Not posting regularly has me finding photos of some projects or outings that I forgot to share.
With a brief, mild winter ending down here, let’s take a warm August hike. There were some interesting scenes on an old streetscape design check-in, then on my weekly hike nearby.
It had rained nicely a few days earlier, and the Blue Ranger / Leucophyllum zygophyllum ‘Cimarron’ quickly developed its deep, purple flower haze. This happens many times each summer, days after any rise in humidity or even a light soak of rain.
I can almost feel the touch of humidity that softens and delays the daily heat-up. The rain-cooled air overnight lingers until at least 8 am.
With no AC running and my car windows wide open, the spicy but floral scent of these flowers is refreshing in a pungent way. All mixing with the notes of rain-scented creosote bush, for miles around.
There, several Blue Ranger shrubs contrast the olive green foliage of a single Creosote Bush / Larrea tridentata, that was retained. As well as their accenting the arc of the low wall; when not in bloom, their gray foliage stands out against the green of the Arizona species of Beargrass / Nolina microcarpa.
Ocotillo / Fouquieria splendens is a native woody but succulent plant, that contrasts other plants with an interesting texture. Unlike in the low desert, here at 4,000 feet elevation, it tends to stay in leaf until the fall cool-down – unless a persistent dry, hot pattern lingers after flowering.
The contrast with other plants during moist weather periods is another twist on seasonal interest.
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A preview to a future post is this view using a telephoto lens on my DSLR camera. See if you can spot the plants that look like gold mounds.
They are Pitaya or Haystack Cactus / Echinocereus stramineus. Their preference for steep, well-drained slopes in loose rock is not missed. I had a few good photos of the larger ones with me for scale, but now I can’t locate those – I’ll post when I find them. The largest haystack cacti on these slopes are up to 3 feet tall and 4-1/2 feet wide.
You can also see they have an attractive flower, when the conditions of rainfall and temperature align, and the sun is high in the sky – mainly between April and July here. These flowers were seen a few months before this August hike.
I continued on, into the last shade of the rocky area on the slope of Picacho, before returning to my car.
Finally, on the numerous sandy areas near my neighborhood, the perennial Devil’s Claw or Desert Unicorn Plant / Proboscidea althaeifolia comes to life, once the summer monsoon rains begin.
There’s another devil’s claw species in native to this area, ranging north into the sandier, desert portions of the Rio Grande valley of central New Mexico. But I still haven’t noticed it on any of my outings down here.
Do you see any unusual or seasonal plants like devils claw or haystack cacti, where you get outside?
It's A Dry Heat 