In from the begin....
Spring in Southern California is truly spectacular, even though we got very little rain this year.
My orange, grapefruit and tangerine trees are blooming and loaded with bees. The smell is heavenly in the backyard.
Roses are starting to bloom along with irises, nasturtiums, angel’s trumpets and lavender . Cyclamen have been blooming since Thanksgiving along with pansies. Just planted petunias for summer bloom.
And people ask me why I don’t want to move out of California.
The March equinox – also called the vernal equinox – marks the beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere. The March 2021 equinox will arrive on March 20 at 09:37 UTC or 4:37 a.m. Central Daylight Time.
No matter where you are on Earth, the equinox brings us a number of seasonal effects, which many nature enthusiasts notice.
Equal day and night?
At the equinox, Earth’s two hemispheres are receiving the sun’s rays equally. Night and day are often said to be equal in length. In fact, the word equinox comes from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night). For our ancestors, whose timekeeping was less precise than ours, day and night likely did seem equal. But we today know it’s not exactly so.
Fastest sunsets at the equinoxes.
The fastest sunsets and sunrises of the year happen at the equinoxes. We’re talking here about the length of time it takes for the sun to sink below the horizon.
Sun rises due east and sets due west?
Here’s another equinox phenomenon. You might hear that the sun rises due east and sets due west at the equinox. True? Yes. It’s the case no matter where you live on Earth. At the equinoxes, the sun appears overhead at noon as seen from Earth’s equator, as the illustration below shows. This illustration shows the sun’s location on the celestial equator, every hour, on the day of the equinox. No matter where you are on Earth – except at the Earth’s North and South Poles – you have a due east and due west point on your horizon. That point marks the intersection of your horizon with the celestial equator – the imaginary line above the true equator of the Earth. That’s why the sun pretty much rises due east and sets due west for all of us. The sun is on the celestial equator, and the celestial equator intersects all of our horizons at points due east and due west.
*SNIP*
Where can you look to see signs of the equinox in nature? Everywhere! Forget about the weather for a moment, and think only about the daylight. In terms of daylight, the knowledge that spring is here – and summer is coming – permeates all of nature on the northern half of Earth’s globe.
Notice the arc of the sun across the sky each day. You’ll find that it’s shifting toward the north. Responding to the change in daylight, birds and butterflies are migrating back northward, too, along with the path of the sun.
The longer days do bring with them warmer weather. People are leaving their winter coats at home. Trees are budding, and plants are beginning a new cycle of growth. In many places, spring flowers are beginning to bloom.
Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, the days are getting shorter and nights longer. A chill is in the air. Fall is here, and winter is coming.
Long story short, I have some pepper plants growing indoors. They are beginning to blossom. Any tips on getting these pollinated? I am putting the plants outside on sunny days, but we’ve had a lot of rainy ones and I am getting a ton of flowers.
Yardwork today!
Woo Hoo!
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Household Six has the basement planting area squared away, many seeds in and seedlings up!
I just picked up four cattle panels and landscape timbers to add another layer on our raised beds.
Taking off the snow thrower, today. Prepare for 18” of partly cloudy!