Hummingbirds are amazing creatures that can hover in place while they sip nectar from a blossom. It was a bit breezy when I took these photographs and the California Fuchsia stalk swayed slightly but the eye of this hummingbird (I believe it is a juvenile female Black-chinned Hummingbird), her head, and the blossom into which her beak is inserted barely moved while the stalk swayed.
The unrelenting heatwave continues to decimate what remains of my lawn (I have long since stopped watering my front lawn due to the severity of the drought here). My Rube Goldberg version of a drip sprinkler system that provides hydration to the plants in baskets and pots on my patio allows a few survivors that provide sustenous to the Hummingbirds and various species of Bees. Sadly, though, I have lost several of the flowering plants in hanging baskets because of my faulty drip installations in some of the baskets so when I returned from a few days away in the midst of the 100° plus temperatures at home, I was happy to see that there were some survivors. The California Fuchsia, the current favorite of the hummers, is in full bloom with its silvery foliage and bright orange trumpets. The colorful Lantana, a carryover from last year, continues to flower. And one of my many varieties of Purple Salvia is also in full bloom and attracts both hummers and bees. I’m torn about when to replace the dead plants with predictions for the coming couple of weeks at 100°+ for much of the time. At least I can enjoy the color that does remain in the yard and for now there is still enough to satisfy the birds and the bees so I think I’ll put it off until the high temperatures start coming down.
Sunflower seeds that spill from the feeders usually are consumed by the squirrels or larger foraging birds but this year for some reason several have sprouted in pots on the patio. I didn’t realize that even though they are shelled, they are still viable and this one is now in full bloom, small as it is, protruding from the middle of a basket of million bell petunias.
My brother baked me a Gravenstein Apple pie for my birthday. His flaky delicate crust, a combination of butter and lard, filled with the absolute best pie apple, the increasingly hard-to-find Gravenstein, was the best birthday present he could have given me. John’s Gravenstein Apples came from his own apple tree but Sonoma County’s delicious heirloom apples are in danger of disappearing. It is grown almost exclusively in Sonoma County, California (and in Nova Scotia). But it is very delicate and perishable so it does not travel well and its growing season is very short. It is in danger of becoming extinct because of the conversion of many apple orchards to vineyards. As a result, its production is now at historic lows with only a handful of commercial growers remaining. I haven’t found Gravenstein apples in my local market for quite a while and I live only 100 miles from Sonoma County.
As far as I’m concerned, there is no apple that comes close to the flavor of a Gravenstein for pies and apple sauce, and it is a delicious eating apple as well, tart and sweet and crisp. Even Sonoma County’s beloved world famous horticulturalist, Luther Burbank, who developed, among many things, the Russet Burbank potato (think McDonald’s French fries), a hearty, blight resistant potato to help with the devastation in Ireland following the great potato famine, was quoted as saying, “It has often been said that if the Gravenstein could be had throughout the year, no other apple need be grown.” I took this photograph in my brother’s backyard. Most of the Gravensteins had been harvested and this is a pair of apples on a volunteer apple tree, a sport of the Gravenstein.
A female Black-chinned Hummingbird sips nectar from the tubular flowers on a Cigar Plant, Cuphea Ignea, also known as the firecracker plant, or Mexican cigar plant. There are several in hanging baskets in my garden and the hummingbirds enjoy feeding from them. I placed the baskets so that I can photograph hummingbirds at eye level.