The Hills Are Alive in the Sonoran Desert

April 5, 2020April 5, 2020Jeff

During these times of sheltering in place, when the weather turns nice we are bound to get the urge to take part in an outdoor activity. Luckily, in Maricopa County (Phoenix and surrounds) the weather has been perfect.

Wildflowers generally bloom this time of year and because of the rather abundant winter rains, we were hoping they would be putting on quite a show. We wanted to share the hiking activity with my brother-in-law and his friend and naturally we needed to observe appropriate social distancing.

We decided to visit an area we thought would not be too crowded even though it is beautiful. The plan was that each couple would drive separately and meet up at Lake Pleasant near Wickenburg, AZ.

Once at the parking area, we used the amenities, reviewed the maps and headed out on the Cottonwood Trail.

This is a view of the lake from the parking area.

The Cottonwood Trail was in a direction opposite that of the lake and thus there we only encountered a few other hikers.

Almost immediately, we found a beautiful hedgehog cactus (chinocereus Engelmannii). The colors seem almost too intense to be real like those in an overpriced tropical drink!

Pink and purple were the dominant colors of the day. The hills were covered with owl’s clover (Castilleja exserta ssp. exserta).

They found footing in and around rocks and in what appeared to be inhospitable spaces.

Some patches were so dense that the entire hillside was pink!

The combination of the flowers, green bushes and towering saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea) highlighted the natural beauty of the desert.

There were also ample displays of orange globe mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua).

Anecdote: We had a Maricopa County Park pass which allows for an entire car to enter the parks (including Lake Pleasant) on the one pass. Since we drove separately and although we totalled only four in our “group,” we inquired as to whether under the circumstances, we would be allowed to enter under the one pass. The attendant thought for a moment and said: “How about a Coronavirus discount?”… and waived us along.

Everyone is doing the best they can!

Read more hiking and exploring stories on JBRish HERE

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Photography: My Shot – Nature’s Color Palette

October 14, 2019November 25, 2019Jeff

There appears to be a little-known gem in near Winslow, Arizona. It is to be found in Navajo County. It is a beautiful natural land mass that unfortunately receives little or no care from the federal, state or local governments. There are volunteers who try to keep the sparkle on this natural wonder.

The area is known as the Little Painted Desert and it is very much as pretty as many areas of the Painted Desert National Park. We happened to stumble upon information about this natural display of formations and colors and decided to visit the property to see it for ourselves.

This is just one small area and you can see how beautiful the colorful hues of purple, grey and brown mix together for a stunning display. Nature truly is the best at providing exquisite vistas upon which we are fortunate enough to gaze.

If you are on your way to Winslow, AZ near the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert Natioinal Parks, I think you would enjoy a brief stop at the Little Painted Desert as well. Just be aware that it is easy to miss as there is no signage and the rim road is in very poor, but drivable condition if you take it slow and exercise care.

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Metadata

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Capture time: 2:35:45 PM
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Fujifilm X-T2
18-55mm f/2.8-4 R LM OIS

Edited in Lightroom

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Check out Jeff’s Instagram account for more interesting photos!

Spring 2018 – What’s Growing in the Arizona Desert?

March 19, 2018March 19, 2018Jeff

We have arrived at our spring planting season in the Phoenix, Arizona area even when other areas of the nation continue to be cold and perhaps stormy. I had an opportunity to visit the demonstration garden at the Maricopa County Extension Center which is maintained primarily by the Master Gardeners.

There were some interesting plants in full bloom and I wanted to share two of them with you. When I select a plant to grow, it is generally one that has impressive flowers. This can be small, numerous flowers or large, showy flower that are less in number.

I also like to have the flower-to-leaf ratio to be appropriate. I don’t want the leaves to overpower the flowers. The one exception to this would be a plant that has pretty or show leaves. One plant that comes to mind in this category is Milk Thistle. We have lots of critters in our neighborhood and they like many of the plants we enjoy so I need to be very selective.

Then there are some plants that people in our region select because they are unique.

One quite “different” plant at the demonstration garden is Lion’s Tail or Wild Dagga (Leonotis leonurus) – One look and it will be obvious how this flower received its name.

Lion's Tail or Wild Dagga

Here is a close up of the flower…

Lion's Tail or Wild Dagga - closeup

Lion’s Tail is reportedly a fast growing, drought tolerant plant!

You can read more about this unique plant in The San Francisco Gate article HERE. — scroll down.

Another unique and interesting plant is the Hyacinth Bean (Dolichos lablab or Lablab purpurea). This plant is grown as much for its purple seed pod as the plentiful light and dark pink flowers. If you have a place in your garden for a vine, this might be a very good choice.

Hyacinth Bean

Naturally if this is grown in our area, it must be heat tolerant, but the amazing thing is how well the vine tends to do even with the hight temperatures as long as it is given ample water.

Hyacinth Bean closeup

You can find more information about Hyacinth Bean HERE and HERE.

Brodiaea elegans at Hetch Hetchy – Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 282

April 23, 2017April 23, 2017Jeff

Part of the joy of hiking is finding nature’s surprises such as this patch of beautiful wildflowers. This pair of Brodiaea elegans blooms was striking in color especially in contrast to the dreariness of the other muted tones produced by the cloudy weather.

Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 157 (A Carpet of Wildflowers – Phlox)

December 13, 2016Jeff

Spreading Phlox was abundant at Yosemite — Along many of the trails and paths we hiked, we came across purple or pink phlox

This somewhat dainty plant was abundant during our late Spring, 2016 visit to Yosemite. It is most likely Spreading Phlox (Phlox diffusa). The color of the phlox ranged from light purple or pink to very pale renditions of both bordering on near white.

We would often come across pockets of phlox clusters separated by only a few feet which sometimes looked as though someone had strewn beautiful bouquets along our path. I hope all the hikers took time to appreciate the beautiful display.

Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 157 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Hardenbergia – Desert Lilac Vine

February 15, 2016Jeff

Hardenbergia close view

In the Sonoran Desert this is a transition time of year as we are moving from the cooler winter weather where the temperatures can be relatively low to the warmer daytime temperatures of mid-to-high seventies. This year it seems as though we have been breaking records with temps in the eighties already; yikes!

This has encouraged our Hardenbergia vine (Purple Vine Lilac) to put on quite a show. The wet winter without a frost and the warmer temperatures have our plant strutting her early spring finery!

Late afternoon hardenbergia spray with beee

The late afternoon picture (above) shows that the bees (upper left-ish) enjoy this plant as well.

What makes this post extra sweet for me is that this particular plant was a box store rescue. They had it on a discount table for $1. Of course it looked nothing like its current self and was a leaf or two away from the compost heap!

The photo below is one of my favorite (even though the shallow depth of field has only some of the plant in focus) because the bright yellow anthers look like little eyes and with a bit of imagination, I can see a face in some of these small flowers.

Another close view of the hardenbergia

Hardenbergia originates in Australia and likes to dry out between waterings which is well suited for the desert landscape with just a bit of extra care. It is often used as a ground cover down under, but with the critters we have in the desert, we don’t need to create more hiding places!

Here is a picture of the complete vine which is more than six feet tall!

Full length picture of the hardenbergia vine; higher than six feet

You can read more about Hardenbergia violacea here

See more JBRish gardening and desert gardening posts here HERE

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