Friday, March 21, 2014

Springy!

The first full day of spring has come and gone.  But for several distractions, I spent most of the day pruning in the Cabernet vines.  I think I'm on schedule to be finished the actual pruning, but not the tying down of canes, on Sunday.
One distraction was a huge cluster of California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) that just looked so splendid I had to get a closer peep.  The poppies got going a little later this year, because of the lack of winter rain, but they are now blooming spectacularly en masse.  And they are everywhere: this year's crop is perhaps the most prolific display of full-on-poppy-goldiness I have ever seen.  There should be plenty still blooming by California Poppy Day, which is April 6th.
Then I got distracted by a crab spider (Misumenoides formosipes) who in turn was distracted by a small, pollen covered beetle.  The beetle flew off and I went back to pruning.

4 comments:

New Hampshire Wineman said...

Nice picture, but was that spider crabby or just waiting for a sweet loving honey bee? :-)

Thomas said...

Hmmm. Expressive flowering after a drought could be a bad omen for the future of the plant.

Take note all around you this spring and summer to see if that great expressiveness is rampant.

Thud said...

bloody hell its Gerald Durrell.

Vinogirl said...

NHW: All spiders are crabby.

Tomasso: I think California will survive: this is not it's first rodeo.

Thud: I wish I knew as much about flora and fauna as he did.