FEBRUARY RAINS

The rains arrived in February, gently as first and then heavier downpours.  In between the two storms we had, the wrens where absolutely singing the loudest songs I have every heard.  They seemed filled with joy.  My staghorn plant which looked close to death from the hot dry winds we had in November, December, and January, finally popped up two new pups.  Everything came alive.  The surrounding hills which had been brown since June started turning a little greener.  Even with those two big storms, we still had less than 5 inches of rain since the season started in October.

My garden finally started growing more, but the pak choy plants threw out their long green stalk and bloomed before I could get them picked.  I decided to leave them and just pick off some of the leaves.  The bees started swarming the plants.  There were so few things blooming, you could feel the excitement of them finding beautiful yellow blooms.  I’ve spotted the finches on the yellow blooms as well. 

Today I am watching the finches twill around on their finch sack like its a merry go round. We are constantly amazed by how much seed they go through in just a day.

Now we also have the blue borage flowers blooming which the bees absolutely love.  It is the happiest sound to hear the bees buzzing.  I never worry about getting stung.  The bees are in no way interested in attacking me.  I always make a point to speak to them and welcome them to my garden.  I leave little tiny ceramic dishes with water for them all year. 

Once these spring greens are finished, I will replace them with flowers for the summer.  I am looking forward to lots of zinnias and bachelor buttons, plus some new deep purple flowers.  For me, zinnias and mardi gras coreoposis are the happiest flowers in the summer garden.  The sunflowers are lovely too but I plant those amongst the vegetables along the back wall of the garden.  I am hoping for less fungal issues this year with the dryer weather.  We are at the end of February now and there is no more significant rain in sight at this point.  March will have to once again provide the miracle of big storms to help our drought.  Truly, we need about 6 inches more this year.  Once April comes, the storms are much smaller, usually only delivering a quarter inch of rain or less.

As April goes, so goes the butterflies.  If we get rains in April, we should start seeing butterflies.  Stay tuned for the that report.

Meanwhile, I am noticing far fewer hummingbirds that usual.  This is concerning.  I am thinking of everything I should plant to attract more of them.  They have been scolding me for letting their sugar syrup lapse. I need a step stool to get the feeder down or maybe my husband will take it down for me. I have yet to see sweet peas come up.  I have scattered a lot of seed this year but not one plant has come up yet.  I think the hot dry winds have dried the soils out too much.  I may have to replant them and hope for the best.  Depending on the weather, if April is warm to hot, the sweet peas won’t last long.  If it is cool, we can get them all the way to June.

I just planted a new olallieberry plant; my favorite blackberry in spite of their thorny bushes that send thorns through my gloves and are difficult to get out. Olallieberries are so plump and full of flavor. They make the best jams and pies. We have two other blackberries bushes plus black raspberries. Our red raspberries didn’t make it last year. I may try again but the black raspberries are prolific.

As I get ready to post this, we are suppose to get a .10 inch of rain this weekend. Not much, but something. I am going to convert one of my composters that is tall and difficult to get the compost out of into a rain barrel. I just need to buy fine mesh screen for the top to keep out mosquitos and and spigot for the hose. Meanwhile, we have had weather in the 80’s and yesterday it was balmy. Quite lovely weather for the end of February.