Another Fall in SoCal
Autumn in SoCal is very bizarre to me. This is my third autumn here and each one is stranger than the last. The first one was, of course, filled with the raging wildfires. The second was occupied by my first Jeopardy! taping and the depressing election, so it passed essentially in a blur. This one is marked by me planting flowers and watching bulb plants bloom.
Yeah, that last part makes my brain hurt. Fall = planting flowers that aren’t bulbs to bloom in the spring. Ouch.
About three weekends ago I planted pansies in one part of our yard and daisy seeds nearby. Then about a week later, other flowers started to bloom and it turns out they’re some form of amaryllis or miniature daffodil. Plants that would normally be spring bloomers in any ‘normal’ environment, but out here they’re just happy to burst forth now.
And then there’s the massive jade plant in back that is now starting to bloom. I didn’t even know jade plants could flower! Of course, I had never seen a jade plant not in a pot inside a house until I got here, for that matter.
So, last weekend I planted other flowers from seed, like poppies, sweetpeas, and the Monty Python-inspired lupins. This is when you should plant them here. I’m going native.
But it does confuse me.
Of course, the fact that it’s 85 degrees and about 12% humidity today doesn’t help (another Santa Ana day).
The coolness in the morning and after the sun goes down does help. You do need a light sweater or jacket at those times and, with the smell of wood smoke in the air (from folks’ fireplaces), you can almost convince yourself it really is autumn.
At least until you come across a neighbor’s yard full of blooms…right next to the yard with the massive holiday display including a giant, fake, inflatable snowgobe with a fan that blows the snow around inside.
At that moment your brain tell you to kiss off.