Blooming Trees

We got the usual, and glorious, mid February warm spell. All the trees burst into bloom. The temperature is all over the map: sometimes rising to the high 70s by midafternoon, but plunging back into the low 40s and even high 30s at night.

This weekend was Gwen's memorial, so Rick and I weren't able to do much at the farm. We did sneak over for a few minutes on Friday morning, before the ceremony.

The apricot is entering full bloom. Flowers are fully open on some branches, while others are still just budding.

The Burpeanna Early peas have sprouted. They were planted on 2-6.

The chervil and parsley in the pot are doing well. We'll have to watch the chervil because it bolts when it gets hot. If we plant some in the shady areas it should reseed itself.

The onions are about to transplant size, which is good because I'd like to use the box for carrots next (baby carrots of course).

The pansies are starting to bloom again.

Then we didn't get back to the farm until Sunday afternoon, after the organic gardening class. We had wanted to show off the garden to David and Mary and Dale and Vikki, but we went on the Bidwell Mansion tour, and that took up most of the afternoon. When we got to the farm, we saw that Buddy had been busy. All the fire blight is gone and so is most of the apple tree. If it doesn't regrow, we'll just take it out and plant more appropriate trees.

We were too tired to do much besides hang around, but it was great to relax after a long weekend. It was really great to see family, but it tired me out. Catherine had showed up to Gwen's memorial, which was very sweet of her.

It's hard to see, but this picture shows huge flocks of geese, flying VERY high, and all heading north with determination. This is not their usual winter circling around, looking for the next field to glean. They're going home. This is another clear harbinger of Februation.

Also, as of yesterday, the plum trees began to blossom. The sequence, in our farm at least, is almond, apricot, forsythia, plum. Our cherry isn't blooming yet, but the ones at Vallombrosa are. The lilac is leafing out strongly, but not showing any blooms yet. And the roses are all showing new red growth, and need to be pruned and fertilized.

The rose of Sharons are still leafless.