Flora and Fauna

Spring is clearly here and rapidly turning into Summer with some very high temps, already in the 90's!  

Our hummingbird feeding is being frequented by as many other birds as it is the hummingbirds these days.  I've tried to take pictures through the windows but the flash bounces back through the double panes and doesn't give me a clear image.  I need to find the manual so that I can turn the flash off and try.  I did get a brief video which doesn't use flash and it's "good enough".   This morning, this male Hooded Oriole and his wife and possibly their daughter (smaller but clearly female) were all three sitting on the rim of the feeder at the same time.  I am truly amazed at them.

epiphylum

The heat and some recent very strong winds didn't help the epiphylum.  This was taken about a week ago, and most of these flowers are now wilted and ready to be plucked off.  The sun was obviously not at the best angle, giving a really 'hot' spot.

columbine

 A whole lotta years ago I scattered some mixed columbine seed in our planter in front.  The front of the house faces due north so gets very little direct sun, only that which hits first thing in the morning from the east as the sun comes up.  The first or second year they bloomed, there were several different colors, but now we pretty much only get this color combo.  The plants reseed themselves, so I don't know if this color is just more hardy or if they naturally revert to a 'parent' common color.  We enjoy seeing them come back every year.

columbine close-up

jade

And remember this jade plant I wrote about back in February after we had been getting some really frosty nights and how the 'petals' on the exposed side all froze, turned black and died?  Since the whole plant didn't freeze and die, it's regrowing and filling in very nicely in those spots where the petals dropped.  A few more months, and you won't know there was ever a problem.
 

My geranium is going gung ho.  I can't believe how hardy these plants are.  This thing has been in this large cement pot for who knows how long.  Marty had it prior to us getting married in 1996.  I don't think it's ever been given any fertilizer or additional nutrient-filled soil.  It rarely gets watered - maybe it's saving grace is that it's on the northeast edge of the garage at the front of the house.  Right below it there, that shiny ground cover, is called red-apple.  It grows like crazy too, to the point of being annoying, but it's green, and it grows, and that's good.  Sometimes in the summer, the geraniums become the host of some little green worms and I have to give it a drastic haircut because the worms eat the buds before they can bloom.  I do need to get out and clean out the dead heads and winter dead leaves.

Spring Pretties

When I went out to take photos of my finally-finished-UFO (pictures later), I looked across the yard and noticed that my irises had bloomed....and I missed the first two blooms.  I plucked the withered blossoms off and took a photo of each, not the best, but a photo nonetheless.  I've had these irises since the '80s and have never had a lot of success with them, some years they didn't bloom at all.  They probably aren't getting enough sunlight, or water, or fertilizer.  I make no claims as to having a green thumb, so I'm pretty stoked whenever anything blooms.  The epiphylum is beginning to bloom too and it looks like it'll be a good year.  The photo from it is one from a past year because I'm too lazy to put the memory card back in the camera and go back downstairs to go out and take a photo, etc.

This one is this pretty lavender color with a rust-colored throat.

This one appears to be the traditional purple Iris, but since I didn't see the first blossom opened I can't say for sure...I do believe this is the first time it's bloomed!

I'm sorry you have to turn your head to see them, I don't know why Blogger auto-turns some photos, I'd not turned the camera, so it makes no sense to me, and I don't know how to correct it :(  Any ideas?

 

 

These grow along the lines of a Christmas Cactus but are much bigger.  The stem-branches are very long as shown in the photo below.  Each blossom is the size of a dessert plate. 

The plant is in either a 15" or 18" pot, they love to be pot-bound.  The whole plant would look better if we raised the pot off the ground as the stem-branches grow long and drape over the sides of the pot and produce multiple flowers along both sides. They are native of Central & South America typically growing in trees (where debris collects where branches divide) and rock crevices. This picture is from 2010 and the plant is easily twice the size now.  To start this plant, I had only a very withered stem-branch that I'd received from a friend, and stuck it in a pot of soil.  Of course, I always take pictures BEFORE cleanup, lol!  It needs to be pruned back to really look better too.