Archivos de diario de noviembre 2017

13 de noviembre de 2017

Bloom season continues well into November

For the last five years, the plant enthusiasts at the Jemez Mountain Herbarium have been keeping informal records of what species are found flowering around Los Alamos County in early November. The average is about 10 species, and those are usually spotted during the first week of the month.

Here it is November 12 and in the last four days I've found 37 species blooming as if it were late September. The difference in 2017? First I would think that five inches of rain in late September helped stave off the usual late fall drying of the soil as we wait for a decent snowfall. But more important are the temperatures for the last month. With a only few chilly days, the recent daytime highs have been in the upper fifties to mid-sixties--about 10 degrees above average. Nighttime lows--and here is the real difference--have dipped below freezing maybe three times, with the lowest recorded temperature of 29 degrees F.

Put on a personal level, I have a self-imposed rule that I never turn the heat on the house (except for the wood stove in the evening) until November 1, always with much complaining from other residents. I still haven't turned it on, and I haven't heard any complaints.

With warm and damp conditions, the blooming continues, and I have mixed emotions. A wood in the woods is always more appealing with flowering plants, but its about time for winter to arrive and bring New Mexico the moisture it needs for the next growing season.

Publicado el noviembre 13, 2017 02:00 MAÑANA por craigmartin craigmartin | 6 observaciones | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

15 de noviembre de 2017

Red Dot Trail to the Rio Grande

The Sandhill Cranes overhead said it was almost winter, but there was a bit of flower action along the Red Dot Trail today. Perhaps not as much as I expected after the past week of observations, but there were a few surprises along the way.

Spectacle Pod, Foothills Paintbrush, Cota, and Slender Trumpet were the unexpected. Others, well, I've seen them extend their season, so not a total surprise in mid-November.

A complete list for the past week:

Western Evening Primrose
Field Chrysanthemum
Chamisa
Goatsbeard
Crownbeard
Black Medic
Red Clover
Hairy Golden Aster
Spreading Fleabane
Tumble Mustard
Sow thistle
Bull thistle
Simple Goldenrod
Gray Goldenrod
Gallardia
Dandelion
Purple Aster
Mullein
Cheeseweed
Pineappleweed
Chocolate Flower
Sand Aster
Spiny Goldenweed
Slender Goldenweed
Desert Verbena
Stemless Evening-primrose
Greenleaf Five-eyes
Threadleaf Groundsel
Many-headed Groundsel
Apache Plume
Perky Sue
White Sweet Clover
Scarlet Globemallow
Harebells
Fendler's Groundsel
Wild Strawberry
Parry's Thistle
Townsend's Aster
Heath Aster
Noseburn
Spectacle Pod
Foothills Paintbrush
Cota
Slender Trumpet
Desert Thoroughwort
Western Fleabane

Forty-seven species in November. Can I hit 50?

Publicado el noviembre 15, 2017 03:14 MAÑANA por craigmartin craigmartin | 4 observaciones | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

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