Looks like an early spring in 2016 ...

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

In Orange County, Godzilla el Nino, so far, is putzilla el Nono. Have your brumating tortoises acted accordingly? The Bradford pears and acacias are blooming, my Anna apple tree is covered with blooms. Sometimes nature works in sync. I have a waker upper. Just wondered about other CDTs and what they are doing.

 

[Helmut51]

Nice. My CDT, Helmut, is starting to wake up, but isn't quite coming out of his burrow just yet.

 

[Yelloweyed]

All of my deciduous trees and shrubs think it's summer and have sprouted leaves already. Grape vine, mulberry tree and mallows have come back strong and the mallows even have flowers.

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

All of my deciduous trees and shrubs think it's summer and have sprouted leaves already. Grape vine, mulberry tree and mallows have come back strong and the mallows even have flowers.

Exactly. Quite an early spring and it looks like in the el Nono areas, CDTs are rising early. Usually mine are zonked until mid-March-ish. My English rose, Pat Austin, had 8 (!) blooms today! What? Roses a-ready for nom-nom by little hungry, waking up tortoises!

 

[Tom]

I noticed my first lavatera flower of the season two days ago and my mulberry trees and grapevines are all budding.

I've already begun all my spring planting. Got four planters already done with a bunch more on the way. I'm starting a bunch of gazania, african hibiscus and hollyhock in pots this year to be planted later.

The bad news is that a gopher somehow found its way under the wire and mostly destroyed my broadleaf plantain planter. That planter was so beautiful and such an amazing producer of tortoise food. He's dead in my freezer now, but the damage is done. On the bright side, the kids want to dissect him tomorrow for an anatomy lesson before feeding him to the hawk.

 

[BeeBee*BeeLeaves]

Ewwwwww. Total bummer about the p!antain. But it is called "white man's footprint" cause it grew so easily everywhere white man walked across this land as everyone carried those seeds on shoe, wagon train or hoof. It will come back.

Bummer about dead gopher penalty for eating, LOL. Cool that the kids have such interest, the little future vets. Easy peasy lucky meal for your neighborhood hawk.

 

[Razan]

Nice. My CDT, Helmut, is starting to wake up, but isn't quite coming out of his burrow just yet.

Same thing with our CDT, Shellby. Today was my first check on him. He sort of looked with a bleary eye but didn't budge. Some of the fruitless mulberry trees started sprouting leaves this week. Wow they are progressing visibly every day. Today I plucked a few leaves for the sulcata.

 

[Ariza]

Ariza usually wakes up early March to early April. This year she was out mid February. She's walked around a couple of times but mostly has parked herself under the Wolfberry bush. I put her in her burrow 3 times but she turns right around and goes back to the Wolfberry. I'm hoping she knows what she's doing. The night temps are in the mid 40's so I've decided to let her do as she wishes. And, yeah, there's buds and new leaves on everything and daytime temps in the mid 80's here in Tucson. What a weird year!

 

[OCTortoiseGuy]

One of mine (Cruiser) has awoke and is coming out for a few hours each day for about 2 weeks now. The other (Winston) is still in deep sleep. Cruiser always comes out before the Winston but usually not tell late March yearly April.