Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
SoCal Floral Beauty and Allen’s Hummingbirds!
When in need of sunshine and a respite from a wintery spring, we Northwesterners head to sunny Southern California!
When it’s a road trip in April you may very well spend your first 2 days driving through rain in Washington and Oregon.
But seriously, don’t lose heart. Persevere and you’ll be rewarded with blue skies and temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s.
You’ll be surrounded by fragrant floral beauty,
including roses that thrive in the heat.
And if you’re lucky like I was, you’ll stay where hummingbirds feed, especially the gorgeous Allen’s Hummingbird, which I have never seen in the Northwest.
I still love my Anna’s hummingbirds, but their more colorful cousins nearly stole my heart. I’m so glad my brother shared them with me at his beautiful home. What a treat!
Sharing with Sunday Stills
– Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Hummingbirds are beautiful. Our ruby throated should be back in Massachusetts for May 1st.
Wonderful! I love hummingbirds! My Anna’s are year-round in the NW but I’d never seen the Allen’s before visiting S. California.
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Yay for road trips, Sue! We had a few Allens in Sacramento, very similar to Annas. Yours are beautiful along with all those fab florals! Love the shot of the palm trees swaying in the sunshine!
Thanks so much, Terri! 😊😊 It was wonderful to find blue skies and sunshine! And I was thrilled to see the Allen’s hummingbirds as I only get the Anna’s at home.
Nice photos as always, Susanne. You captured two of my favorite things, roses and hummingbirds.
Thanks so much, Don. Two of my favorites, too! I try to grow roses at home but they’re not as happy as the ones I found in California!
Back in the day when I could get around better, I had over 100 roses around the place. Most were heirloom roses and Explorer Roses which are fragrant and do well here in St. Paul.
Wow!! That must have been wonderful!! 😍
A lt of work and I loved every minute of it.
Ahh…Spring!
Yes, indeed! Though Southern California always feels like summer to me!!
I love the variety of hummingbird. Here we have had no luck with roses, but the hummingbirds are happy.
I keep trying with roses because I love them but they usually look scraggly.
Ah, Paradise! We used to go to CA every spring to visit Linda’s dad, but now that he has passed, we’ve not been back…also because of Covid.
Those hummers are beautiful!! I saw a Rufous the other day, first one this year.
We love a good road to California!
Nice to see the hummers coming back! I’d never seen the Allen’s before so it was a real treat. 😊
Great photos!!
Thank you!
How lovely that you can drive to warm sunshine and blue skies, even if it does take a couple of days! And such beautiful hummingbirds awaiting you there too 🙂
Thanks. Sarah. We usually make the trip once a year and it never disappoints! And the hummingbirds were a special treat. 😊😊
Awesome photos! I think I may have seen an Allen’s hummingbird before, but not close up enough to make out the different colors. I just knew it seemed darker and wasn’t like the ones I’m used to. Haven’t seen it lately though. 🤔
Thanks! I’d never heard of them before seeing them at my brother’s house, and I fell in love with them!!
Outstanding photos, Susanne. Really enjoyable to see.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks so much, Pete! I appreciate your comment! 😊 I was so thrilled to enjoy the summer weather, fragrant flowers and especially the Allen’s hummingbirds!
Great photos! I am a big fan of hummingbirds. I love trying to get pictures of them, and your photo of the Allen hummingbird with its beak open is wonderful!
Thanks so much! I love hummingbirds too, and it was such a treat to discover a new variety! 😊