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Indian hawthorn blossoms range in hue from pinkish white to vivid pink.

Indian Hawthorn, one of the most common flowering shrubs used in landscaping as hedges and dividers in San Diego, is blooming best right about now. The plant, which has several varieties, covers itself with blossoms ranging in hue from pinkish white to vivid pink.

Mexican coral tree blooming along Freeway 94, Interstate 5 through Oceanside, along Harbor Drive near the airport, at the San Diego Zoo, on the lawns in front of San Diego City College downtown.

Wikimedia Commons/Zeynel Cebeci

Mexican Coral Trees or "naked corals," are showing their stuff this season by bearing and baring scarlet, flame-like flowers on the tips of their twisting, leafless branches. Commonly planted as park and freeway landscaping, this and other species of coral are blooming along Freeway 94, Interstate 5 through Oceanside, along Harbor Drive near the airport, at the San Diego Zoo, on the lawns in front of San Diego City College downtown, and on the San Diego State University campus. The bloom may continue into late spring, when the naked corals will cover themselves with eightinch-long leaves, just in time to provide shade for the warm months.

Purple "freeway daisies," otherwise known as African Trailing Daisies or Osteospermum Fruticosum.

African Daisies are bursting into bloom around San Diego, especially along the freeway embankments. The name refers to a wide variety of species belonging to the genuses Arctotis, Dimorphotheca and Osteospermum, with flowers ranging in color from yellow, orange and white to purple. These hardy ground covers require little water except when in active growth, and help to hold soil in place during heavy rains.

Arcturus, the bright Spring Star climbing in the east, shortly after the end of twilight around this time of year, stands just as high as Sirius, the brighter Winter Star descending in the southwest (for skywatchers at mid-northern latitudes).

These are the two brightest stars in the sky at the time. But Capella is a very close runner-up to Arcturus. Spot it high in the northwest.

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.