Plants – Page 8 – a curious nature

Escapito #6: Summer Sequel …. A Desert SW Escape Part 1: Tijeras, NM to Luna Lake, AZ

October 19/20, 2022

A long first day drive (250 miles) towing The Felix, fully laden, on slow and windy roads. West then south through scenic el Malpais, Quemado (a Catron County stronghold), and into Arizona, all while enjoying beautiful high desert scenery, mountain islands like the Sawtooths (Escapito #3), and open grasslands dotted with pronghorn. First stop, Springerville for fuel and sticker shock! With only 2 places to buy gas, the Circle K coming into town and the Circle K leaving town, we settled on Circle K. Hahaha! Fueled up we were back on the road heading south to the pretty little village of Alpine, AZ 8,000 feet high in the Apache-Sitgraves NF. From there it was a short 5 mile hop back east where we found Luna Lake and our forest campground for the night. The Forest Service closed all but one loop, shut off the water for the season, and didn’t charge for camping! Other than 2 other trailers, we pretty much had the place to ourselves and picked a site with a view of the lake.

Anecdote …… Pins and Needles or The Case of the Wicked Seed: after a long drive we were ready for a hike. But choosing a cross-country trek through tall vegetation was a mistake. Nearly all the wildflowers and grasses had dried and gone to seed, and being fully loaded with ripe seeds, our pant legs, socks and shoestrings provided them an ideal way to disperse. One seed in particular was especially wicked! About 1.5” long and skinny, this hard bugger was tipped with 2 hooks on fork-like tines. Any whisper of contact with these seeds resulted in them leaping out from the seed head and hooking on for a ride. I’m not sure how their grabbers release their grip and drop to the ground, because when we returned to The Felix, we must’ve been carrying 100s of them embedded in our pants with the bottom ends of the hard sharp-pointy seeds lined up like soldiers ready to attack at the slightest threat of extraction. Ouch! After a consult with iNaturalist, submitting only seed photo, the database turned up one possibility ….. Spanish Needles! A brilliantly named member of the sunflower family. I’ll take dandelion fluff any day!

We enjoyed our stay at Luna Lake …… in the morning we woke to the sound of elk bugling in the distance, owls hooting overhead, and a respectable coating of frost in everything. A brisk 1 mile hike on Forest Service roads covering all the campground loops (we weren’t about to venture into the grass ….. oh no way!) warmed us enough to pack up camp and head south in search of summer!

Stay tuned for Part 2: Luna Lake to Clifton, AZ

An excellent cluster of Santa Rita Hedgehog cactus (no matter where you are in the desert SW, watch your step!)

Welcome Autumn!

So much rain! Not complaining ….. we need the moisture. But with days of drenching rain falling in the East Mountains and the Sandias this entire week, summer seemed to flip into Autumn in a matter of days.

Trying to capture the last remnants of fading flowers, I was inspired by a remarkable naturalist and artist, Jean Mackay, to get out there and rescue blooming bits before everything turned brown and crunchy.

Thanks Jean, for the encouragement, and always helpful tips and techniques in creating interesting journal pages. My hike this morning revealed some surprise bloomers that I wanted to remember in my nature journal.

And thanks to my many followers for your continued interest in my discoveries!

Escapito #5: Public Lands Boondocking through central New Mexico

“The Felix” was loaded and ready for a fun boondocking adventure through forest and desert, ghost towns and lava flows, rainbow colored ridges and badlands.
Central New Mexico is a splendid place to explore and discover wildlife, geology and spectacular scenery.

Come on along with us for 4 days of camping fun in the Land of Enchantment.

Summer Bugs and Botany: Cochineal Dye Making

It was a rainy day in most of NM, but what a welcome relief to be getting moisture! As we hastily hiked the lower Copper Trails, we noticed the prickly pear seemed to be draped in a more-than-usual white fuzz, and it wasn’t cotton ball shaped but dripping and running down hundreds of cactus pads. Every direction we turned we found nearly every prickly pear to be covered………………….
And then we spotted hundreds of thousands of brilliant scarlet red bodies of the cochineal insect ….. exposed, naked and frantically trying to hold onto their food source, the vertical surfaces of prickly pear pads. The rain had “melted” their protective coats of fine white wax and the green pads of the cactus looked white washed.

Opportunity!

Summer Botany: Wild About Wild Potatoes

One of the weediest places we camped during our recent Reservoir tour, Santa Cruz Recreation Area, became a floral hot spot of discovery, at least for me. I shared a photo sampling of some of the flora in my last post……

Two new-to-me members of the Potato family really stood out. A plant called Greenleaf Five-eyes and another simply called Wild Potato.

Escapito #4: Reservoir Hopping thru Georgia O’Keefe Country

On the road again with “The Felix” reservoir hopping through spectacular Georgia O’Keefe country in north-central New Mexico.

Come along and see what we discovered!

Summer Botany: My “Crayola” Potato

Oh I do love purple …… not sure why? Anything purple and any shade of purple ….. even a hint of purple will do! As a kid (then and now) my most treasured possession was a new box of crayons. Breaking the seal and inhaling that delicious aroma of color (admit it …. you know the smell) was only the first step in my love affair. Removing each crayon, one-by-one, and taking them for a test drive soon followed, with special care and attention paid to the purples, with names like ……….

Vivid violet, wisteria, twilight lavender, pearly purple, purple pizzazz and purple mountain’s majesty. Who wouldn’t love cyber grape and lilac; or plump purple and sugar plum. How could here be so many purples!

So when I literally stumbled into a mound of the exquisitely purple-hued Silverleaf Nightshade, my surprise and delight was audible. While carefully removing countless nettle-like prickles from my hands, Roy heard me explain, “My “Crayola” Potato!”

Escapito #3: Wildlife and Geology of Catron County

“The Felix” was back in action for another camping adventure into the wilds of New Mexico. For a few days we enjoyed spending time at one of our favorite dry campgrounds, Datil Well. Then on one day we unhooked truck from trailer and headed further afield to explore a seldom visited area of the Cibola National Forest ….. the Sawtooth Mountains.

Come along and see what we discovered!

Summer Botany: Banana Yucca Seed Pod Dissection

After trying for 4 years to collect one of the giant seed pods from our small population of banana yuccas, I was sure this would be the year. One of the plants was in full bloom about a month ago, and after noticing the fleshy fruits were enlarging, I kept watch almost daily.

I should’ve suspected the local population of mule deer were also keeping close watch, because a week ago they snuck in and harvested every single seed pod! Disappointed? Yes. But still determined …….

Then a few days ago I discovered another plant loaded with a dozen of the huge fleshy green pods! Without further ado, I liberated 2 of them and dissection began …..

The Road to Master Naturalist: The Middle Rio Grande Bosque Tour and Lessons Shared by a Nature Journaler

“From the spillway below Cochiti Dam to the headwaters of Elephant Butte Reservoir, the Middle Rio Grande Bosque is more than a cottonwood woodland or forest. It is a whole riparian (or riverside) ecosystem…..”

This is how “A Field Guide to the Plants and Animals of the Middle Rio Grande Bosque”¹ begins, and on June 26th, the Master Naturalists’ trainees spent quality time touring and learning about the nature of this very special area.