June 2011

Eureka, we found the cactus flower at last!!

We finally found a Fragile Cactus (Opuntia Fragilis) flower in bloom, after at least ten years of searching ! We found it today, June 28, on the south west end of Lopez at Iceberg Point. It looks like several other buds are ready to bloom, hopefully when we return in the next 12 or so days there will be more flowers. We have some in our yard (well-marked and contained, an unpleassant surprise to find them if you are not aware of the needles there) and in a couple of planters, but they have never bloomed…not enough sun? We also had put a few in the planter boxes around the deck at Lopez, but the deer displaced them when they were checking out the goods….I’m hoping they got a needle or two on the snout when they did so!

Almost summer? Hard to tell with this cool rainy weather…..

Mock Orange in bloom, and the Swallowtail butterflies have come back to the neighborhood.

Lupines in bloom. They are a bigger more vigorous plant than before, since they don’t have any more competition from the Mahonia, which had started to overrun the place. Time to start checking for aphids….I use a spray with oil, water and a few drops of detergent to kill the bastards (the aphids, hopefully, not the lupine!).

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Memorial day weekend

Waxwings coming around, transitioning from the earlier Saskatoon/Amelanchier shrubs to the Cascara trees.

Crow fledglings sitting in pine tree, but haven’t seen them in a day. Hopefully they are gone for good. The parents were surprisingly distant lately ( we told one young crow we were sure he was abandoned), but i did get sqawked at a couple of times. I put out some leftover anchovies and water, in the hopes of making friends or maybe a servant of the baby crow. Many other birds, including lots of California quails, Junkos, Tohees and goldfinches are everywhere, and the back yard is a regular cacophony of birds.
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