Sunday Sunlight

Some pink dogwood blooms at the local nursery back in late April. 

The weather has been so hot/cold/hot here it's a wonder anything has managed to bloom or produce fruit.  The past two days have seen lows of 40 F and highs in the low 50's, while the preceding days saw highs in the 80's and lows of only 60 F!  

Sunday Sunlight

Sunlight on dogwood blossoms dancing in the breeze.

The temperatures here are all over the place.  These dogwood flowers have endured rain, snow, and hail and high temperatures that were 40 F one day (4.44 C) and 80 F (26.67) the next day. 

They're holding up pretty well though, all things considered! 

Spring Greens

The dogwoods are in the first stages of their bloom.

Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), above, has four bracts, while the Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttalli), below, has six.  In both species the actual flowers are in the center of the bracts, and haven't opened yet.

When the bracts are just beginning to open their shape reminds me of tulips. 

Soon the spring green will fade, and the bracts will become a beautiful cream color and will be much larger.

Linking with   Through My Lens    and    Our World Tuesday     and     Life Thru the Lens

Leafy Thoughts

A couple of nights below freezing helped the trees to really color up. 

Some trees still have green leaves that are very stubborn... 

They just won't give up.  I like that.  They remind me of our nation's motto (the Cherokee nation, that is) "Endeavor to Persevere."  

Sunday Sunlight

This is a repeat because, out of all the photos of dogwood blossoms I've taken, this one is my favorite.  I took it years ago on a Sunday while I was out for a walk in the afternoon.

Blessing From the Sky

A Quote for Tuesday

"The air is as cool as an old coin teaspoon and a faint tang of blue wood smoke spices the air.  The color of the great sugar maples is so dazzling it seems I must have dreamed it."  Gladys Taber 

These trees aren't sugar maples, but I think the colors of Pacific Dogwood (Cornus nuttallii) trees are just as beautiful.  I didn't think we'd get much color this autumn because it's been so very dry, but there are spots of color here and there.  Thank goodness!  I can't imagine living, or being happy, where autumn brings no change...

Sunday Sunlight

I took this photo of a branch of a Dogwood tree that grows by my studio waaay back in 2006. 

Early Autumn Color

Some early autumn color, before it's officially Autumn.

Last Blossoms

The dogwoods' blossoms are looking pretty tattered and tired...this one was the best that I found today.  The tree that it's on is in a little micro-climate down by the creek that stays cool even in the hottest weather.  My husband jokes that it's always cool because it's haunted.  I don't tell him that he's right.  The little dell was my Godmother's and mama's favorite spot, and I've felt their presence there many times.  She and my mom used to spread a quilt on the ferny bank when they wanted a break during the summer from me and my cousins.  They'd carry down a big pitcher of "sweet tea" from the cottage.  I think (know) it was mostly iced tea with a generous portion of Irish whiskey added.  I do the same nowadays...my relatives know that when I'm there, I'm off limits, just as my cousins and I knew that my mom and my Godmother were not to be bothered when they were there.  Only now my pitcher of sweet tea is just that, because I developed an allergy to alcohol several years ago.  Talk about annoying!  But the little dell is still a quiet, magical spot to pass an afternoon.  Sometimes, as I sit on the quilt beside the creek and sip my sweet tea, I think I hear their laughter.  My Godmother and my mama were best friends for most of their lives and, wherever they are, I think they're still best friends, visiting their favorite places and favorite people and sipping their "sweet tea" during hot summer weather.

Wednesday's Winding Road

A little dogwood tree by a sharp curve on a back road somewhere in the San Bernardino mountains...

A Repeat

I've posted this photo before, back in 2011, but, of all the dogwood blossoms I've photographed, this one is my favorite.  So, I hope you'll forgive me for a double posting. 

Interestingly, the actual blossoms are the tiny yellow flowers on the center mound.  The white 'petals' are really just bracts to attract pollinators.  Hmmm...maybe the dogwood trees think all insects are near-sighted!

Wednesday's Winding Road

Dogwoods blooming along Kuffel Canyon road; it leads down into Lake Arrowhead.

Some

Some roses from my garden...

Some dogwood leaves that shouldn't be turning for at least another three weeks...

 

Some dogwood berries that shouldn't be turning yet either... 

And some cattitude from Gloria, who was mad at me because I was gone all day!

Sunday Sunlight and Dogwood Worries

I took this at the end of April of this year.  Our dogwoods up here are the species Cornus Nuttalli, the only dogwood native to California, also referred to as the Pacific Giant as they can grow up to 60 feet tall, and their range is from the Southern California mountains up to British Columbia.  This blossom is strange in that it only has 4 petals - well, they're really called 'bracts.'  The center of the bracts contains the little ball of the actual teeny, tiny yellow flowers and the showy bracts just serve to attract pollinators.  Cool, huh?

Anyway, usually they have 6 bracts.  But some of the trees only put out 4 this spring.  I'm wondering if it was because we've had such a dry winter.  Dogwoods are terribly suceptible to the disease Dogwood Anthracnose, which is a fungal disease that kills them, but all the gardening sites I've researched haven't said that putting out only four bracts is a sign that the tree is infected.  So, I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed and give them plenty of water. 

Goodbye February

It's starting to look a little like spring might be on her way: Here and there Ivy is poking a few leaves out above the snow...

The snow on the roof is melting fast and the last icicle is barely hanging on... 

But the most telling sign is the greening Dogwood buds, which will be the centers of the enormous white blossoms in April. 

Goodbye, February!

Too Much Attention, Too Little Attention

Another photo of the Steller Jay feather; a little wind was blowing on the day I took photos of it and I just kept following it around.  I also made some little vignettes with it, so you're probably going to get tired of seeing it. 

But what really caught my attention in this photo is the dogwood leaf (Pacific Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii, native west of the Rocky Mountains) on the left side of the photo.  I love the way the sunlight is making parts of it glow. 

I wish I would have paid more attention to the leaves and not been so totally focused on the feather. I was so completely focused on following the feather I fell in the creek, lol.  Fortunately there isn't too much water in in it right now and, since stuff like this happens to me fairly often, my hand that was holding my camera shot right up into the air so my camera stayed dry.

I went out today at the same time I took this photo to see if I could capture another photo of it, but the leaf had fallen off the tree and the sunlight wasn't being as kind to the remaining leaves. And today I paid attention to where my feet were going so I stayed dry. :D

Impatience

This isn't a current picture; I took it in November of 2010.  I'm soooooo impatient for the autumn colors to arrive, but I'm afraid that this year they might not be so great.  Two of the dogwood trees on my property have many leaves that are just turning brown and dropping off!  I hope all the deciduous trees don't behave like these two trees.  It's just been too darn hot up here, although today we did get a little rain.  I'm crossing my fingers and hoping we get a lot more rain, we need it.

Sunday Sunlight

This was taken last May while I was walking on the path that goes around Lake Arrowhead.  The sun had almost set, and I was alone on the path, when I came upon a Dogwood tree that some idiotic, thoughtless person had ripped a lot blossoms from and then just left them there on the ground.  Really, what is wrong with some people?  Oh, right.  I already answered that; they're idiotic and thoughtless.  Anyway, the way it was holding the light caught my attention.  After I photographed it I took it and the other victims home, where they floated in bowls of water for several days.  Every time I looked at them I wondered if the person who ripped them off the tree knew, or cared, about the berries that the center of the blossoms would have turned into this coming Autumn and how many birds might go hungry because those berries weren't there. 

Of course, there are lots of other Dogwood trees in this forest, so, hopefully, no birds will go hungry.  I guess what really got to me was the expression of a total disconnect from, and lack of respect for, Nature.

Good Things

I planted this pink dogwood about 7 or 8 years ago.  It bloomed the next spring, but the blooms weren't the pink that it had when I brought it home from the nursery; they were white.  After that, it never bloomed again.  It seemed healthy in every other way, putting out dark green leaves and gaining a little height every year.

I can't imagine why it took so long to bloom, or why it chose this Spring with its crazy weather and up and down temperatures.  Perhaps the crazy weather shocked it into blooming.  Or perhaps, as my husband says, it's the perfect tree for me because, like me, it has its own way of doing things and a big stubborn streak (I prefer to call it 'character,' thank you very much).

Whatever the reason, I'm so happy that it finally bloomed.  I guess that old saying is true (at least in this instance): All good things come to those who wait.