Desert Blooms

Though rainfall has been below normal through most of Southern California this season, it has fallen rather regularly, with decent rains every few weeks since December.  This has produced a respectable number of flowers.  This is a datura, in Anza-Borrego Desert SP.

Some early buckhorn cholla blooms.

Looking up at the palms in Borrego Palm Canyon, one of many oases in the vast state park.  These are California fan palms, the only species of palm tree native to Cali.

A fine cholla flower.  I love the intricacy of the blooms.  Ma Nature certainly knows how to create a masterpiece.

Desert dandilions.

Barrel cactus flowers.

My flower guide says this fine bloom is from a Ganders cholla.  Several species of cholla look pretty much alike yet have flowers of different colors.

Here's yet another cholla color variation.

A finely blooming paloverde in a dry wash east of Indio, up against a cool cliff.

Chuparosa.  This is in Joshua Tree NP.

A Mojave yucca in bloom.  Notice the ladybug working the flower complex.  There were actually several ladies among the flowers but only this one shows up in the pic.

Fine beavertail cactus.  This and the hedgehog are among the first cacti to bloom in profusion and overlap with the wildflowers.  In general most cactus flowers bloom after the wildflowers, so that in a good year the desert blooms from February through at least May.

And here's a nice hedgehog cactus.

The Abstract Desert

Deserts are places of harshness.  They are hot.  Dry.  Many plants are spiny.  Many animals are venomous.  But deserts are also places of abstract beauty.  Colors can be bright, especially in spring after adequate rains.  Shapes are fantastical.  It is often silent, except for wind and birdsong.  The end result is a feeling of peace, beauty, and awe...awe that the desert can be such a fine place despite its harshness.  Clouds enhance the experience, as here in Sabino Canyon near Tucson.

A universe of cholla spines.  Blow up the pic and the spines become a prickly universe.

Canterbury bells (L) and brittlebush.

These flowers are common in Saguaro NP near Tucson but I've had trouble identifying them.

A fine desert chicory, my favorite white wildflower hereabouts.

Desert hibiscus.

Indigo plant.

Ocotillo macro shot.

Blooming paloverde under glowering skies between Gila Bend and Yuma.

The Algodones Dunes, on I-8 west of Yuma.  Odd effect on the power lines at this scale...blow up the pic to solidify the wires.

Spring Scenes in the Southwest

I've done some wandering in the southwest this spring.  Though the rains have been spotty in many areas, there are still a lot of flowers...especially in Arizona, where moisture has been average or better.  And the landscapes are always fascinating.  This is the Pinnacles, about an hour east of Monterey, but a totally different world.  Summers here are scorching, while winter nights bring hard freezes.  Digger pines predominate, just as they do in the western Sierra foothills.

A lizard hangs out on a lichen encrusted rock at Pinnacles.

Suz, Wil, and I headed back to Las Vegas for the Pac 12 mens basketball tournament earlier this month.  At our customary stop in Baker (nowhere else to stop between Barstow and Nevada) we found to our delight that the thermometer was working again after a multiyear period of dormancy.  This is supposedly the worlds largest thermometer!  Blow up the pic to see the numbers clearly.

Though Vegas is vast, sprawling, and hectic, you can get away from the city with surprising ease.  This pic was taken about 35 miles from the MGM Grand, on the way up to Mount Charleston.  The mountain is a sky island extending almost two miles above the city.  Instead of casinos and cactus, snow and ponderosa pines dominate, with Joshua trees at lower elevations.

Moving on to Picacho Peak SP, between Phoenix and Tucson, I hiked part way up the mountain and found a large field of saguaros, including many young cacti, always an encouraging sign in the Sonoran desert, where the sags are under fire from climate extremes, urbanization, and "cactus nappers" who poach mature saguaros for landscaping purposes.

A fine desert chicory in Sabino Canyon, near Tucson.

Sabino Canyon has a hugely diverse array of vegetation.  On sunny, southfacing slopes, protected from frost, thick groves of saguaro thrive.

The light at Sabino on St Patricks Day was great!  Here a tranquil Sabino Creek reflects rocks below a threatening sky over the Catalina Mountains.  Blow this pic up...the scene was spectacular!  And I dangled my feet in the creek and got in some slotation on a nice slab of granite.

Tree branches reflect in the calm creek waters.

  

A cottonwood on the banks of the creek.  These water loving trees grow only a few yards from the saguaros on the slopes away from the water.

A cardinal checks out the photographer.  This is the western edge of their range...wish we had them in Monterey.