Mexican Coral Trees, or “Naked Corals,” are showing their stuff this season by bearing flamelike flowers on the tips of their twisting, often leafless branches. Commonly planted as park and freeway landscaping, this and other species of coral are blooming along State Route 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 eight-inch long leaves, just in time to provide shade for the warm months. This time of year they are a favorite stop for hummingbirds.
Warmer Temperatures and Increased Humidity coincide with the subtle onset of San Diego’s spring season. By April’s end, the intermittent showers, Santa Ana winds, cold nights, and crystal-clear, sundrenched days of winter will likely be distant memories. The nocturnal, low overcast hugging the coast, which may linger until the late morning, will gradually build into “June gloom” — the days-long episodes of perpetual overcast most common during May and June.
Snakes, Encouraged by Recent Warm Temperatures, have already emerged from burrows and rock crevices to hunt for prey throughout the county's lower elevation hillsides and canyons. Gopher snakes, garter snakes, king snakes, rosy boas (all harmless), and three varieties of rattlesnakes — red diamond, speckled, and Southern Pacific rattlesnakes (all poisonous) — have been sighted. Close encounters with rattlesnakes are not uncommon wherever residential properties abut undeveloped land — a common situation throughout San Diego County.
Mexican Coral Trees, or “Naked Corals,” are showing their stuff this season by bearing flamelike flowers on the tips of their twisting, often leafless branches. Commonly planted as park and freeway landscaping, this and other species of coral are blooming along State Route 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 eight-inch long leaves, just in time to provide shade for the warm months. This time of year they are a favorite stop for hummingbirds.
Warmer Temperatures and Increased Humidity coincide with the subtle onset of San Diego’s spring season. By April’s end, the intermittent showers, Santa Ana winds, cold nights, and crystal-clear, sundrenched days of winter will likely be distant memories. The nocturnal, low overcast hugging the coast, which may linger until the late morning, will gradually build into “June gloom” — the days-long episodes of perpetual overcast most common during May and June.
Snakes, Encouraged by Recent Warm Temperatures, have already emerged from burrows and rock crevices to hunt for prey throughout the county's lower elevation hillsides and canyons. Gopher snakes, garter snakes, king snakes, rosy boas (all harmless), and three varieties of rattlesnakes — red diamond, speckled, and Southern Pacific rattlesnakes (all poisonous) — have been sighted. Close encounters with rattlesnakes are not uncommon wherever residential properties abut undeveloped land — a common situation throughout San Diego County.