It rained early in the morning with lots of thunder and lightning during the storm. When I went for my morning walkabout some of the flowers still had water droplets. The four-year old daffodil flower bed along the road on the west side of the house is doing well. I tried planting native daylilies in the same bed and they were eaten by the deer. The Piers Japonica shrub started blooming. It was here when I moved in, and the deer have not touched it. The Grape Hyacinth bulbs planted last year along the east side walkway started blooming. The deer were nibbling on the plants before they flowered. Now the deer are ignoring them. Maybe it is the hyacinth perfume? I also saw a number of tiny wild Violet flowers blooming in the backyard lawn. These may be too low to the ground for the deer to nibble.
Daffodil flower with water droplets. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 320, 80 mm, f/16, 1/180 sec). (David J Mathre)Red Tulip flower with water droplets. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 320, 80 mm, f/5.6, 1/600 sec). (David J Mathre)Daffodil flower with water droplets. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 640, 80 mm, f/16, 1/120 sec). (David J Mathre)Daffodil flower with water droplets. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 320, 80 mm, f/8, 1/120 sec). (David J Mathre)Daffodil Garden (4 years old). Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 1250, 80 mm, f/16, 1/120 sec). (David J Mathre)White Piers Japonica flowers. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 320, 80 mm, f/5.6, 1/900 sec). (David J Mathre)Japanese (Red) Maple Tree Flowers. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 320, 80 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)Purple Grape Hyacinth flowers. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 400, 80 mm, f/4, 1/640 sec). (David J Mathre)Purple Grape Hyacinth flowers. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 400, 80 mm, f/16, 1/120 sec). (David J Mathre)Wild Violet flower in the lawn. Image taken with a Fuji X-T3 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens (ISO 1000, 80 mm, f/4, 1/120 sec). (David J Mathre)
Daily Electric Energy Used (56.1 kWh) from Sense Home Energy Monitor and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (59.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny with intermittent clouds. A surplus of 3.5 kWh.
Several varieties of Daffodils are in bloom. The deer ignore the daffodils. I found a couple of Grape Hyacinths (muscari). It looks like the deer nibble on the green leaves, but leave the flowers. I am not sure where they come from as I don’t remember planting these. There are also wild violets in the lawn all through the backyard. Way back from the house is a tree covered with small white flowers. I think it is a Bradford pear tree. I didn’t see any bees near the flowers? My Plum tree is about to bloom, and the Japanese Maple tree is turning bright red. I assembled a Garden Tower to plant Herbs and Vegetables up on the patio (hopefully away from the deer). I also moved the cactus that have spent the winter inside the house out onto the patio.
