BloomBlog

Spring is the time i look forward to for several reasons; the most important for my body and soul is returning to the desert.

Spring in the desert means warmer temperatures (with incredible range), and blooming flora. Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada is about 60 miles northeast of Las Vegas. If you have the time on your ‘Vegas vacation’ and grow tired of the strip life, it is a great escape from the city. The sites in the campground have some of the best settings and backdrops i’ve seen in a state park.

 

Time your trip right and you will observe a gorgeous wildflower display. Last year, i feel like the west had four seasons with its above average precipitation and below average temperatures but this year we are seeing record breaking heat and lower than normal precipitation thus far.

 

 

 

 

 

The tall, handsome, sandstone rocks are stained with chartreuse, brown, light blue and other arrays of coloration from clenching lichens above the soft, red sand of the desert floor and rock formations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was fortunate enough to handle a chuckwalla lizard as it dashed between shrubs, my first experience with the species.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another destination close-by is the upper stretch of Lake Mead. The banks display scattered mollusk shells and sharp rocks, giving to a steep drop off into the water as salmon race by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a canoe and an oar you can create your own island surrounded by the gleaming, green water. The banks of the reservoir were touted with stands of the invasive tree, salt cedar (Tamarix species).

May treated us well in 2010, each year varies but we also dropped a canoe in below the Hoover Dam on a July day that same year to a daytime high of 116 degrees! The extreme temperatures deterred other visitors as our vehicle stuck out among the pavement in the parking lot. The water running by was a much cooler 65 degrees which we often resorted to cool off, hourly, day and night!

And for the blooms, back in the park lies creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) habitat. The shrub is a keystone species or ‘principal component’ of the Mohave desert vegetative habitat. Its leaves have been used medicinally under the name “chaparral tea.” Although it may cause damage to the liver or kidneys, the plant was used by native Americans for maladies including sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, chicken pox, and snakebites. Consult your doctor or shaman before acting on such treatments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The time was perfect for desert rocknettle (Eucnide urens), globemallow (Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia.), catclaw acacia (Acacia greggii), and Spanish needle (Palafoxia arida). Some of the photos are out of focus but just adjust your eyes.

Other flowers in bloom not pictured were saucer daisy (Hymenoxys acaulis), beavertail cactus (Opuntia basilaris), pygmy poppy (Eschscholzia minutiflora), and Indian paintbrush (Castilleja sp.). A note that the saucer daisy is not hardy and treated as an annual when planting in northern Utah, and the creosote bush is also difficult to grow in the northern latitude.

Valley of Fire State Park and the surrounding terrain as it lies in the Mojave Desert does not have great resources on the plant life and particularly with identification of plant life (that i have found). A few unknown for the authors to help identify:

 One of the best things aside from the (ad)ventures into the desert are the lifestyles encountered along the way.

This rig was in one of the near towns and it all makes me smile . My family in Massachusetts appreciates photos like these.

I have researched and tried to get the identification correct on the plant species and hope that others will comment if i have not to encourage participation in this blog of blooms.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a relaxing trip to Valley of Fire and Lake Mead. At the end of the desert journey, when you have friends with a swimming pool, the desert is bliss for Homosapien erectus!