Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium)

I see that the Red Huckleberries around here are having a great year. They are really loaded with fruit compared to last year.

These berries, while bright red, are not ripe yet. When they are fully ripe, they appear translucent, just like a salmon egg. Then they are very sweet. Right now they are flavorful but rather puckery!

The bushes themselves are adaptable to full sun exposure or even deep shade. In shade, the plants reach out horizontally for any available light. In sun, they grow stiffly upright.

The Red Huckleberries are very different from their cousins, the blue and black Huckleberries, especially since they are deciduous and drop their leaves in winter. Many of our Red Huckleberries are growing out of big old tree stumps left from the several logging episodes through here over the century. These plants are real survivors.

Check out more info on these plants at the Wilderness College!

Pics of Friday night's thunderstorms moving in

I knew we were in for a change in the very hot and dry weather of late, but I was not expecting the full-tilt thunderstorm that ripped through our area. I took these pictures pretty early on in the drama. What a show it was!!

Rolling thunder so loud it tilted pictures on the wall, with explosive lightening flashes!!

We ended up getting a good inch or so of rain, in heavy dramatic downpours. It's really been needed. Seconds after I took the following picture of the Buckhorn Range, a huge forked lightening strike zapped down right onto the peaks. Wish I could have captured that for you.

My husband and I watched the lightening strikes blasting well into the night. The later it got, the more the lightening was tinted pink or gold colors. Gorgeous! Fortunately it did not set off any wildfires that I have been aware of. Now it's very fresh and clean outside with shiny green leaves free of dust once again.


For a complete explanation of how this dramatic weather setup happened, check out this great blog by Cliff Mass:
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2009/07/thunderstorms.html

This blog focuses on our local action-packed weather issues and it's become a daily habit for me.

Plant mystery: Native honeysuckle -- Update and an answer!!!

Update: Scroll down for the correct ID of this cute mystery plant!
Special thanks to Robins Woods!!!!

This tough winding vine is familar to me from Northern California forests. I am trying to find out what it's called! A naturalist friend always called it "vetch" but when I search for that, I don't see anything like it...

One really distinctive thing about it is the way the stem passes through the center of the leaf rosettes. I have not seen mention of that in descriptions of native honkeysuckles anywhere and now it's bugging me!

The leaves are very tough and a bit fuzzy. When this vine gets going, it will twine up around anything! Then the vine starts to get very fat and woody. The sweet little pink flowers are in contrast with the tough disposition and leathery leaves.

I'll keep looking online for something similar but if any one "out there" can suggest something, I would love it! I have tried Googling for "wild honeysuckle", "vetch honeysuckle", etc and haven't seen anything similar. It's probably right under my nose...

Here's the answer: Lonicera Hispidula!! AKA California Honeysuckle!!

Some good info about it from Las Pilitas Nursery:

• A climbing deciduous shrub with large pink flowers. Native throughout much of California and up into Washington. California honeysuckle can handle full sun to shade. It's drought tolerant. Use as a bank filler or groundcover. It has an edible berry but bitter. It seems to be deer proof. Hummingbird flower. It is hardy to about -10 to -15 degrees F. Its red berries are relished by the birds.

And some more from Yerba Buena Nursery:

• This Honeysuckle vine is found in nature as a loose groundcover in oak forests, or growing through native shrubs. Its loose growth and sparse foliage do not make it a suitable vine for a trellis, but it is quite attractive planted as it occurs in nature, near the base of a shrub it can twine through to display its pink springtime flowers and cherry red fall fruit

Thanks again to Robins Woods for the most excellent ID!

Surfboard Cloud!

I called this cloud "The Surfboard". It was so oddly hard and flat for a cloud! Sculpted by the wind.

Below you can see the surfboard at a distance, surrounded by fluffy mackerel clouds. Really an odd duck of a cloud...

Below: I cropped this shot to show off what reminded me so much of paintings by Rothko.

Western Black Cap Raspberry (Rubus leucodermis)

I am so happy to have a small but very productive bush of these native berries! They are also known as the White bark raspberry, Cut leaf Blackberry, or Western Raspberry. Delicious...

When picked, they come off a central core. The edible part looks like a little ski cap. You can see in the photo that when unripe, they look like any other small red raspberry. But when they turn dark, almost black, oh how sweet it is.

Here's a link to a nice roundup of local berries here in the Northwest. I found it through a Google search. I wish the page had some navigation so I could find out more about Sharingwood, but alas, the page is an orphan... but very useful anyway:
Sharingwood/Berries/Berries.htm

The Western Black Cap Raspberry (Rubus leucodermis) is not to be confused with the Eastern Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), which looks more like a blackberry in shape and size.

Raspberries of any variety are definitely a "superfood" and I'm so thrilled to be able to gather a handful of these little beauties right here at home.