A Sign of Spring-Blossoms

I was stunned to see these flower blossoms yesterday. The thin, delicate petals surrounding the yellow pistils. They are so beautiful. But they are also alarming.

Because they're part of something bigger. Much bigger. And although the flowers are beautiful, they have me worried.

Because they're blossoms on our apricot tree, and it's still a long way until we are sure we won't have a hard freeze! Two years ago we didn't get any apricots, and last year we only got a few. I'm ready for a good apricot year, but it doesn't look like the weather is going to cooperate. There's a big storm in the forecast for the next couple of days. 

Not Quite a Desert Destination: Hoyt Arboretum, Portland, Oregon

Usually every Monday I visit a desert destination. This past week I was in the Pacific Northwest and saw a few things that reminded me of the desert, but not much. For the sake of variety, I thought I would feature a post from a different area.

Located in Washington Park in Portland, Oregon, is the Hoyt Arboretum. It's not nearly as well known as the zoo or Children's Museum, located nearby, but it has the lovely distinction of being free and containing miles of interesting trails. Near the visitor center are some desert plants, like the yucca above, with a palm tree in the near background, and some of Oregon's fantastically tall conifers in the distant background.

One of the suggestions for a winter visit was to go to holly hill, where about 40 species of holly (Genus Ilex) had been planted. Holly is not native to Oregon, but it is commonly grown for decorations. Some hollies are invasive, particularly the popular European holly (Ilex aquifolium), and the arboretum shows several examples of other hollies that are just as beautiful but won't be a nuisance.

The trails were surprisingly empty despite the sunny day, and Desert Boy and I enjoyed wandering aimlessly. The trails are well-marked, but because we didn't really have a specific destination in mind, we just wandered wherever looked interesting. In some cases, Desert Boy had a different idea of what was interesting than me, and I had to go chasing after him. In the photo above, he takes off near the really cool Monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana), native to Chile and Argentina.

Finally I managed to corral Desert Boy and we continued on. There are some accessible trails in the arboretum, but we found the stroller was able to navigate most of the other trails as well. The huge ferns are something we certainly don't see in the desert, although we have some small varieties hiding out on moist cliff faces.

The moss-covered trees were fun to look at. Some trees I'm used to seeing in other parts of the country, like sugar maples, look entirely different when they have mosses and lichens covering most of their bark. We got bogged down in mud a couple times on the trail, but I was surprised how stable everything seemed. The trails were well-used but had little erosion.

One of my favorite parts was the redwood trail, where there were seven different species of redwoods. Their amazing height boggled my mind. I took this picture standing up--I didn't even need to lay down to make them look tall (which is something I sometimes do in the desert!) 

It was a fun visit, and if you're ever in the area, I'd recommend trying out some of the trails at the Hoyt Arboretum.

Some Mojave Plants

The Mojave Desert has some really neat plants, and when I recently visited to help with a deer capture, I couldn't help but stop and admire some of the plant inhabitants. One of our deer capture sites was on Cima Dome, which reportedly has the largest and densest Joshua tree forest in the world. The Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) are amazing.

This Joshua tree still has its large seed pods from last year. The Joshua tree "leaves" are very sharp. It's not a tree you would want to run into! (Of course, there probably aren't many trees you want to run into.)

Here's a large cactus nearby. It's in the genus Opuntia, but I'm not certain of the species, so if anyone knows please leave a comment. Surrounding it are a lot of bushes, most without leaves because it's winter. I was continually surprised in Mojave National Preserve by the amount of ground cover--there were more bushes and grasses than in many spots in the Great Basin Desert.

This cholla cactus (Opuntia sp.) is easily identifiable to genus due to its upright, branching form. But there are more than 20 species found in North America, so getting it down to species can take a little more time. After a cholla cactus dies, it leaves behind an interesting skeleton with a pattern of lots of little holes.

Here's an overview of the plant communities up on Cima Dome. Cima Dome, by the way, is a huge granitic pluton that has pushed up out of the earth and then eroded away in a very symmetrical manner, leaving a gentle rise in the land. It's marked on a lot of maps, but unless you know what you're looking for, it's easy to overlook. 

In the middle of the preserve are some burned Joshua trees. A 70,000-acre wildfire changed the landscape several years ago.

At our second deer capture site a well was raising water for this trough. To see what animals use it, a wildlife camera was installed on the pole. Whenever something passes in front of the infrared beam, the camera snaps a picture. 

At lower elevations, creosote bushes (Larrea tridentata) were everywhere. They have a wonderful smell, especially after a desert rain.

Many of the roads in Mojave National Preserve are gravel, but wide. The distances are long, but the views along the way are spectacular.

This crazy-looking Joshua tree was right next to the road. I always like the Joshua trees that twist a lot!

At our third site we found a lot of Fremont's barberry (Mahonia fremontii), a plant with holly-like leaves but with sharp points. The bushes grew big and round and it hurt to walk next to them. 
An easy distinguishable plant is the desert trumpet (Eriogonum inflatum). The stems have the bulbous growths just below the joints. 

This yucca is another spiky plant out in the Mojave. The spikes help protect it from being grazed and thus are a way for it to ensure its survival and reproduction.

This Joshua tree fell over but was able to keep growing--just from a different angle.

Seeing all these different plants makes me excited for my next trip into the Mojave!

Odds and Ends

I've spent part of the last week in the Mojave Desert and have some fun blog posts coming up! 

From time to time I feature desert plants on this blog, and have recently been included in the Berry-Go-Round #13 Carnival, a collection of plant posts. There's a lot of great information there.

As I was reviewing some of my recent posts, I realized I never ended the January photo caption contest. The entries were fantastic, and each one had me laughing. I hadn't realized that my truck was quite so dirty!

And drum roll please, the winner is: Sarah! Her entry was: 

"Come on Henry- we've got a lot to do. The day's not a success until we blend in with the truck."

Congrats, Sarah. You are now the proud winner of two thumbs up! Accolades on the Internet! And bragging rights to all your friends. You never knew it could be so good, did you?

Sarah's entry reminds me that Desert Boy has been making a lot of dirty laundry lately. And Henry eggs him on. If Henry plays in the mud, Desert Boy plays in the mud. If Henry walks in water, Desert Boy walks in water. In the following photos, you can see the fun they have together--and how Henry encourages Desert Boy.

Henry's drinking water, why shouldn't I?

Maybe it would be more fun to throw a rock into the water--regardless that Henry is in the way!

Ah, waves, I threw well and got the rock into the puddle.

If I turn my back, Mom can't see me walk through the puddle just like Henry did. Besides, I'm wearing camo pants and they make me blend right in.

Plant Survival Strategies in the Desert

It's been dry out here for a long stretch, and whenever that happens I can't help but marvel at the interesting ways plants have evolved to live in such a dry climate. 

Prickly pear-Opuntia sp.

Xerophytes are plants that have changed their physical characteristics to withstand long periods of dryness. One classic example is a cactus. Instead of having leaves, which have a big surface area and thus lose a lot of moisture to evapotranspiration, a cactus has spines. The stem (cactus pad) is green and contains chlorophyll, acting as leaves do in other plants. However, this stem is often covered with a waxy coating which prevents water from leaving. In fact, many cacti can store water within their stems. They also have shallow, spreading root systems to absorb any available moisture from a brief rainstorm. 

Gray rabbitbrush-Chrysothamnus nauseosus

Another adaptation of plants that live in the desert is very small leaves, so there is less surface area for water to escape. Some plants' leaves have the ability to close their pores (stomata) to keep water in them under the intense sunlight, and some have fewer stomata than similar species found in wetter conditions. The plants may be very hairy to reflect sunlight and reduce the amount of air movement next to the leaves, which will wick away the moisture.

Stonecrop-Sedum lanceolata

Succulent plants, like stonecrop, can store water in the vacuoles, which are specialized tissues in their cells. All cacti are also succulents, and barrel cacti are famous for being able to contain large amounts of water. Many desert plants can also store water in their roots.

Joshua tree-Yucca brevifolia

The metabolism of desert plants is often very slow to reduce energy requirements. A Joshua tree only grows about two feet tall in ten years. A Saguaro cactus takes 30 years to grow just a few feet tall.

If you've looked out over a scene of desert plants, it may have seemed sparse. The plants do not live close together on purpose--there are so few nutrients and so little moisture that it takes quite a bit of space for each plant to obtain them. Spreading root systems help keep others away. In addition, some plants, like the creosote bush, have roots that are poisonous to other plants so that it's not crowded and has plenty of room to get the moisture and nutrients it needs.

Fourwing  saltbush-Atriplex canescens

Most plants need photosynthesis to live. Common photosynthesis uses what's called the C3 cycle, in which the plant fixes carbon into a three carbon compound (phosphoglyceric acid) in order to make carbohydrates. But that's not the only way photosynthesis can occur. Some desert plants like those in the goosefoot family (like the fourwing saltbush above) and bunchgrasses use the C4 cycle, which creates a four carbon compound (aspartate or malate acid). This process is more efficient in maximizing energy.

There is yet another method of photosynthesis, called Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM). It is used by succulents and is even more efficient. These plants open their stomates at night to absorb carbon dioxide, and then during the day use it for photosynthesis. With the stomates open only at night, they use only one-tenth the amount of water as some plants.

Greasewood-Sarcobatus vermiculatus

Other desert plants have developed long root systems to tap into underground water. These phreatophytes are good indicators of a relatively shallow aquifer system--something important for desert travelers to learn to identify. Mesquite trees can have roots that go down 80 feet, while greasewood roots may grow 50 feet to reach water. Many of these phreatophytes, like the creosote bush, will also have some roots close to the surface to capture rainfall. 

Ocotillo-Fouquieria splendens (BLM photo)

Another adaptation to desert dryness is to go dormant when not enough water is available. The ocotillo is a classic example. After rain, it will grow leaves and flower. As the climate dries, the leaves will fall off, and the ocotillo will go dormant again. It may repeat this cycle five times in one year! Greasewood also will lose leaves if its deep root loses contact with the aquifer. It may appear that the plant is dead, but once enough water is present, the leaves will come back (unless it has been dry too long!).

Indian Paintbrush-Castilleja sp.

Annuals like Indian paintbrush will only bloom when their seeds have had the right moisture and temperature. Sometimes the seeds will lie dormant for years and years until the right conditions are met. Then the plant will produce spectacular flowers. In a few days or weeks, the seeds are scattered and await the next set of climate conditions that will allow them to show their beauty again. The drier the conditions, the more annual plants that live there. It's estimated that half the plants in the Sonoran Desert are annuals, while even drier climates may consist of 90% annuals.

Tufted evening primrose-Oenothera caespitosa

Pollination can be a challenge for some desert plants, because not many animals are active in the extreme heat of the day. One adaptation is to flower at night, when more potential pollinators are active during the cooler conditions. 

Another adaptation of desert plants is to go to the water. Plants around springs and streams are extremely different than those just a few meters away, where conditions are much drier. Changes to that water source will reduce the diversity of the plant communities.

As you can see, plants have developed a large number of ways to survive in the desert. Some have developed unique ways to store and gather water (succulents). Others have learned to tolerate drought conditions by going dormant. And some plants avoid drought by staying in the seed stage until the conditions are just right for a short burst of life. Because of these adaptations, desert plants are often easy to recognize. They have to deal with extreme conditions, and in doing so, they have become interesting plants with recognizable characteristics. Although the desert may seem a harsh and inhospitable place, indigenous plants have learned to live--and thrive--with the dry conditions.

Desert Destination: The Mojave Desert

The Great Basin Desert where I live now is quite cold in winter, being a high desert with a thin atmosphere. So it was time to head south to the Mojave Desert, which has warmer weather.The Mojave desert covers the southern part of California and Nevada, the northwestern part of Arizona, and a little of Utah. 

Heading down the highway, I saw the pinyon and juniper trees and sagebrush fade away and a new character appear...

A Joshua tree! The Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) is the signature plant of the Mojave desert. It pretty much only grows in this desert, and its outlandish character makes it really easy to spot. Whenever I see one, I wonder if Dr. Seuss found inspiration in these trees.

Joshua trees are slow growers, stretching about three inches higher a year for the first ten years, and then only an inch and a half a year thereafter. Joshua trees can live hundreds of years, with a few even surpassing their thousandth birthday. They don't have growth rings, so it can be really difficult to age a Joshua tree. The tallest ones reach about 45 feet high.

Joshua trees can grow from seeds or underground rhizomes that spread from nearby neighbors. They apparently can have quite an extensive root network. The leaves of Joshua trees are pointy, so they don't exactly encourage caressing. From February to April, white flowers appear and are pollinated by the yucca moth.

As the trees grow older, they can have many branches that reach out and take even crazier forms. The name Joshua tree was given by Mormon settlers traveling across the Mojave desert who were reminded of a biblical story of Joshua reaching his arms up to the heavens in prayer.

The valley bottom is covered in fog, making these Joshua trees appear even more supernatural. Joshua trees do not grow everywhere in the Mojave Desert; for example, they were not on the valley bottom. Although they can survive with scarce precipitation and hot temperatures, even they have their limits.  

In Search of the Perfect Christmas Tree

This last weekend it was time for us to go out tree hunting. We always get a live tree for Christmas, and we figure with the relatively recent influx of trees to lower elevation areas, we are doing our part to help restore sagebrush grasslands. 

Although some years we go different places, this year we went to our usual haunt, which is full of pinyon pine and juniper trees. Not far from the truck I saw the tall juniper tree above, and it looked like the perfect Christmas tree to me. But you can never pick the first tree you see, that just wouldn't be right.

So we wandered around some more in the freezing temperatures, tromping through the snow. The snow wasn't very deep this year, so we couldn't go sledding, but there was enough of it that we could follow our tracks back to trees we liked a lot. The one above was in contention.

My mother-in-law liked this cute little one. You can see some sagebrush nearby--some people will get sagebrush as their Christmas tree, but we haven't tried that yet. I bet it would smell good.

Here I am squinting into the sun next to a really bushy pinyon pine that would take up half our living room. My husband for once said he would take a photo of me. I said okay because of you dear friends who read this blog and say I don't have pictures of myself. But I knew what I was letting myself in for.

"Dear, your finger is over the lens."

"No it isn't."

I bit my lip and tried to smile, then realized it didn't matter. But his finger wasn't completely over the lens, and  I cropped that part out. Someday my husband will learn to take photos. Maybe. When pigs learn to fly.

Before we get into the actual cutting the tree down part, I should tell you a little more about getting a Christmas tree, in case you live in the city and your only experience has been to the tree lot on the corner. On public lands in the West, it's quite common for the BLM and Forest Service to sell Christmas tree permits. The permit conditions range quite a bit, often depending on how many people live near the public land. Some permits cost up to $20, but where we live a BLM permit is only $3.50. The number of permits is generally limited to one to three, but in some areas an unlimited number of trees can be cut. The species of tree can vary from pinyon pine and juniper to white fir, Jeffrey pine, and even incense cedar near the Reno/Tahoe area. 

Okay, now to the cutting. When you go and cut your own Christmas tree, you have to remember to bring the right tools, namely a saw. My husband used a little saw that happened to be in the truck from when we cut our Christmas tree last year.

Which tree did we choose? We ended up back at the first one I had seen and liked, a juniper. We had never had a juniper tree before and I wanted to try something new. Junipers are often used for fence posts, and with this one growing so nice and straight, after Christmas we'll strip off the branches and make it into a fence post for our garden.

After a few minutes of sawing,  the tree was down. My husband may not be good at photography, but he makes fast work of cutting down a Christmas tree.

Back at home, we took it inside and found---oops, it was a couple inches too tall! A little clip solved that problem. Next came decorating it, which was quite a chore with Desert Boy. (My husband went off to do ranch chores.) While I put one ornament on the tree, Desert Boy decided it was fun to play with the others. With his fascination with balls, he had to handle nearly every one of the bulb Christmas ornaments. He found out the hard way they really aren't balls, and they shatter when you throw them. He also learned that it's not a good idea to bang them against the stone fireplace. I now have extra room in my Christmas storage bin.

Nevertheless, we eventually got the Christmas tree decorated, and Desert Boy is fascinated with the lights. Any bets on how long until he pulls the whole thing down?