From loyal garden commentor Scout211:
Spring is here in the wilds of Northern California. We have had a few weeks of sunny and warm weather. Hopefully, the El Nino hasn’t completely passed us by but so far, it has been very weak. We are expecting rain this weekend but we need so much more.
The little yellow wild flowers are California Foothill Poppies. They are a tinier, yellower version of the California Poppy. They grow mostly in foothill locations.
The purple wild flowers with long stems are Blue Dicks. They grow everywhere on our property and we look forward to them every Spring.
This is one of our O’Henry peaches. They are really delicious, and the blossoms are very pretty.
***********
More photos after the jump. What’s going on in your garden (plans) this week?
The bush with little purple flowers is Rosemary. We have many Rosemary plants and the bees just love the little purple flowers. The leaves work great as a fresh herb in many dishes.
Our apricot tree already has fruit. Lots of fruit.
I think this is a Paulownia Tree but if anyone knows better, feel free to add your guess to the comments.
Mary G
We haven’t had as much rain in SoCal as I had hoped. We’re supposed to get about half an inch in the next couple of days, starting in two hours. but nothing shows up on radar yet. I love rosemary and wildflowers especially California poppies.
OzarkHillbilly
Nice Scout, very nice. Here in the heart of Mudistan, everything is ready to burst into Spring, but only the crocuses have been brave enough to venture forth. In a couple weeks I fully expect the gooseberries to be dappling our hillsides with white blossoms, but for now, it is mud, mud, and more mud. We have another major rain event forecast for Tue thru Thur. As of right now they aren’t forecast to be as bad as the New Years rains were, but only time will tell for sure.
seaboogie
Well – plenty of rain in NorCal, and I just woke up because a big oak tree fell over and landed on my cottage roof and also on my landlady’s roof. Shocking way to wake up and now hard to sleep. Everyone is okay, though…
SuperHrefna
We’re supposed to get more snow today ( though I don’t think it will accumulate) so the garden is definitely still dormant. I’ve heard local friends tell me that they have crocuses, but we have so many nibbling deer in our garden I’m not surprised I haven’t seen any of ours…
PurpleGirl
@seaboogie: Glad you’re okay. Any physical damage to the roof?
OzarkHillbilly
@seaboogie: That’ll get the ole heart a-thumpin’.
seaboogie
@PurpleGirl: my roof seems fine. Some damage next door though.
seaboogie
@OzarkHillbilly: No kidding!! Woke up with a start and the only thing I knew was that something BIG just happened or was happening. Kind of end of the world-ish.
Baud
Ugh. Can’t believe it’s already March.
Baud
@seaboogie: Glad you are safe.
OzarkHillbilly
Normally I would say, “Don’t hold your breath waiting for Republicans to take environmental issues serious.” but in this case, maybe you SoCal folks should hold your breath.
BillinGlendale picked a hell of a week to expand his hiking.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
How did Republicans take control of a SoCal board?
Gindy51
@OzarkHillbilly: Who is getting paid off?
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: We will have to ask Bill, but I suspect it has something to do with industry money and a low turn out local election. You know, the kind you can’t get a Dem to show up for, under pain of death.
OzarkHillbilly
@Gindy51: Why the 7 Republican board members of course, you silly girl. Certainly not the 5 Dems and 1 Independent who voted against these actions.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Mornin’. It snowed all day yesterday in Detroit but not much and it won’t last long. Should be above freezing all week. That’s fine with me because I’m over this winter stuff and ready to move on.
17th wedding anniversary today. Roses, candy and greeting card ready for Mrs. Thunder when she wakes up.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: So strange for that area, although San Diego is Republican.
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Congratulations!
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Nope, too much rain.
satby
Beautiful flowers Scout211, thanks for sharing! Hoping the rains do douse California enough to catch up a bit on what’s needed. Here in SWMI it will be the last day in the 40s for the next two weeks, so spring may start to get underway soon. I see the beginnings of tulips and daffodils peeking up, but otherwise it’s the usual ugly mud and downed branches after winter.
satby
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Happy Anniversary!
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Easy, per Wikipedia the Board consists of elected officials from the cities and counties that compose the district. The one member from the 5 kings(LA Board of Supervisors) is a Republican, so when you add in members from conservative San Berdu, Riverside, and the OC…
ETA: I may do some hiking in Griffith Park on Tuesday when we get a break in the rain.
JPL
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Happy Anniversary!
@satby: Are you feeling better?
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Baud: @satby:
Thank you. The two of us cranky eccentrics staying together for 17 years is the matrimonial equivalent of an 80 foot jump shot. Improbable in the extreme, can’t believe it worked but worth cheering for anyway.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Congrats.
@satby: Hope you’re feeling better, my neighbor was in the hospital for 2 weeks with that stuff.
Iowa Old Lady
Beautiful flowers. I’m hoping the snow we got last week melts today.
Raven
Nice pix! Spring is bustin out ion North Georgia. I sent in picutres from yesterday but too late. I got 3/4 of the sidewalk done and will finish today. My buddy Who used polymetric sand said he wouldn’t do it again so I’m goinf to sweep the crushed granite in and go with that.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks. That sucks.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
Watching “Black Mass”. Am weirded out by Cumberbatch doing a Beantown accent.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Pretty much, I also think there’s quit a bit of anger here in Southern CA about gas prices. They are consistently higher than the rest of the country by $0.50 to $1.00 and they just went up about $0.30 more due to the switch to summer blend.
To expound on my hiking schedule; I’ll try to get out Tuesday, but my first priority next week is sending my second camera out to be converted to full spectrum. I bought a used NX300(my primary camera is the newer NX500) on Ebay to convert to full spectrum. It has lower resolution(20mp compared to 28mp) but all my lens work with(including the 3d lens).
ETA: Wow, almost an inch of rain tonight(0.95in)?.
Zinsky
It’s too early for spring in Minnesota, but it’s happening anyway! Supposed to be in the 50s today and the snow is nearly gone. Isolated patches of grass are looking green. It’s kinda scary and definitely abnormal. This is more like mid-April weather. The big downside is that I will need to start mowing my lawn soon, which sucks. I have almost a half-acre in my back yard, which takes about three hours with a push mower. Ugh. This may be the year I break down and buy a John Deere yard tractor.
satby
@JPL: @BillinGlendaleCA: I am better thanks! Zombie day and antibiotics have worked, today I go get the girls and get back to normal. I was lucky I realized early it was turning into pneumonia, but then with asthma I’m kind of used to it.
JPL
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Johnny Depp was down right creepy, in the role of Whitey.
tybee
@Zinsky:
i have a large yard (roughly an acre) and since i didn’t need to plow, push, dig or anything else with a mower, i bought a snapper 28″ riding mower 20 years ago. all it does is cut grass and it’s still doing that. and it was a LOT cheaper than a lawn tractor was.
debbie
Scout211, is your spring ahead of schedule or does it usually begin by the end of February?
JPL
Although I have close to an acre, only a fraction is lawn. I like it that way. The weeds are terrible this year though.
Zinsky
@tybee: I will look at that. Snapper is dependable? Toro makes a decent small riding lawnmower too.
satby
@JPL: I was considering letting the back 1/2 of my lawn go, at slightly over an acre it’s too much for my push mower and I can’t afford the guy I used to have cut it.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Zinsky:
I used to service those when I was the equipment engineer for a school district. We abused them for pushing snow and dragging trailers full of athletic equipment. Ours all used the great 500cc Kawasaki horizontal V-twin engines, which are bulletproof. Despite reckless operation, minimal maintenance and long idle periods I had few repair issues. They’re solid. Recently as an industrial machine engineer I worked in the Deere plant in Ottumwa. Lots of respect for the company based on that experience.
But they’re pretty costly for only cutting grass. If you have no other uses for it, a plain rider mower may suit you at a lower cost.
JPL
@satby: You can use google earth. It takes me about thirty minutes to mow, and my next door neighbor hours. Fortunately, it was that way when I purchased the house, but I would have carved out large areas for plants and trees, if not.
Zinsky
@Ultraviolet Thunder: My dad, may he rest in peace, retired from the John Deere tractor works in Waterloo Iowa about 30 years ago. He always said they were the best engineered and manufactured machines on the planet. If I buy a John Deere, it will be as much to honor my wonderful, late father (a union man and lifelong Democrat) as anything. We also get a lot of snow here in Minnesota to push or blow in the winter too!
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Zinsky:
My late mother was the office manager for a Deere dealer in our small town. It was a respectable company and I trust them now. Pushing snow is no sweat for those 19HP Kawasakis.
bemused
Is it true that newer dishwashers regular wash cycles take longer to finish due to better energy efficiency? Our current many years old dishwasher seems to take forever and a day to run through a normal cycle and we are probably due to get a new one.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I have abused the hell out of mine in the 5 years I’ve had it and my only difficulty has been keeping the mice out of it. They have a particular taste for the wiring.
BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: I had that problem with my car, warm and dry and tasty wiring. We got over 1.5 inches of rain tonight!
Germy
Looking forward to seeing the Downtown finale tonight, but I made the mistake of checking my local PBS station’s website for the schedule. Clicked on “Downton Abbey” and the idiots gave away every spoiler. Now I won’t be surprised.
I’ll still watch it, but I wish I hadn’t clicked the link. Why do they do this?
Scout211
@Zinsky:
We’ve been researching lawm tractors for the past several years. We have 5 acres and currently have a Kubota subcompact tractor with a mower attachment and a DR walk behind string trimmer for the smaller areas.
We were researching the lawn tractors and were very disappointed in the reviews for the John Deere lawn tractors that are currently sold. IIRC, they are not all made in the USA anymore and their quality is no better (or worse) than most brands sold out there. Like most brands, they use different brand engines in different models so you have to be very careful to research each engine for quality.
We ended up pushing the decision to next year. We love our Kubota subcompact tractor, though.
satby
@Zinsky: My neighbors all swear by them.
WaterGirl
Wonderful photos! It does the heart good to see all that happy springtime activity. I know spring will get here eventually, but seeing those photos helps me really believe it!
JPL
@bemused: Yes. Mine takes two hours. Newer washing machines also take longer, but dries in half the time.
tybee
@Zinsky:
mine is over 20 years old and has had nothing but oil and filter changes, well i did have to buy a front tire when the kid ran over a root during a turn and split the sidewall. proper inflation would have prevented it but teenagers….
WaterGirl
@Germy: bastards!
edit: I try to say that once a day, it makes me feel better somehow. Thank you for this early morning opportunity!
Scout211
@debbie: @debbie:
Late February/early March is not unusual for where we live in NorCal. We are on the edge of the foothills so we don’t get more than a few days of freezing temps in the winter.
Germy
I used to work with a guy who got tired of mowing his lawn and found an old scythe from his grandfather’s barn. Had it sharpened and swore by it. But he was insane.
Germy
@WaterGirl: I say that once a day as well! I usually say it in a loud stage-whisper: “Bastards!” There’s always some fresh outrage somewhere in my world.
Amir Khalid
@Germy:
Ah, but did he ever pose with it as The Grim Reaper?
WereBear
Chilling on the couch, enjoying a lovely late winter morning, and the cats are watching one of their “birdie movies” on the Chromebook with lots of cheeping and wind sounds. Delightful.
And then a commercial for PooPouri comes on, and it is hugely loud and incredibly disgusting and it will not stop. Even when the bird movie returns, it is like they have the song on infinite loop.
RJ is sad. His bird movie is ruined. I shut the sound off but he’s lost interest.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@OzarkHillbilly:
The only storage problem we had with ours is if they were put away salty the shock absorber ‘damper’ on the throttle pedal would seize up from corrosion and keep the pedal from moving. It’s a dumb thing to disable a whole machine. And it’s a [email protected] to get at and disconnect. Solution: a blast of LPS rust inhibitor spray once a year to coat the bare metal shaft. Other than that, trouble free.
Also, mice don’t like mothballs. A handful in a cheesecloth bag may keep them out.
JPL
@Scout211: Your pictures are beautiful.
WereBear
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Congrats!
Germy
@Amir Khalid: Would have been the perfect halloween costume accessory. I’ve never used a scythe; it must be tough on the arm.
Germy
@WereBear: Our cat will watch TV if there are animals on it. Anything with four legs: dogs, horses, wolves. But as soon as humans appear, she loses interest.
She likes watching birds on TV if there’s a nature program.
She also watches us. Now and then I’ll see her staring at me from across the room. Sometimes wide-eyed, and sometimes I get a sleepy-eyed look of love.
OzarkHillbilly
@BillinGlendaleCA: I have the same issue in my truck. (not my wife’s car tho, I think she is bribing them with peanut butter). I may have found the answer, little sachets of aromatic wood chips that they apparently do not like. I’ve got 2 in the JD’s engine compartment and 4 stashed in the trucks. We’ll see if it works.
1.5 inches of rain!!! WOO HOO!!! Your reservoirs must be getting close to 35%! Of course, here of late 1.5 inches would be called “a heavy dew” around here.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@JPL:
Jesus, the steak scene. Gives me chills.
bemused
@JPL:
Ours seems to take a lot longer but we’ll wait for it to die a gasping death as we do with all the appliances, waiting way too long to switch out. We just had to get a new washing machine and so far I’m loving that the regular cotton cycle is so much shorter in time length, spins more water out of load and gets the clothing cleaner.
@Zinsky:
Oy. Long, sweaty work with a push lawn mower. We live in the country with a lot of lawn for spouse to mow. He bought a new John Deere last year, a D type, and he’s pretty happy that he can finish mowing in much less time. The old riding lawnmower was only about 25 years old.
He won’t have to mow lawn for a long time yet here in the northern part of MN. We still have several inches of snow cover on the ground. Spring weather comes about two weeks later here than in balmy southern MN.
PurpleGirl
@Germy: It takes a little manipulation of the time function but I checked WNET’s schedule for tonight through the Time Warner Cable TV listings. There’s a BAFTA special about the show at 8 pm, the show at 9-10:30, and then a 1/2-hour PBS farewell at 10:30.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I have used mothballs for anti critter work many times over the years, but trying to avoid them in this instance because I am unsure what kind of chemical armegeddon might be loosed when they inevitably escape. Probably not all that much (“the solution to pollution is dilution”) but trying these sachets first.
WaterGirl
@Germy: “…sometimes I get a sleepy-eyed look of love.”
That’s the best. The absolute best. sigh.
Germy
@PurpleGirl: That’s what I learned, but in the process the stupid local station revealed all the spoilers. We’ll still watch the whole thing, including the specials. Mrs. Shoemangler didn’t read the spoilers, so she’ll be surprised.
She was screaming last week when Doc Martin was attacked and bitten by a large dog. She is not comfortable with large dogs (she was bitten many years ago) and in our neighborhood inconsiderate dog walkers use those loooong extension leashes, and the hounds accost her. Last year, during a walk, a young lady rode her bike with a BIG dog on an extension leash pulling her along. The dog jumped up on its hind legs and pushed my wife down on the ground.
I told the young lady (nicely) that she should walk the dog, rather than the other way around.
OzarkHillbilly
@Germy:
Are you sure that’s not a look of hunger?
rikyrah
Good Morning ?, Everyone ?
Germy
@OzarkHillbilly: No, when it’s hunger I get a raspy, annoyed chirp and the wide eye.
The sleepy look is after she’s enjoyed her turkey paté and a nice petting.
JPL
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: The president of World Jai Alai at the time of Wheeler’s death, is someone that I know. He took over the position after Callahan resigned.
Dmbeaster
@Baud: How did Republicans get control of the South Coast AQMD? The SCAQMD covers all of Orange County and the non-desert parts of LA, Riverside and San Bernardino. The Board members are not elected. 10 are officials from the counties and three are appointed by the state. The seven Republicans are from the conservative counties (Orange, Riversie and San Bernardino) and one from LA County (Mike Antonovich), a conservative jerk from the desert north part of LA County that is not in the SCAQMD. The representation is not based on population in the affected areas. The swing to Republican control occurred recently when Orange County dumped its Dem for a Repub. Time for LA County to do the same and replace of Antonovich
Iowa Old Lady
@Zinsky: Mr IOL is an engineer at the Product Engineering Center in Waterloo.
PurpleGirl
@Germy: I detest those extensions leashes. I also get, well not quite scared but concerned a dog on an extension will find its way under/between my legs and make me fall.
My friends in Peekskill with all the dogs used a leather 6-foot lead for each dog. If a dog didn’t obey the walker (Nick, Deb or I) we would turn abruptly and go in the opposite direction. You can’t do that with an extension leash. The idea was to make the dog keep watching your legs and follow you. And this worked with the Doberman quite well; the retired racing grayhounds not so much. I see lots of people with large dogs who have no control over their dogs and it bothers me.
ruemara
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Congratulations!
About to take off for Vegas! No spring blooms here.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@OzarkHillbilly:
napthalene or paradichlorobenzene. Not good stuff to breathe a lot of. But fairly harmless in small doses. If it smells strong, air it out until it’s faint is the usual action. They say camphor is effective against rodents as well. Pretty much impossible to keep them out altogether.
MomSense
Beautiful photos, Scout!
Holy crap Mary Matalin just popped up on my teevee. At first I thought they had invited a cast member from Lord of the Rings in full costume. Is Elfin plastic surgery a thing now?
debbie
@Germy:
Even worse are those invisible fences. When I walk the neighborhood (I too was bitten by a large dog; you never get past the reflex of fear), and a dog comes rushing at me, I’m never sure if it will stop or crash through the perimeter.
Germy
@PurpleGirl: I worry about my wife when she goes jogging. Last week, she encountered a woman walking a large dog on an extension. My wife jogged off the sidewalk to the side of the road to avoid the dog, and the woman let the dog run after her. So my wife ran into the street.
And never mind leashes! Once we were walking on a trail (signs all over: “Dogs Must Be Kept On Leashes”) and a woman rode her bike by with her (big) dog trotting alongside her (no leash of course). The dog ran up to us to sniff our asses and crotches. How cute!
Of course there were also “Pick Up After Your Dog” signs everywhere, and poop bag dispensers, but oddly enough there was dogshit all over the trail.
I like dogs, but some of them need better human companions.
Phylllis
@Baud: Read Dark Money by Jane Mayer.
Germy
@debbie: Oh yeah, we had a neighbor years ago with an “invisible fence” and our yard was always full of dogshit.
PurpleGirl
@Germy: Yes, so many human companions have no idea of how to treat and/or train their animals. Hugo — the Doberman — was Nick’s from when he was a puppy so Nick trained him not jump up on people when meeting them. Hugo’s alternative was race around a person he was happy to see, but he did not jump up onto a person.
Nick’s house was on a standard 1/10 acre lot and he had a 6-foot wire fence put up around the backyard area. He also had a dog-door in the downstairs sliding doors so Hugo and the grayhounds could go outside themselves. When we walked them, it was to walk them not necessarily for them to releave themselves.
Germy
@PurpleGirl:
Someone at a Trump rally forced their poor service dog to take the Trumpmania pledge:
http://www.chaunceydevega.com/2016/03/trumpmania-on-super-saturday-service.html
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@JPL:
The world can be a very small place.
JPL
I have on MTP and Mary Matalin is on. Is something wrong with her? Her mouth barely moves. When I was in the process of purchasing my house, the owner asked for a delay in the counter offer, because of a bad botox treatment. hmmm I always wondered what that meant.
The Gray Adder
Well, the ground is still frozen up here in central NY. That’s about to change, and the ground will become a sea of mud. Maybe I get the dirt turned over, or maybe it’s the consistency and weight of wet concrete and I give up as it’s no use. Spring will arrive soon enough, though.
Amir Khalid
@Germy:
Tsk, tsk. Animals should not be forced to take a position on human politics.
Davis X. Machina
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Youv’e seen Seth movie parody trailer ‘Boston Accent’, I presume?
WereBear
We got one of those ultrasonic rodent repellers that you plug into the wall for the in laws’ summer cabin. Works well.
JPL
@The Gray Adder: I was raised in north central MA and there’s nothing like walking down the street and have a car speed by leaving splatters of mud all over you.
Germy
@WereBear:
I was thinking of buying one of those, but I was concerned it might drive our cat mad.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Davis X. Machina:
God, that was hysterical. Laughed my ass off.
bemused
@Germy:
True of children as well. Kids need better adult human companions.
OzarkHillbilly
@Germy: I’m never sure. It always looks to me like my cat is plotting my demise.
Mike in NC
@JPL: What is wrong with Mary Matalin? Pretty much everything.
MomSense
@Germy:
Dogs not leashed on trails is a huge problem for me. People always say their dogs are friendly but they aren’t aware of how they might behave when they come across a leashed dog they don’t know and without their owner present. I had two big dogs come up on me aggressively so my dog, who is much smaller, went into protective mode and then the other dogs became even more aggressive and tried to corner us. When the owner finally came along he acted like my dog was the problem. Then he pulled the where are you from as if the woods were his. I was so mad at that point. These are marked trails with rules including dogs must be leashed at all times.
MomSense
@JPL:
See my comment above. I thought she was a Lord of the Rings cast member in full costume and prosthetic makeup. Wowza but why do people pay to do that to their faces? Can’t we just age like we are supposed to? She’s an accomplished woman so why try and erase her life from her face?
JPL
@MomSense: Sad. I was shocked by how little her mouth moved.
delk
@PurpleGirl: I see so many people here take their dogs for a ‘drag’ each day.
Poor dogs have been locked up in a condo for 8-10 hours and when their owners come home they take them out and are either texting or talking on their cell phones. As soon as the dog pees and poops they drag them back home. Total time outside less than 5 minutes.
It’s like taking kids to the gates of Disneyland but not letting them go in.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@MomSense:
Same thing happened to us. Walking our small dog on a leash as required and cornered by two LARGE unleashed dogs. We climbed a picnic table for safety and I gave the dog owner an earful. No apology, even though his animals were aggressive and unrestrained.
A ‘friendly’ dog that’s friendly toward the owner often treats strange people and animals differently. They don’t get that.
MomSense
@Davis X. Machina:
That was wicked pissah!
MomSense
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
It is dangerous. My smaller dog is almost 60 pounds and the other dogs were quite bit larger. My dog puffed herself up and started growling after her initial approach of wagging her tail and being friendly was rejected.
Even though my dog is leashed, I always step off the trail and hold her close to me when I hear other people coming. Some people are really afraid of dogs so I think it is more considerate to let them decide if they want to meet a new dog or not.
MomSense
@JPL:
Her eyebrows were at the top of her forehead!
J R in WV
@seaboogie:
Similar experience 40 years ago.
We had bought an older home in a nice neighborhood when we first moved to this area, and one day lightning hit the big oak tree on the fence line. It knocked a big (18″ thick) limb off the tree, which fell onto our tiled roof. The flash and crashing sounds, along with the house shivering and moving, I though a bomb had gone off.
We had a hard time finding a roofer who would replace the ceramic tile, the insurance co wanted 3 competing bids, but when I finally found a guy who could do it, they said go ahead, and then were surprised it was more expensive than asphalt shingles. Duh!
Princess
@MomSense: This is incredibly shallow but I first began to warm up to Hillary when I was at a small fundraiser she did for Obama (really for her own debt) in Autumn 2008. I was up close to her, and I could see that she had had no work done on her face. I liked that she was comfortable in her own skin in every sense.
Bob In Portland
California poppies are orange.
Scout211
@Bob In Portland:
Yes, California Poppies are orange and much larger than California Foothill Poppies, which are yellow.
wmd
we got a half a foot yesterday here in the Santa Cruz mountains. But the snow pack fell behind normal last month (after being above normal most of the season). I’m hoping the update later this week shows us close to 100% for the full season, as this weekends storms carried a lot of water and did make it to the Sierras.
Bill_D
@Bob In Portland: Eschscholzia californica vs. E. caespitosa- two different species. The latter is not well known to the larger populace, even in California, but is just as beautiful in its own way.
Atticus Dogsbody
I never look forward to a blue dick.