellow blooming forbs of the prairie. Although this year between the hot humid weather, the bugs and now the rain storms, some of the plants are getting pretty beaten up, I managed to catch a few more good shots. See what you think about these….

See also Yellows of a Late Summer Prairie.

 

 

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