Sonoran desert

In the Desert, Its Beginning to Look Like…

Jeff

As most people can imagine, there isn’t too much in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona that would innately remind the casual visitor of the overall Christmas/Winter Holiday Season. It does get cool during the late fall and winter evenings. We hit temperatures in the forties many nights during the end of November and through December. We can also get more rain this time of year, but generally not as much as January.

So residents of the Phoenix area use their creativity to devise ways of decorating for the winter holidays.

Here is a photograph of a variegated agave we had in our landscape at one time. The plant has thick leaves with sharp edges and each leaf has a sharp point on the end. That is how it survives in the desert. Without all those sharp edges and points, it would be eaten to death by rabbits, javelinas and other denizens.

Agave with sharp edges and points

People have discovered that those sharp tips at the ends of the leaves have another good use!

Gold colored Christmas balls create a crown-like appearance on top of this agave in the front yard. They play well against the green of the agave and the rest of the residential desert landscape.

Gold balls on a green agave

If solid gold is too regal for you and you want more of a standard Christmas color scheme, a variety of colors would work just as well.
Colorful variety of Christmas balls on an agave

Colorful variety of Christmas balls on an agave

The increased color palette (above) plays well with other holiday ornaments such as the foreground cactus with Santa hat.

Instead of plain poinsettias, how about faux poinsettia leaves attached to the branches of the Ocotillo?

Ocotillo with Poinsettia leaves

(BTW – If you want to see what an Ocotillo looks like during the active growing season with leaves and without fake ornamentation, click HERE)

For a more subtle spot decoration, smaller colorful Christmas balls can be uniquely placed in planters.

Planter with small, colorful Christmas balls


Yes, it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the Sonoran Desert in 2016!

Flowers of Flagstaff, Summer 2016

Jeff


Flowers of Flagstaff, Summer 2016

Followers of JBRish have seen a good number of flower pictures I have posted and many of them were desert natives or xeric varieties. One of the amazing qualities of Arizona is the variety of ecosystems and scenery the state has. Naturally there is the beautiful and very different Sonoran Desert, but we also have the high country which includes Flagstaff and serves as a summer retreat and winter skiing destination.

Last weekend we did something a bit different and very special as we celebrated the birthday of my best friend. It was a surprise getaway weekend that we planned with another very special couple-friends.

As we arrived at the door of the “birthday boy,” we saw a very interesting cactus in bloom in the front yard.

hot pink cactus flowerA cactus blooms after recent rains in the Sonoran Desert

I admit it is hard to believe that the flower pictured above is real, but it is. The color is so vibrant and “hot.”

Less than a few hours later we arrived at our northern destination and escaped the grasp of the 105 plus temperature for a much more moderate 75 degree atmosphere. This moderate climate enabled us to stroll the grounds of our hotel where we enjoyed the blooms of plants we don’t often see in the Phoenix area. I thought you would like to see some of them.

One of the first interesting sights we came across was a leaning evergreen tree.

Leaning Evergreen

It is difficult to conjecture why this tree is growing at such an angle. Perhaps it is the result of a rainy period followed by a strong wind storm that pushed it from its vertical posture.

Along the path Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan) had been planted which an insect found very appealing.

Rudbeckia (Black-eyed Susan)

Shasta daisies were putting on a show for passersby as well.

Shasta daisies

Ratibida or Prairie Coneflower enjoyed their home in the nearby meadow. I believe this variety is also known as Mexican hat (Ratibida columnifera)


Prairie Coneflowers

Several Blanket flowers (Gaillardia) were basking in sunnier locations. This plant also feels at home in our desert environment with proper care.

Blanket Flower

The last floral display we saw as we left the wooded area was, what I believe, is a cultivar of
Sambucus canadensis known as Elderberry or Common Elder.

Elderberry

While the wildflowers and cultivated gardens were left behind, we did enjoy one more floral display later that evening.

Flowers in a vase 

A pretty floral display at Josephine’s restaurant, Flagstaff

See previous posts about gardening-related topics here HERE

Monsoon Desert Bloom – Mammillaria

Jeff

For those who are unfamiliar with the Sonoran Desert around North Phoenix, let me explain what happens during the heat of the summer through the middle of September.

The desert often creates strong dust storms and rain storms. These are customarily referred to as “monsoons” although technically they probably do not meet the necessary criteria for such a designation. Read more about our desert monsoons HERE!

During these storms, the Sonoran Desert receives much of its yearly rainfall. This past week, we had some very strong storms with winds and much rain.

When the “monsoon” storms arrive, there are desert plants that respond by soaking up the moisture and using the opportunity to bloom and produce seeds.

The picture below shows one such plant across the street from our house which is basically “the desert”.

desert plants after a rain 

Plants in the desert after the rain


The large plant in the center/top of the photograph that looks like it has antlers is a cholla. This is one plant that people try to avoid because it is segmented with a multitude of needles. The needles grab on to clothing, skin, leather or almost anything and a segment then breaks off and goes for a ride with the bearer. This is one way the cholla propagates.

In front of that large pant is a smaller cluster of cacti. This is a mammillaria and it produces a variety of pinkish flowers that nearly look artificial. They are very attractive and seem as if they would be at home in a tropical drink at the local brew pub.

Here is a closer look…

mammilaria blooms from above 

This mammailaria cluster has dozens of flowers which create a colorful bouquet

This is a non-cultivated plant that grew on its own. We do enjoy having it in our neighborhood!

Unique & Beautiful Boulder House, Scottsdale, AZ

Jeff

I live in an area of the Sonoran Desert that is close to North Scottsdale, Arizona. The desert is a special environment and it lends itself to some unique architecture. One such building is known as the Boulder House.

The Unique and Beautiful Boulder House, Scottsdale, AZ

As you can see, the house, which is a national landmark, is built into and around the boulders. These boulders however are unique in and of themselves as they have petroglyphs on them.

The Unique and Beautiful Boulder House, Scottsdale, AZ

The house is currently featured on a number of realty sites and you can get a glimpse of more than just the exterior. Here is a quote from the LuxuryDesertHideaways.com web page which has some amazing photos of the entire building;inside and out!

“The Rare and Unique Boulder House in North Scottsdale, with the site and petroglyphs on the National Register of Historic Places On almost 9 acres of unspoiled desert called ”The most Original Home in America” by author Stanley Marcus in the book “Quest for the Best! Also included in “The Home Book” of greatest world-wide home designs which includes “Falling Waters” and the “Vanderbilt”!

The World renowned Boulder House-one of the only Arizona Architectural Digest Cover Homes, designed by Charles Johnson has been featured in over 30 publications and international TV including The Discovery Channel. This residence is integrated into a massive outcropping of granite boulders that make up over 60% of the structure. It’s also a horse property right in the middle of North Scottsdale, near the Boulders Resort. Surrounded by the famous and exclusive Whisper Rock golf course on two sides.”

You can see a Vimeo video The Boulder House and here is what Vimeo has to say about it:

“Called ”The most Unique Home in America” by author Stanley Marcus! The World renowned Boulder House-one of Arizona’s only Architectural Digest Cover Homes, designed by noted architect Charles Johnson and featured in over 30 publications, books and international TV. This astonishing residence, on almost 9 acres off undisturbed desert, is integrated into a massive outcropping of granite boulders that make up over 60% of the structure. It’s also a horse property. The land’s ancient petroglyphs chiseled into the home’s exterior, earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places. There is no residence like this in the world, and has a multitude of potential uses. Surrounded by natural and pristine desert and bordered by the Whisper Rock golf course.”

Winter’s Light and Color in the Desert

Jeff

Anyone living in Sonoran Desert will gladly acknowledge the extremes in temperatures with a knowing smile. The winter temps can get as low as freezing and of course the summers, oh the summers, can soar to near 112 degrees plus at times.

One advantage, if you will, is that with the appropriate timing, one can hike and enjoy nature all year long.

Although it is winter in the desert, we still have “fall color.” I am not suggesting that the colors of fall in our desert can compete with New England or other areas of the world where there are an abundance of shades and hues, but we do have some color. Mostly that color is gold and yellow.

We took a hike last week in mid-afternoon when temps were in the mid-50s. This saguaro was haloed in a bright yellow light with the light green and yellow leaves of the plants in front accentuating the columnar display.

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Birds such as this Black Phoebe were enjoying the sun and the nearby stream on this autumnal-like winter’s day.

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As we were leaving the hiking trail and thinking about heading home, I looked back to witness this beautiful vista.

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I thought a closeup would prove even prettier and although it is colorful, I like the wider view above.

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With the contrast of light and dark on the first picture of the saguaro, I thought perhaps with a bit of cropping, it would make a good subject for a black and white picture. Do you like the black and white or the color version?

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JBRish.com originally published this post

Winter Holiday in the AZ Desert

Jeff

I don’t know what most people think about the winter holidays in the Sonoran Desert, but it is celebrated here much the same as it is all over the United States and perhaps the world. We do have a few differences, however. Below are some photographs taken at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix earlier this month.

Poinsettias and cyclamen are popular Christmas plants because of their red, green and white colors and their suitability to cooler temperatures.

poinsettias and white cyclamen

Planters with variations of this assortment can be found in numerous locations at the Desert Botanical Garden this time of year.

poinsettias and white cyclamen

Naturally we do accent some of them with our desert favorites like the agave and aloe in this grouping.

poinsettias, white cyclamen with an agave and aloe

And this taller cactus contrasted with poinsettias.

tall desert cactus accented with red poinsettias

For evening visitors to the DBG, there are metal sculptures with votive candle holders to add to the celebratory nuance of the season (pictured here unlit during the daytime).

metal sculpture of a candle tree

Recognizable in any locale is the relatively standard Christmas wreath!

Christmas wreath with red ribbon and shiny balls

That is not to say we don’t have our quirky desert expression of the season such as…

Cactus with Santa hats

Picture courtesy of AZ Landscape Creations

Happy Holidays form JBRish in the Sonoran Desert!

 

Desert Snake – Coachwhip

Jeff

As noted in previous posts, I live in the desert southwest and one thing we have in our neighborhood is snakes. Yes, we have a good number of snakes. We don’t seem them every day, but every spring and summer we encounter several of them.

Unlike some people, I like snakes. I even like the poisonous snakes because they fulfill an important role of keeping the rodent population in check. I just wish the would have larger appetites so we didn’t see as many rodents in the desert.

One day I peered outside to see a Coachwhip commonly referred to as a Red Racer (Coluber flagellum piceus) because it is very fast. I had to be quick to get these two photos because once the snake decided to take off, it exited a break neck speed.

I think there is a lot of beauty in the coloration of this particular snake. The blurb below from the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum explains the derivation of the name.

Coachwhip Snake

 
Coachwhip Snake

This long, slender snake reaches lengths of 3 to 8¼ feet (90-260 cm) long. Quite variable in color, it can be tan, gray, pink, black, reddish-brown, or any combination of these colors. Broad crossbars may be present. The scales are smooth and the eyes large; the head is distinct from the body. Unlike the adults, young may have obvious dark brown or black blotches or bands on a light brown background. This snake receives its name from the braided appearance of its scales which resemble the whip used by stagecoach drivers in earlier days. Quote courtesy of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Read More About the Coachwhip:

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

Reptiles of Arizona


JBRish.com originally published this post

Desert Water Dump – Tucson, Arizona

Jeff

As most readers of JBRish know, I live in the desert southwest. We don’t get much rain, less than twelve inches per year, at our Sonoran Desert home. When it rains, however (especially during “Monsoon Season”), it seems like the heavens open up and pour water onto the land. Photographer Bryan Snider captured a time-lapse of this microburst phenomenon and as you can see, the rain is “dumped” on to the land as though someone has tipped a bucket over it.



You can see more of Bryan Snider’s Work here.

Yikes! Spikes – Agave and Sotol

Jeff

This spring/summer has been an unusual one for our desert garden especially our front landscape. We have a good number of agaves in our front yard. Agaves are sharp-leaved plants that need little water so they do very well in arid places and the Sonoran desert is no exception.

Once in their lifetime agaves send out a flower stalk which we refer to as a spike. The spike flowers and then produces bulbils (plantlets) or seeds. Once the process is complete, the mother plant dies. Before the plant dies, however, it generally produces other plants which are called pups.

We moved into our home and several agaves were already in place and then we added additional species. Each agave species or type flowers according to their own timetable and if you were planting a bunch of agaves from the same species, you would want to purchase them at different stages of growth so they don’t all spike at once and end up dying at the same time.

Here is what our landscape looks like now…

Agaves with spikes

Can you see all the spikes? Just in case you can’t see them all, here they are numbered…

Agaves with spikes numbered

Yes we have seven spikes all at the same time. As I indicated above, these are not all the same type of agave and it just worked out that they spiked together.

We have one additional twist to the story. Among the agaves is a sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri) , or desert spoon (#4). They also send out a spike. One of the main differences is that the sotols don’t die after producing their spike. They continue with their life cycle. You can see that it looks quite different from the others. While we have at least three sotols, only one has sent out a spike this season.

Here is a close up of the one section and the sotol is a bit more noticeable (right of center).

sotol among the agaves

We found this random occurrence unusual and it makes our landscape look a bit otherworldly with all those spikes in the air. What are your thoughts?

 
Read More:

Agaves

Arizona Municipal Water Users Association/a> – Click on a variety to see more detail

Here is a picture of a variegated agave ( Agave weberi ‘Arizona Star’) which adds an additional interest to the landscape

Sotol (desert spoon)

Arizona State University

Water When Dry

Birds at the Gilbert Water Ranch – 20150412 – Part 1

Jeff

I awoke at 3:30am this morning to prepare for my “bird watch” outing at the Gilbert Water Ranch in Gilbert, Arizona. We had to be at the park by 6am and my wife and I were going to car pool with a person we had never met so we needed to be on time. Their home was 22-25 minutes away and they wanted to leave at 5:25. Of course I needed my requisite cup(s) of coffee and I also needed to get my STATUS QUOtes out to my mailing list.

[Self promotion here: If you like quotes, really good quotes, check out my STATUS QUOTes posted daily on this blog. Click here – STATUS QUOTes– to view the entire category.]

In any event, all went smoothly and we met up with our tour guide, Kathe, and proceeded to the Gilbert Water Ranch arriving on schedule. We saw a good number of birds this day. I might also mention that this is a transition time for birds in our area and some are moving out while less are moving in ahead of the long, hot summer days.

As we started our tour, a some birds already on my seen list were spotted. The first new-ish experience for me was a Mourning Dove in the crook of a Saguaro cactus. I have seen many Mourning Doves, but not in the arms of a Saguaro! Most likely this was a nest built by a Curve-billed Thrasher and usurped by the dove.

Mourning Dove in Saguaro Cactus Nest

As we walked along the paths meandering through the reclamation ponds, we came across a white-crowned Sparrow. I am sure I had seen these before, but never noted it so this was a new entry on my list.

white-crowned sparrow

Even though this is the desert, we do have riparian and oasis-type areas that draw water birds. One such resident this day was the Neotropic Cormorant.

Neotropical Cormorant

Walking on the path ahead of us was an Abert’s Towhee.

Disclaimer here: There wasn’t much light early on the walk because it was cloudy. My Superzoom really needs a lot of light to render crisp, clear shots so this may be a bit “fuzzy,” but certainly good enough for my bird-spotting history.

Abert's Towhee

There were several sightings of Great Blue Herons. This particular bird remained perched on a man-made platform for some time so we could get a clear picture.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

When we came to the bird below, there was some discussion whether this was a Lesser Yellowlegs or a Greater Yellowlegs. For those non-birders, this is what we do! After referring to the the Sibley Field Guide and a brief debate, it was decided that based on the size of the bird and markings, it was a Lesser Yellowlegs.

Lesser Yellowlegs

As I might have mentioned in one of my previous posts somewhere on this blog and most certainly on my previous Internet persona, Gardening on the Moon, we live on the edge of the desert and one bird we have in large numbers is the Gambel’s Quail. These birds are round and not exactly aerodynamic and thus they would rather walk or run than fly. Approaching them in a car often causes them to scurry ahead, but when forced, they do take to the air. It is unusual to spot them perched high in a tree as the bird below was spotted posing for its closeup.

TGambel's Quail

The last bird I will present today is a Green Heron. It is an unusual name for a majestic bird that doesn’t actually contain much green anywhere in its plumage! Supposedly under certain conditions, it has a blue-green “gloss.”

Green Heron

We saw a good many other birds this day and I will post our other sightings soon. Until then, I hope you have enjoyed following me along my birding journey.