First Salmonberry Blossom

Nora came home for a paper route with a present for me - the first salmonberry blossom of the year.  She knows that I care about such things and try and keep track from year to year when such events occur.  Well this year the first salmonberry blossom is May 22.  And that is actually pretty late.

Last year the first salmonberry blossom was on the 25th of March! (click here for post)  But that was the earliest I'd ever seen it, and I think the event typically occurs in the second week of May.  So we are about a week late this year.

Although I will add, I've been seeing a lot of dead salmonberry plants.  The plants out in the open got frosted this winter, and these are also often the first to blossom.  The salmonberry bushes in the woods are doing great but they typically bloom a bit later.  So perhaps summer is right on time only the typically early blossoming plants aren't blooming because of the raw winter?

I certainly do know that green up is occurring at a rapid rate this year!  And for those who care - I think this next week is morel mushroom seeking and picking week!  The cottonwoods are leafing out and the pushki is getting to be knee high.  Time to seek out those tasty, crenelated fungi.  Patrick

My first salmonberry blossom 2024

 

Salmonberry

I saw my first salmonberry blossom last Friday (5/24) but did not get around to taking a picture of one until today.  I also suspect that they have been blooming for a few days before I noticed my first blossom.  I had forgotten to look for blossoms and the one I saw caught me by surprise. Last year I saw my first blossom on May 17th - so we are about a week later than last year. Looking back at 'my first blossom' blog posts (click here for link) I think we typically get our first salmonberry blossom in mid May.  So spring is a little bit later than usual this year - which is a good thing because I have also been late planting my garden.  However, I also saw that in 2016 we had the first blossom in late March and in 2018 it was mid April.  

As regards my garden I planted all my seeds a few days ago and am just now planting my potatoes.  But my garden is already producing nettles and every single one of the garlic cloves I planted last fall has sprouted. This year my garden will be super simple with just lettuce, beets, carrots, kale, garlic, potatoes and radishes. I also planted nasturtiums in some of my planters.  Fingers crossed that everything sprouts!

Patrick

My nettles

Cottonwood tree bud

My garlic is doing GREAT

Spring Flowers

 

Blueberry Blossom - first I saw around the 10th

Monday I saw my first fully-opened salmonberry blossom.  That is a little later than usual - they typically first blossom around early May.  But in 2016 they blossomed in late March and I noticed in 2017 they blossomed even later than this year.  Salmonberry blossoms - like the first crocus and blueberry blossom are how I gauge the arrival of summer.  I post on them every year and here are the links to a few past blog posts from year's past (click here, here, and here for just a few of them).

This year I have not been walking regularly in Abercrombie so I did not exactly catch the first day of when the blueberries blossomed, but it was around the 10th of May - again this is on the late side.

I've noticed that the first salmonberry blossom coincides with about when I plant my garden.  And if I plant it earlier than the first blossom nothing really grows.  Over the past couple days I have been planting my garden.  I got the lettuce, kale, and mustard green sprouts all planted in one bed, and the potatoes are all in too - nicely covered with beach peat.  All that remains, and they'll be planted today, are the carrots and radishes in another bed.

The last few years I have been making a lot of use of 'volunteer' seedlings.  In the fall I let a few kale and mustard greens go to seed.  And the past week or so I have been moving the seedlings around to where I want them to grow.  They are far hardier than when I try to grow them from seed myself.

Patrick

Salmonberry blossom - first one I saw May 17th

Nettle close up - we've already had a number of meals out of the nettle patch

Raspberry buds

Red alder catkin

Garlic doing GREAT and that's beach peat in the potato trenches

First Salmonberry Blossom 2025

First blossom 4/16/24

Yesterday I saw my first salmonberry blossom of the year.  It was at the usual spot right by the Cliffside entrance to Abercrombie Park. I always wonder why these bushes are among the first to flower because it is in a slightly shaded spot.  But maybe the surrounding spruce trees provide insulation, and enhance the direct afternoon sunlight?  Or maybe it is genetics?

In any case, mid April is pretty early for the first salmonberry blossom (click here for past posts on the subject). Usually we get our first blossom in early to mid May.  The earliest I saw a blossom was in late March and the last couple of years it has been in late May.

This year Spring has been tracking early - the first crocus was super early.  But I thought we were having a cool spring after an unusually warm winter.  But I guess despite the recent frosts and snow that spring has kept up its relentless pace. I hope I am not mowing the lawn in April!

In the park the blueberries are in full blossom and it seems like there are more blossoms than usual.  I think we might get a bumper crop of blueberries this year.

Patrick
 

This is new kale growth on last year's stalks

nettles

elderberry sprouts

It looks like a bumper blueberry crop this year

Salmonberries and dandelions

 

It's time for the annual 'first salmonberry blossom' post.  And this year I noticed my first salmonberry on May 9th - er rather Nora pointed them out to me!  It's the same set of bushes against the fence at the end of my driveway that seems to blossom early every year.  The fence faces south and creates its own microclimate.  I think May 9th is about long term average for the first salmonberry blossom, but late for the last 10 years or so. Last year they actually bloomed later (click here for 2021 post, and here and here for some other posts).

This year I was away in Kiliuda Bay for the first dandelion blossoms and the cliffy south pointing roadside downtown are already a wash in yellow. But dandelions are not something I celebrate. I have not seen any blooming in my yard yet, but clearly it is time to start the annual morning 'pull dandelions from the lawn' routine.  ughhhhh.

Patrick

No More blueberry blossom photos - I swear!

Buskin Beach

The skiing is still very good but no more skiing to the road

First Salmonberry Blossom 2018

I saw my first salmonberry blossom of the year a couple of days ago at the entrance to Abercrombie.  And then yesterday I noticed them blooming at the end of my driveway.  This seems a little bit earlier than normal, but is way later than a couple of year ago when they bloomed in late march!  (click here for post). Generally they first start blooming in early May - so this year is just a little bit early.  Last year they really did not bloom at all.

Nora wants to know when the blossoms will turn into ripe berries.  That is usually mid July.  Unlike last year, it is looking like we'll have a salmonberry crop this year!  Patrick

Early April

 

Yesterday's first crocus bloom

It is time for my annual 'first crocus bloom' post.  Every year I try and notice the first crocus blossom of the year.  The date acts as a pretty good reference point as to where we are with Spring - is it early or is it late? This year it seems about normal.  It used to be, almost 20 years ago, that the first crocuses would bloom a little later in April.  Then after a few particularly mild winters they first bloomed in late February.

Last year's post on the same subject (click here) - shows that they bloomed only a week or so earlier, and here's one from 2015 (click here) when the crocuses first bloomed in February! 

Crocus blooms are not the only seasonal benchmarks I track.  I also note when I first mow the lawn, first berries, first blueberry and salmonberry blossoms etc.  These sorts of seasonal benchmarks are a lot more accurate barometers on whether it is a warm, cool, long or short winter than people's impressions ever are.  It seems that about this time every year there are a bunch of people declaring 'this is the longest winter ever' or, on the other hand, that 'winters used to be far, far colder and longer'.  With my benchmarks I know how we stand in relation to earlier years.

In contrast, I also notice when the sun first rises from out of the ocean rather than from behind Spruce Cape.  But this always occurs on the exact same date.  Spruce Cape is my personal seasonal sun dial or 'Stonehenge'.  In the dead of winter the sun rises further to the Southeast from up behind Spruce Cape, and then with the lengthening days it peeks above the horizon from further and further to the north.  Finally, around the 4rth of April it rises from out of the ocean just north of Spruce Cape.  

For all of April it rises out of the sea - just further and further to the north - and then it disappears behind Miller Point on the west side of Mill Bay.  At the end of summer I know Fall is on the way when it reappears from behind Miller Point and starts its slow progression to the south.  In early September the sunrise again disappears behind Spruce Cape.  Patrick

Sunrise 2 weeks ago - from up behind Spruce Cape

This morning's sunrise - directly out of the sea

This is where I went skate skiing yesterday

blueberry buds

Near Island hike - whole lot of trees came down recently

Still 3 feet of snow at pass

First Salmonberry

Yesterday Nora found and picked the first ripe salmonberry of the year.  Maybe a little on the 'underdone' side but ripe enough to make her happy.  This is a little earlier than normal.  In 2016 Nora picked and ate a much riper berry on the 10th of June (click here for post)- and last year Nora picked the first berries on the 17th of July (click here for post).  But in normal years we generally pick the first ripe salmonberry sometime in early July.  Yesterday I also checked the blueberries in Abercrombie and they are not even close to ripe.  It looks like we are right about on schedule for a normal year.  And this is GREAT because the last few years have been whacky - way late last year, way early the year before.  It is good just to have a normal year.
Patrick

First Salmonberry Blossom 2023

 

After yesterday morning's 'doom and gloom' post the sun came out and I saw my first salmonberry blossom of the year.  For work I got to drive out the road and assist with an archaeological survey.  So I also got to enjoy the sun while I dug test pits and looked for the limits of archaeological sites.  The sites were located right next to the beach and at lunch I ate a sandwich while sitting on the beach.  That's hard to beat.

After work I took the dogs for a walk in the park and could not resist taking more pictures of the blueberry blossoms.  But it was easier to get good pictures because there was bright sunlight filtering down through the  trees onto the blossoms.

Patrick