The Mule-Ear Report.

My hopes of getting out into the vineyard Friday, for a little while at least, were dashed by a constant downpour that just got heavier and heavier as the day progressed.  Yesterday was a different matter.  Absolutely gorgeous sunshine meant that I was able to get out into the vineyard and get some pruning done.  Also, Vinodog 2 and I had a lovely mid-afternoon walk, always a better event when the two of us don't get drenched, and on the walk I discovered yet another new wildflower.
I first noticed several Mule-ears (Wyethia glabra), growing here and there a couple of weeks ago, due to their rather conspicuous burdock-like, lance-shaped leaves, but I had no idea what they were.  Now, however, they are flowering and the beautiful, vivid yellow blooms are extremely cheery looking.  Still, it took me a while to identify the Mule-ears as at first I thought they might have simply been wild sunflowers, but in researching sunflowers, wild or cultivated, I came up with nothing that resembled my neighbourhood-native.  But I persisted and finally identified the Wyethia glabra, a member of the Asteraceae family, as my new floral-find.  So I'm happy to report, well, that I'm happy with my discovery.     

The Geek Squad: 2.

Illuminated in a rare (this winter) ray of sunlight, this pretty Pacific hound's tongue (Cynoglossum grande) adds a very noticeable and welcome pop of colour to all the greenery that currently is soggy-California.  A member of the borage family, I had first spotted this particular wildflower a year ago, but was too busy, distracted, preoccupied, dog-tired (pick one) to take the time to identify it.  As with the shooting stars, this wildflower was identified for me by the Marketing Queen.  Thank you MQ!  I just love any blue flower.
Seeing as I was out and about with my camera, photographing the aforementioned shooting stars, I thought I'd get a quick snap of the hound's tongue too.  Geek's do stuff like that.

The Geek Squad.

Most lunchtimes will find TWWIAGE's Marketing Queen (MQ) and I huddled together in the winery's kitchen discussing a diverse miscellany of topics; anything from art to zucchini.  (Dear reader, you don't have to state the obvious as we both freely admit to being rather geeky.) Yesterday's lunchtime was no exception, however the subject at hand did happen to be one of my favourites - wildflowers.
Whilst the MQ had been out hiking she had spotted and photographed a wildflower that I had never seen before.  How exciting!  Furthermore, the MQ went on to identify this dainty, but quite dramatic, wildflower as Henderson's shooting star (Dodecatheon hendersonii).  Such a discovery scores high on my geek-o-meter.  So, imagine how thrilled I was when, today, I spotted a couple of shooting stars whilst Vinodog 2 and I were out walking.  (V2 is the black and white bokeh in the photograph.)  What were the chances?  Perhaps simply an example of frequency illusion, I was nonetheless excited to discover the shooting stars growing in close proximity to Vinoland.
It is my hope, after suffering through so much rain this winter, that the array of wildflowers this spring will be full of new discoveries for me and the MQ.

Happy Midsummer's Day.

A very cheery, yellow flowered weed currently blooming in Vinoland is perforate St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) a flowering shrub native to northern Europe and thus named because it can be found flowering on the feast day of St. John the Baptist, which is today. 
The longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, falls on June 21st (or thereabouts, depending on GMT) and is the occurrence of the summer solstice, whilst Midsummer's day is traditionally observed on the 24th of June.  (The discrepancy in the date is said to have been exacerbated by variations in the Julian Calendar, only to be further confused by the Gregorian Calendar. Oh, those wacky Romans and Popes.)  The two days are often confused; as are the somewhat dubious medicinal benefits attributed to St. John's wort.  Methinks just looking at this sunny yellow flower would promote a positive mood in the biggest of whingers.
Have a dreamy Midsummer's day, and night, everyone.

Branching out.

Vinodog 2 and I get a little bored on our regular walk sometimes, so, now and again, we like to branch out and try new routes.  For several months now, we have been ambling, daily, up the hill behind Vinoland.  Well, it's not exactly ambling for me and I'm quite sure V2 finds the extremely steep section at the top a little easier on her four legs than I do on my two.  Phew!
It is on this daily walk that my dog and I just recently became acquainted with Phacelia ramosissima, commonly known as brancing phacelia.  A winsome little weed that is part of the Boraginaceae family (its familiar curving cyme did indeed remind me of fiddlenecks), branching phacelia can be very variable in appearance.  The local phacelia has white flowers, but they can also be blue; it can be prostrate or upright; it can be hairless to very hairy; it can have bell or funnel shaped flowers.  Interestingly, or at least I think it is interesting, like Vitis vinifera, this phacelia species is hermaphroditic.
I have no idea who the tiny interloping insect is.

Pretty Milkmaids all in a row.

I was going to start pruning Vinoland's grapevines today, but it's raining, hmmph!  So, instead, Vinodog 2 and I went for an extra walk, a wet one.  Traipsing up the hill, a steep private road with three homes on it, which runs north from behind Vinoland, I was reminded that last week, whilst doing the same walk, I'd spotted a small white-flowered plant that I'd never seen before.  It goes without saying that I didn't know its name...had to rectify that.  After quite a bit of searching in my modest home-library and on the internet, with no luck, I gave up.
Never fear, I had one last resource at my disposal: Ellen Dean, Curator of the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity.  I have had the great fortune of being helped in identifying a plant once before by Ms. Dean, so I thought I'd bother her once again in the identification of this weed.  Within 20 minutes I had the identity of my mystery wild flower:
"That isn't a weed!  That is the beautiful milk maids, Cardamine californica - one of our earliest native wildflowers in the mustard family.  How lucky you are to have it!"
I am lucky.  Having such a person as Ellen Dean to bother when I need help identifying the flora that flourishes in my little corner of California makes me very lucky.  I'm also lucky to have a milkmaid now growing in Vinoland - I transplanted one of the pretty little plants.

Lettuce pray for rain.

Despite the lack of rain - for the past three winters - there are plenty of weeds still growing between the rows of vines in Vinoland; mallow, fluvellin, stinking goosefoot, plantain, bristly oxtongue etc.  I wouldn't say they are exactly flourishing, their flowers seem smaller than normal, but they are persisting reasonably well. There are even some California poppies still blooming, but, just like the weeds alongside them, their flowers are also rather diminutive. One weed that seems to be doing even better than all the others is prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola).  But even the flowers of the prickly lettuce seem to be reduced in size this year.
Prickly lettuce, a native of Europe, can grow up to about 6 feet tall, (though I doubt they will in 2015) and they are indeed prickly as they have a row of spiky hairs on the underside of their leaves.  And they can be eaten in a salad (thanks, I'll pass).  But it is the cheery, pale-yellow, chicory-like flower that is the most pleasant feature of  Lactuca serriola.  So delicate looking, but so hardy.  Let's hope for some rain this winter.

Skunkweed.

Such a winsome, little periwinkle-blue wild flower could not have a worse name - hello, skunkweed!  Yes, I found a new blue weed.  However, I discovered this little cutie, Navarretia squarrosa, not in Vinoland this time, but instead up at Berlenbach Vineyards, (all my other finds have been home-grown).  Also known as California stinkweed, I chanced upon this diminutive plant as I was taking a photograph of some old farm equipment.  Actually, I nearly didn't see the skunkweed at all because none of  the plants were taller than 4 inches in height.  And thankfully, seeing as I was so much taller than this tiny weed I didn't even have to smell it.  Phew, methinks.

Week of weeds: Day 7.

And here I am on the last day of my week of weeds.  I have decided to end my weed series with a gorgeous little wildflower.  This pretty, purple bloom has eluded me for several years; I first noticed this weed back in 2011 and I haven't seen it since, but it's blooming now.  And yes, it is on the slope above the house.

It took me a quite a bit of detective work to positively identify the Elegant Brodiaea (Brodiaea elegans).  Initially I confused this little gem with Blue-eyed Grass, but then I came across its true identity, just when I was about to give up, in an old Audubon guide to California. My mystery weed no more.  A native of California, and a member of the lily family, the brodiaea is a very elegant weed, indeed.

Week of weeds: Day 6.

This weed was really easy for me to identify, as it is possibly my favourite weed from when I was a child, (a close tie with Shepard's-purse, perhaps). I loved the feel of the densely composed, egg-shaped flowers of the pineapple weed, it's feathery leaves and, of course, the slight pineapple scent whenever I crushed those leaves between my fingers.
In Vinoland, pineappleweed (Matricaria discoidea) does not grow on the slope above the house, but instead calls a gravel driveway home. This weed also grows abundantly at the dog park that I frequent with Vinodog 2 where it seems to thrive on the very compacted pathways. In fact, I think that it's amazing that anything could grow in the poor soil at the dog park. But then, that's the wonder of weeds.  Wow!

Week of weeds: Day 5.

Finding the identity of this weed proved to be a little problematic.  

I have a wonderful book that I use for weed identification, it is called 'Weeds of California and Other Western States' and is published by the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR).  (If anyone is interested, it is Publication 3488.)  The book is actually two volumes; Vol. 1 covers Aizoaceae - Fabaceae and Vol. 2 covers Geraniaceae - Zygophyllaceae.  All fabulous stuff, but although extensive in its coverage of California weeds it would be impossible for a single reference book to include every weed - as is the case with my weed of the day, purple sanicle (Sanicula bipinnatifidia).  A member of the same family as parsley, purple sanicle is native to the west coast of North America so it surprises me that it was overlooked in the ANR book.  

I just love this little weed, whose deep-red orbs just seem to float above all the other surrounding vegetation.  It is a rather elusive weed and only grows in one area of Vinoland. Yes, again, that would be on the slope above the house.

Week of weeds: Day 4.

Yet again, just when I thought I had exhausted finding every blue/purple weed growing in Vinoland I discovered the diminutive Field madder (Sherardia arvensis).  I don't know much about this little weed except that it is very cute, it is related to Catchweed Bedstraw (a nemesis of mine) and it is often found in vineyards and orchards etc.  And in this instance, the field madder is growing all around the Pinot grigio block and, surprise, surprise, not on the slope above the house.

Week of weeds: Day 3.

Rose clover (Trifolium hirtum) is an annual herb that is often included in cover crop mixtures for vineyards, not in the least because as a legume it has the ability to fix nitrogen.  With a tap root that can extend up to 78 inches in depth, rose clover is a valuable cover crop to sew in hillside vineyards that have problems with soil erosion. A native of Europe, rose clover often out-competes native clovers, however, it seems to be happily growing alongside a lot of hop clover, white clover and a tiny bit of crimson clover in Vinoland.
I don't think I have ever seen as much rose clover as I have seen this spring, it's everywhere. And not just on the slope above the homestead.

Week of weeds: Day 2.

Common yarrow (Achillea millefolium), or just yarrow, is generally a very pleasant plant to have around either in a vineyard or as an ornamental. A drought resistant perennial, and tolerant of poor soils, yarrow can be a valuable component of vineyard cover crops as it attracts many beneficial, predatory insects, including; ladybirds, parasitic wasps and tachinid flies.
In Vinoland the yarrow is not growing near the vines, but is instead flourishing on a slope above the house.  In fact, most of the interesting wildflowers in Vinoland grow together on the same slope (currently covered in hop clover, rose clover and wild hyacinth).  Yarrow has a large taproot which could really benefit the poor soil in some parts of the vineyard.  If only I could coax this winsome plant to move downhill.

Week of weeds: Day 1.

Yes, a whole week of weeds (WOW).  Yes, wow! The initial spring-flurry of wildflowers and attractive weeds is almost at an end, but there are still plenty of others doing their thing.  So many that I decided to dedicate a whole week of posts to weeds.  Whoo hoo!

There has always been a lot of creeping woodsorrel (Oxalis corniculata) in Vinoland, a happy looking weed with shamrock-like leaves and bright yellow flowers, but this year there is more of the purple leafed variety than the green leafed, (although both green and purple varieties can be found growing right next to each other.) Woodsorrel grows in a prostrate manner and is very competitive with other weeds and this year it seems to be, well, creeping farther afield.  This weed is a major nuisance in lawns and landscaping, but it's not bothering anything here, least of all the vineyard, so I just let it be. It is amazing how this weed appears, and thrives, in a any plant pots I have around the house and deck, it just gets everywhere.  

Stay tuned for day 2 of WOW.

Fiddling around.

Everywhere is so pretty right now, in part due to the fact that there are so many different plants happily blooming away.  And there is also new and healthy looking growth on trees, shrubs and, of course, grapevines.  I love spring, it's my favourite season.
I may have mentioned this before, but I just love wildflowers (and most weeds).  A current favourite wildflower of mine is the Intermediate Fiddleneck (Amsinckia menziesli var. intermedia) which is blooming, in quite dramatic fashion, over at the off leash dog park where I sometimes take Vinodog 2 for a bit of a treat (though she really doesn't like the car ride over there).  Situated on the west side  of the valley the dog park is surrounded by vineyards and  even though every single last vineyard in the valley has been mowed by now, on the dog park side of one particular vineyard there are lots of fiddlenecks growing unfettered.  I just love the deep, golden-yellow of the fiddleneck's little trumpet-shaped flowers (and the spiky stems and the fuzzy buds), the blooms are very conspicuous against a verdant expanse of wild barley.
Love, love spring.

Miniature lupine.

Yet again I have discovered a new, blue wildflower in Vinoland.  Just when I thought I had made the acquaintance of all the blue-flowered wildflowers that happen to bloom on the more unkempt parts of the property, I found the diminutive miniature lupine (Lupinus bicolor).  I literally tripped over this little flower, in an attempt not to tread on it, whilst I was admiring the Bowltube Iris which had flowered nearby earlier in the week.  When I steadied myself and looked around I saw a lot of miniature lupine with their slightly tropical looking palmate leaves, hairy buds and deep purple-blue sweet pea-like flowers.  So cute.
I am still waiting for the reappearance of one other blue wildflower which has been very elusive these past few springs.  I have a photograph of this mystery wildflower, but I want to make sure I see it again before posting about it.  Only then will I be satisfied that I have exhausted all the blue wildflowers in my little corner of wildflower-heaven.  But then again.

The Onion.

Having exhausted documenting almost all of the blue coloured wildflowers in Vinoland (although, I still have one up my sleeve), I have had to resort to photographing whatever is currently flowering.  And even that has been a bit difficult with the unusually breezy weather lately, but let me present to you this little, long-stalked cutey, the white onion (Allium neopolitanum).
A little bit of rain here and there (which includes an unexpected, unforecasted heavy shower today), and lashings of sunshine, has resulted in quite a variety of wildflowers blooming in Vinoland this spring.  Besides the white onion, there are plenty of wild hyacinth and blue-eyed grass in flower right now in an area of Vinoland that I won't let Vinomaker mow, for the time being, and it's driving him crazy.  Oh well.  Bloom on little onion.

A little Easter Saturday salsify.

Every spring, in amongst Vinoland's landscaping (such as it is), up pops one, or two, Common salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius) plants.  Whereas I'd normally weed out other interlopers (such as vetch, burclover or bittercress), I have come to recognise this rather alien-looking, Mediterranean-native biennial when it is young, so I leave it be.  Salsify, with it's tap root that is cultivated as a culinary vegetable (reportedly tasting mildly like an oyster), has a solitary purple flower that opens in the morning and tracks the progress of the sun until it closes up at around midday - which is the reason why I couldn't get a photograph of this flower yesterday afternoon because, by the time I got my camera, it was already done for the day.
When salsify goes to seed the fruiting head resembles that of a dandelion with a large, fuzzy ball of seeds that disperse on the wind.  This efficient dispersal of seed accounts for the success of salsify's reappearance, and rebirth, every spring.  Appropriate for Easter methinks.

A pretty bloom.

Once again, just when I thought I had uncovered every last blue (and purple) wildflower in Vinoland I have found another.  I think I have mentioned it numerous times before that blue (and purple) flowering plants are my favourites and I find them all as enchanting as one another, so it made me really happy to find this little blossom.
Identifying this particular wildflower turned out to be a little difficult.  Of course it is obviously very iris-like, but the two most common native Californian irises that I identified, in a couple of native plant guides I possess in my smallish reference library, happen to be the Douglas Iris (Iris douglasiana) and the Western Blueflag Iris (Iris missouriensis).  Neither of these irises are really considered to be wild flowers as often they have simply just escaped cultivation.  So I turned to the internet to do some further research and I am 99% sure that my, quite diminutive, iris is the Bowltube Iris (Iris macrosiphon).  Found on slopes and in woodlands, the flowering stalk on the bowltube is much shorter (and stalk-less) than the attending leaves, a feature which distinguishes this iris from the aforementioned two.  The iris in the photograph is rather close to the ground, it's leaves being more than twice it's height.
One interesting snippet of information about this iris is that it was a source of fibre for Native Americans who harvested the leaves to produce cordage that they used to make bird nets, fish nets, deer snares and other useful items.  I am not going to be ripping the foliage from this agreeable little flower any time soon, as I want it to reappear next year (and I think it may be the only one of it's kind in Vinoland).  So flower on little weed.