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Acacia in Coachella

Acacias, festooned with myriads of fluffy yellow blossoms, are brightening streetsides, freeway embankments, and backyard gardens throughout the San Diego area this month. Although many acacias are native to subtropical regions, nearly all we see today in San Diego were introduced from Australia. AnzaBorrego's native acacia (A. greggii) is the notoriously thorny "catclaw," known by early desert pioneers as "tear-blanket" and "wait-a-minute bush."

The Glittery, Bright "Winter Constellations" of Orion, Taurus, Auriga, Gemini, Canis Major, and Canis Minor are best seen during the early evening hours of late January and early February. By Monday, February 8, the waxing crescent moon's increasingly bright glare will begin to diminish the impact of the starry scene, and that interference will worsen as the moon morphs toward full phase on the 20th. The bright winter constellations happen to include about one-third of the most luminous stars appearing in the night sky. The brightest star of all, Sirius, lies in the constellation of Canis Major. Sirius appears as a scintillating, bluish point of light high over the southeast or south horizon during winter early-evening hours. The second-brightest star of the night sky, Canopus, can be seen hovering very low over the south horizon whenever Sirius is nearing its highest altitude (about 40 degrees) in the southern sky. For early February, this happens around 9 pm.

Pink and purple Delosperma, commonly known as hardy ice plant, at Mira Costa College.

Ice Plant is responsible for many of the carpet-like splashes of yellow, pink, red, and purple we’re now seeing around San Diego. Popular as a ground cover for concealing ugly cuts or stabilizing steep, easily eroded slopes, ice plant covers the shoreline bluffs at La Jolla, road embankments in Rancho Santa Fe and Balboa Park, and front yards from Point Loma to El Cajon.

The above comes from the Outdoors listings in the Reader compiled by Jerry Schad, author of Afoot & Afield in San Diego County. Schad died in 2011. Planet information from SkyandTelescope.org.