The Frost-Nipped Legacies of the past winter’s cold spells might not be hard to spot in February, especially in the inland areas where overnight lows dipped to below freezing. Look for brown lawns, half-dead-looking avocado trees, and wilted ornamental plants like poinsettias. One common frost-sensitive native plant, the laurel sumac, is responsive to the reach of cold air. Laurel sumac is often the largest and most conspicuous plant growing within the coastal sage scrub type of vegetation native to San Diego’s undisturbed canyon hillsides. Wherever freezing-cold air has sunk into low lying canyons and basins, laurel sumac bushes tell the story by appearing brown and withered a few weeks later.

Lupines, Whose Spiky, Purple (sometimes yellow) Flower Clusters adorn grassy areas and disturbed patches of soil, are beginning to pop up all over San Diego County. If desert rainfall cooperates, you’ll spot lupines along the sandy washes or in roadside gullies where water temporarily collects. Coastal lupines should be in full flower by late March. Higher-elevation lupines will be blooming in the mountain areas in May and early June. The generic name Lupinus, meaning “wolf,” was given these plants in the belief that they robbed the soil of nutrients. Actually the reverse is true: Their ability to fix nitrogen through root nodules helps them survive on poor soils and may, in fact, enrich the soil around them.
The Sun Strides North in February, swinging higher across the sky each successive day. Already quite noticeable is the change in the time of sunset, currently almost a minute later per day, and sunrise, currently almost a minute earlier per day.
The Frost-Nipped Legacies of the past winter’s cold spells might not be hard to spot in February, especially in the inland areas where overnight lows dipped to below freezing. Look for brown lawns, half-dead-looking avocado trees, and wilted ornamental plants like poinsettias. One common frost-sensitive native plant, the laurel sumac, is responsive to the reach of cold air. Laurel sumac is often the largest and most conspicuous plant growing within the coastal sage scrub type of vegetation native to San Diego’s undisturbed canyon hillsides. Wherever freezing-cold air has sunk into low lying canyons and basins, laurel sumac bushes tell the story by appearing brown and withered a few weeks later.

Lupines, Whose Spiky, Purple (sometimes yellow) Flower Clusters adorn grassy areas and disturbed patches of soil, are beginning to pop up all over San Diego County. If desert rainfall cooperates, you’ll spot lupines along the sandy washes or in roadside gullies where water temporarily collects. Coastal lupines should be in full flower by late March. Higher-elevation lupines will be blooming in the mountain areas in May and early June. The generic name Lupinus, meaning “wolf,” was given these plants in the belief that they robbed the soil of nutrients. Actually the reverse is true: Their ability to fix nitrogen through root nodules helps them survive on poor soils and may, in fact, enrich the soil around them.
The Sun Strides North in February, swinging higher across the sky each successive day. Already quite noticeable is the change in the time of sunset, currently almost a minute later per day, and sunrise, currently almost a minute earlier per day.
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