Jan 11 2011
Blossoming
A moss river
Even though winter temperatures in Hooterville can (and do) flirt with the freezing mark, sometimes slumming it in the south of 32 neighborhood, there’s usually something in bloom.
My neighbors down the Ridge have camellias in full bloom, much as I did in Oakland this time of year.
Here, the manzanitas are budding, the blooms-to-be looking like little lily of the valley bells:
One of the things that mystifies me about the huckleberry bushes which proliferate around here is that they bloom really early, but don’t fruit until the summer. They’re already budding:
But we probably can’t eat them until July. And they last into November. Usually, we pick a lot to freeze and make into pies in the depths of the berry-free winter, but we slacked last year and didn’t get around to it. I’ll make sure we do this year. Another huckleberry mystery is how they are always full of tiny spiders and other things when you wash them and pick through them before use, even though you didn’t notice it when picking them.
Yesterday, while checking on the tulips, I noticed that the daisy-ish bush in the middle of the garden has begun to bloom. I don’t know what the plant is called, but its sunny flowers are very welcome in the middle of January:
