This has been a dry spring. I had looked forward to sharing the May wild-flowers with you, but May came and went with little to show. This is Mule Ear and May last year the hillsides were yellow from the prolific growth. After a record-breaking week of rain every day, suddenly we have a late, meager wildflower season. An inch of rain fell in that period which is significant when you realize that Nevada gets 7" in a year. The reservoirs are still low and we remain in drought.
Prickly Poppy gets its name from the short yellow spines that cover its stems. The flowers can get up to 5" across and the face actually looks like a fried egg. If you look carefully, you will see all three of our dogs.
Not only is the plant armed to the teeth, its full of alkaloids and toxic to eat - why would anything want to? It reminds me of a thistle. Thankfully, the thistles are sir not appearing in this picture - not enough moisture in time.
Desert Peach has its peaches now. Some of those barbs are 3" long. This is not a bush you want to brush up against.
The white pelicans are back at the dammed ponds of Ross Creek. The attraction? This pond is stocked and leased by a fly fishing instructor who teaches classes here. I love to see these birds. He does not.
Storm clouds at sunset.
12 comments:
What a beautiful landscape, Sharon!
Isnt this weather weird!? We have seen lots of wild flowers here. Well not where I live, we dont get them in the valley floors, but up in the canyons they have been very prolific.
I wonder, if the pelican could read, would he call for permission? lol
I wondered why there were fisher men at that pond. The pelicans told me there were fish!
I have never seen or heard of any of those kinds of flowers. That was really interesting. So different from where I live. Loved the storm clouds. The sky just looks so big there. We have two story houses and figher jets in the skies here. I only found one dog. Where were the other two?
Great photos. I was wondering what that white poppy was called. Is the peach from the desert peach edible?
Love the desert blooms! Thanks you for sharing them. :-)
I would love those pelicans too. :) Interesting to see your vegetation. Of course, it's different from ours, which probably makes it all the more fascinating.
Only 7 inches of rain a year! Yipes! I just looked it up, and we get 44 inches in our section of NH, while the US average is 37".
Love the picture with your 3 dogs!! (I did really have to hunt for the third one!)
Thanks for all of the great book recommendations lately! I suddenly realized that you must be a librarian with such a broad range of book recommendations.
Thanks for the tour of some of your desert plants. It's interesting to see how much they fight to live in a tough climate for them - and they arm themselves with all kinds of deterrents so they won't be devoured or dried out.
Sue
Beautiful pictures. Can you eat the pears? So much fun learning about the plants in the desert.
I can't imagine only seven inches of rain a year. You must have a very deep well.
Beautiful photographs, Sharon. I love seeing landscapes that are so different from what I see around here (SE PA).
A very different spring into summer this year... can you make jam from desert peaches? Those spines look wicked.
Nice pictures of the local wildflowers. I love the Mule's Ears. They make a wonderful whispering sound in the breeze once they have dried.
Are you counting days or hours now?
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