Seasons blur as El Niño starts in on California

I live in Berkeley, California, and over the years have posted a lot of photos taken of my neighbors' front yards. Most often I've photographed the yards on Fulton Street, a residential street running north/south between my neighborhood and the southwest corner of the UC Berkeley campus (it's on my "walk to work" and "walk downtown" path).

Over the last week we've had some drier days and some wetter days as the rains associated with  El Niño have begun. The new year, the pewter-gray skies, and the softened light has reawakened my attention to the plant life of local front yards, and to the odd blurring of seasons that January rains after four years of drought have brought on. So I thought I'd share some of what caught my eye this past week or so...

Here's Fulton Street, looking north. Doesn't seem so remarkable in a wide-angle view, does it?

Much of the neighborhood does look like winter, or the Bay Area's snow-free version of the season at any rate.

But there are more seasonally ambiguous tableaux as well.

Blackberries and pears hanging on from summer and fall, respectively:

And then there are the jarring glimpses of early spring ...

... none more jarring than the early-blooming magnolia trees.

Thanks as always to Berkeley's many dedicated front-yard gardeners!

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Flowery front yards in Berkeley