That is a wild blueberry (rabbit eye, I assume) blooming in the foreground… and in the background what we call a wild bush honeysuckle. I have a big patch of the wild honeysuckle just off my back yard in the woods, some bloom pink, some white.
I have those wild blueberries all around the edges of my field and back yard… they ripen 2-3 weeks after wild blackberries. Impossible to beat the birds to them… I am going to try netting some this year so can hopefully get to taste a few.
Loving all these bloom pics. Will be glad when I have some from this year to show.
Yes, looks quite a bit like pineapple sage (from what I’ve gathered online), except that it’s huge (7ft+) after ~1 year from a cutting, whereas most I see online are rather small/short in stature. Must be a variety of it though, as it does have a great fruity smell when brushed. The dark sepal color also looks different to those I’ve seen online which are mainly green.
I’m from Tustin originally, or more specifically unincorporated Santa Ana/North Tustin. Found that in the bushes after some strong Santa Anas over 10 years ago, and the city had already replaced the sign. Nice reminder of home, though am in the SF peninsula now.
As you can see… winter is still hanging on pretty good here in TN.
These “buds” got a good coat of freezing rain… then we got about a half inch of sleet, and today is when we are supposed to get more accumulation, snow, ice, freezing rain…
I expect all these buds will be just fine… this is quite normal for us, Mid Feb.
Also, the leaves are tasty in soups, and the nuts can be roasted for snacking or baking.
But some people get a headache from its terpenes (luckily no one in our family!). I’ve heard it’s hard to germinate its seeds, but there are at least 4 or 5 seedlings around the yard. Its own seedlings are basically the only thing that grows under it (apparently the terpenes give worse than a headache to competing seedlings).
This post got me thinking about this time last year. It was an early spring for me and I paniced for a month over my plum blossoms. This year there has been 2 ft of snow on the ground all month and 5-8 more expected thursday.
Um, yeah, this is nasty weather. But, it will probably prove helpful to the fruit crop except for those “zone-pushing” cultivars. Callery pears were about to break dormancy mid January … but this cold has kept fruit from budding. Last year by the 20th of February around here, it was too late to collect scionwood. Not this year.
