Dripping

 Multiple successive rain days is an unusual event here these days.  Wandering around outside between showers, seeing everything dripping wet, I felt like I was somewhere far from home.



 Colors are more vibrant everywhere you look.  Normally foliage has a coating of dust on it.  There's been enough rain to wash most of it off.  On Agaves, it tends to collect on the lowest leaves.


 There's a gully in the neighborhood, currently with a little rain runoff.  The little bird perching on the trash barrel caught my eye.  He's almost the same color as the mud.

Update:  the drain for this area clogged up, and this whole area became a small lake.  Around lunchtime a county crew was out there working to unclog the drain so the water could continue under the road and on down the hill.   
 On the edge of the same gully, an old Yucca that has been chopped to the ground several times and that has grown back several times is currently arrayed by a native vine, Marah fabaceus, that appears in rainier winters.   


 Also at the gully's edge was an exotic,  an Acacia of some sort.  It has a fairly spectacular bloom in late winter, which it is currently preparing for: 
 A neighbor's Deodar Cedar. 
 Back at home, the 'Cara Cara' oranges are ripe. 
 Some of the rose blooms have turned into fuzzy grey globs of mush, while others retain their beauty.  
'Lunar Mist'
 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh'
 'Bishop's Castle', sweetly fragrant even in the rain-sweet air.
 A species Hellebore that smells like a skunk.  Nice foliage, though.
Even the local hills are greening up a little.  Is that a slope failure (mudslide) there, between the two arrows? 
 The rain is going to finish up late today, Thursday.  By tomorrow it will be sunny and 72F once more, and days of rain will seem to have been a dream. 

Comments

  1. It's a thrill to see how the rain is cleaning and greening your area. Hopefully you'll get some more dreamy wet spells this year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those are lovely rainy day photos! I took some wide shots yesterday. We were socked in all day yesterday and are still shrouded as if in a cloud today. I can make out the houses closest to us but just barely. We've had 3.87 inches of rain since Monday and it's still pretty steady. We're saturated and, for once, I'm looking forward to a chance to dry out. If only Mother Nature could be a little more measured with her deliveries...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 3.87"!!!!!! Awesome!

      I was watching good clean rainwater pouring down my culvert, and wondering how I could collect it all--I think yesterday's would have been enough to water the whole garden for the whole summer. But, how to store it?

      Delete
  3. I hope you get more rain just when you need it. It's lovely to see your photos with water droplets adorning the plants.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Everything is a sparkling delight. Happy you liked the pix!

      Delete
  4. Whoa, that shot of raindrops held on fiery-colored Grevillea filaments like liquid lily of the valley! Zowie.
    There's a sleet-snow mix coming down here that could in theory lead to an artistic effect on the winter honeysuckle outside the window. Tomorrow is supposed to melt this mess along with the remains of the small snow from Sunday -- just in time for another inch of rain. Which I'd bitch about if not reminded by you Californians how precious it is (and reminded by my own garden notes of two years ago just how dry we'd gotten).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sleet-snow? Snow? Rain? Sounds like a party!

      Enjoy it! :^)

      Delete
  5. Beware of the Australian acacia, they are invasive here. Fire hazard and gazillions of seeds ... seedlings .... forest.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly!! Which is why I have planted zero Acacias in the garden--doesn't stop some of the neighbors, though and they planted a ground cover kind all over the slopes in the local park.

      Frustrating that the fire authority and the park authority don't communicate better.

      I am sorely tempted by Acacia pendula, a gorgeous thing, but so far I've been able to resist it.

      Delete
  6. I can see all of those succulents plumping up. Isn't it wonderful?!. I hope there are no mudslides. That would be scary. The vine going up is pretty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If the area that turned into a mini-lake had flooded a little higher it might have damaged the main road through the neighborhood. Was very happy the county hurried out to clear the clogged drain.

      That vine is surprisingly pretty. It grows from a big underground tuber and can endure years of extreme drought. The seed pods are both strange and decorative. Imagine a giant 4" long unshelled pecan studded with 2" spines.

      Delete
  7. Which Agave is that with multiple subtle shades of green at the edges (just below the blazing Grevillea) ? It glows, and I'm sure the varigation shows up much more clearly when newly washed.
    The native vine seems all the kewler for being an off-and-on presence, and its spiny shell would make a great winter holiday ornament to keep its memory alive in the drought years. [Especially for those whose Christmas decorating approach is like my great aunt's: "All you need is a can of gold spray paint and some ribbon; I don't know what the fuss is about."]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's 'Joe Hoak'. He glows when dirty, too, but that one looked particularly stunning at that moment.

      Your great aunt is my kind of decorator!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Always interested in your thoughts.

Any comments containing a link to a commercial site with the intent to promote that site will be deleted. Thank you for your understanding on this matter.