| Re-Sprung |
[Apr. 26th, 2012|04:39 pm]
rejectomorph
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Last night's surprisingly heavy rain demolished most of the dozen or so golden poppies that had already bloomed. Their ruined petals now droop around the lower parts of the plants like the tatters of rent skirts. There are more buds ready to bloom, but the rain might not be over so I'm hoping that this afternoon's bright sunlight doesn't encourage them to blossom. The display will already be much diminished, and I'd rather the plants conserve what potential they retain until the threat of ran has passed.
But the rain also washed the pollen from the air, so I can enjoy the cool breezes without sneezing. The breeze gets stiff now and then, and the new leaves rustle loudly, while the white irises on their tall stalks bend and sway like a crowd of dancers wearing fancy hats. Clouds come and go, and the fresh green of the oaks and the pink of the flowering dogwood are alternately bright or subdued with their passage. All the damp has dried from the street, but the memory of rain is still dark on shaded patches of soil.
Alas that the rain has also invigorated the foxtails, new stalks springing up everywhere. There will be a lot of uprooting to be done, so I got started on it today, though I didn't get very far. I just pulled a few around the rose bushes and the onion plant in the back yard.
The onion plant is growing what appear to be little bulbs at the tops of half a dozen of its stalks. I think these can be cut off and planted themselves, but I have no idea when to do it or how to go about it. Sometime this summer the stalks should wither and droop, and once they have fallen over I'll be able to dig up the plant and see what I've got. I didn't do any digging last year, as I thought the plant was still too small at the time it died back. It isn't small this year, though. There's nothing that looks like an onion top poking through the ground yet, so I have no idea what I'll find under the soil, but I look forward to finding out. If I get actual onions, I'll probably try planting more of them in the future.
It appears that the clouds are thickening again. The patches of blue sky are shrinking to donut holes. There could be more rain before nightfall. To the southeast there is still a large patch of open sky, and if the trees downslope didn't block my view I could probably see reflected light sparkling from vernal pools on the distant valley floor. It was about time for another perfect spring day, and we got one. Good show, April. |
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