Yesterday on our afternoon walk Rick pointed out the first blooms of California Honeysuckle, Lonicera hispidula, on our property in Anchor Bay. It's also known as Pink Honeysuckle. I love this climbing shrub. So do Hummingbirds, as they visit the pink blossoms for their nectar. Sometimes I see a vine climbing a tree and the leaves and blossoms are many feet above my head. This particular vine was growing in a huckleberry bush.
Later in the summer the blooms will become brilliant orange/red berries, which are very bitter. Only the hungriest birds will eat them so they usually remain on the vine to be enjoyed by anyone passing by. The stems of this plant are hollow and they were used by Pomo Indians as smoking pipes.
It is a dazzlingly beautiful day on the Mendonoma Coast today. My best to you! Jeanne Jackson
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