2015 - Robert's adventures in the Northern Sierra Nevada - California

[Hoy]

Yes, I am glad I have the opportunity to come around a bit.

I'm not always satisfied with my pictures - sometimes I feel that the camera has its own will
Not many wild plants to see yet, but soon I think they will show up.

You used your 5 min in a good way! But it looks very dry there. What happens when the summer warmth arrives? Are wildfires a problem there?

[Robert]

Monday, 23 March 2015

Weather: Cloudy with a few rain showers.

Temperature,  High: 66 F (19 C)  Low: 49 F (9.5 C)



This week is turning out to be a very busy week for me.

The Traverse Creek, Bear Creek area is very close by, so this turned out to be the place to check on this week. The starting point for this outing was at 2,223 feet (677.5 meters).



There are large areas of serpentine rock with many different exposures. A good place to look for interesting plants.



I must have crawled around for a 1/2 mile or so looking at the early bloomers. The whole area was a natural rock garden, such as these Lomatium growing in the slanting serpentine.



Lewisia rediviva were growing everywhere. Always in the hot, baking sun.



I was a bit too early, as most were in bud still or only showing color. I did find this one plant with a flower that was nearly open. There is considerable variation in this population. I know that I will want to return to examine them more closely when they are in full bloom.

[Robert]

Lomatium utriculatum was growing in this area, as well as another plant that appeared more like L. macrocarpum. It was a little bit tricky to tell for sure, even though there were clear differences in the foliage and stems or lack of stems. When they have mature seed, I can check on this feature too and come up with a better conclusion.



Gold Fields (Lasthenia californica), an early bloomer, were out everywhere. This year I though that I could have missed much already, however my timing turned out to be nearly prefect.



Lomatium were also blooming everywhere.



Another look at the serpentine barrens. There is not much soil for larger plants such as trees and shrubs.



Where there was a bit more soil, Mimulus douglasii was in bloom. It is another one of the tiny annual species. A very nice tiny plant that I hope to establish in the garden.

[Robert]

Lomatium utriculatum. In my mind a first rate plant for the dry rock garden. The soil bakes hard and dry during the summer. I almost always find Lomatiums growing in rocky, dry soil. Mostly in the full sun.



This time of year large areas are blooming with Gold Fields (Lasthenia californica). It is a tiny annual Asteraceae and one of the easy ones to identify. Some Asteraceae species are difficult to identify, at least for me.



Close up of a thick patch of Lasthenia californica.



One should look closely. In some areas Viola douglasii, a real gem, grows in the patches of Lasthenia. Viola douglasii grows in full sun. In the summer it disappears in dormancy when the soil bakes hard and dry.



California morning glory (Calystegia occidentalis ssp. fulerata). There were a few flower buds, however nothing had opened yet.

[Robert]

I hiked on to other areas.

In the serpentine areas where there is more soil Calochortus monphyllus was blooming.



Another plant I like is Fritillaria micrantha. It grows over a wide altitude range, however it is replaced by F. atropurpurea in the higher mountains. F. agrestis is a threatened species that grows in our area. I know of one population, thankfully in a very remote area, and very difficult to get to. The small flowered Fritillaria species are difficult for me to photograph well. 



More Lomatium. They were blooming everywhere, quite beautiful and hard for me to resist another photograph.



Back in the woods and out of the serpentine there were a few Dodecatheon hendersonii still in bloom.



As I looked closely, I saw Viola purpurea in bloom. What a strange situation. A few days earlier I saw the same species in bud at a much higher elevation (My previous posting). At the higher elevations, many species are breaking dormancy months earlier than average, due to the lack of snow cover and mild temperatures.

Also growing with the Viola purpurea, were stunted plants of V. lobata. I want to check on this species in some other locations. So far I have not seen flowers, flower buds, or spent flowers on this species this season.

[Robert]

In some of the sunnier areas around rocks Blue Dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum) were blooming with Lomatium, a combination that I like.



Time to head back to the truck. Traverse Creek, a very beautiful place to visit.



On the way back to the farm, I could not resist taking a look around Rock Creek. Lupinus albifrons were blooming on the sunny banks. This plant is about average. The good ones are spectacular.



Climbing up the steep hillside there were some Wythia belenioides blooming.



As well as Triteleia ixioides.

[Robert]

On the cliff faces the first of the Dudleya cymosa were blooming.



Dudleya cymosa grows on rock / cliff faces. Sometimes they are easy to get to, other times on so easy. I had an interesting time getting this photograph. The plants grew on a rock face high up on a very steep bank. There was not much soil to dig my boots into. Using one hand to grab on to the rock face and one hand to hold the camera made for a interesting situation. The photographs turned out okay. 



Back down on firm ground I saw some nice drifts of Spider Lupine (Lupinus benthamii).



One last look at the Canyon of the South Fork of the American River near Rock Creek before heading back to the farm.

[Robert]

Yes, I am glad I have the opportunity to come around a bit.

I'm not always satisfied with my pictures - sometimes I feel that the camera has its own will
Not many wild plants to see yet, but soon I think they will show up.

You used your 5 min in a good way! But it looks very dry there. What happens when the summer warmth arrives? Are wildfires a problem there?

Trond,

I can not turn off the auto-focus on my camera, there is no manual focus.    Auto-focus definitely has a mind of its own! 

Yes, it is extremely dry! I am not sure how things are going to turn out this year. It has been so dry this year that it makes the other 3 years of drought seem wet. California has a 1 year supply of water left, cities, farms, everything. Another year like this and who knows?

Wildfires are a huge problem. Last fall the "King Fire" burned a huge swath through the middle of our county. It burned through many special places that I know about. It seems depressing and I have not checked on anything in this area yet. I did check on some of the burned over areas in the "Rim Fire" area (near Yosemite) last year. This fire was very destructive as was the "King Fire". The "Rim Fire" was a "mixed bag". Some areas were a complete disaster where the fire had burned so intensely that there was nothing left except rock, ash, and powdered dust. Even the roots of the trees were burned out! In other areas the fire had only burned out the under growth, the tall conifers and other trees were still alive and healthy. This situation was very good for the forest. In these areas I saw many perennials, annuals, and seedlings sprouting. At the time I traveled there, the Phlox speciosa looked especially good.

[Tim Ingram]

I'm quite surprised by how many of those plants (or close species) we have grown and it is especially interesting to see the lomatiums. Umbels are so recognisable and common in many places that gardeners tend to regard them as weeds, but these are very attractive too and flower so early in the year. The drought sounds extremely serious. We have had periods here with extensive hosepipe bans in drought years (particularly because of the high population in the south-east), and artesian water is important, but recent years have been much wetter. My father worked on the irrigation of crops (especially soft fruit, and trickle irrigation, and also using spraying to lessen frost damage to fruit trees in spring), and comparing yields under different irrigation regimes. Very hard for farmers to look at their crops under these conditions of drought

[Jupiter]

Thanks Robert for the latest posts, I enjoyed them immensely. So nice to see Lewisia dediviva growing like that. I have two little lewisias in my rock garden but still tiny plants and I haven't seen a flower yet. The lupinus you photographed are beautiful too, especially L. albifrons. I would love to try that here. I just can't resist silver foliage... I love the lomatias, always been a big fan of umbels. We are quite apiaceae poor here in Australia I think, compared with the northern hemisphere.

I also love your North america violets. That little yellow one is stunning isn't it? Flies in the face of the conventional blue purple shades we associate with viola.

Do you see many astragalus on your treks? Perhaps they flower later, or occur at higher altitudes?

[Robert]

I'm quite surprised by how many of those plants (or close species) we have grown and it is especially interesting to see the lomatiums. Umbels are so recognisable and common in many places that gardeners tend to regard them as weeds, but these are very attractive too and flower so early in the year. The drought sounds extremely serious. We have had periods here with extensive hosepipe bans in drought years (particularly because of the high population in the south-east), and artesian water is important, but recent years have been much wetter. My father worked on the irrigation of crops (especially soft fruit, and trickle irrigation, and also using spraying to lessen frost damage to fruit trees in spring), and comparing yields under different irrigation regimes. Very hard for farmers to look at their crops under these conditions of drought

Tim,

Around here folks tend to see umbels as weeds too. In some cases native plants are seen as weeds. For years the agricultural department has been attempting to educate the public about gardening and native plants with some degree of success.

Here the future seems very uncertain. For many farmers, mainly in the southern part of the state, the drought has brought at least a temporary end to their farming activity. For them there is no water at all! Most of California has already been declared a disaster by both the State and Federal government. The drought has been very difficult for the farm workers too. They are paid very little, have little or no savings, and now many receive food from the local food banks (charity). These people contribute so much to our society and yet are often treated very poorly. Before the drought started, the situation became critical in some areas. Farmers could not find enough workers to pick the crops - the workers had found other work in construction, landscaping or other parts of the economy where they were paid much better wages. This is nothing new, hopefully in the end everything will turn out okay for everyone.

[Robert]

Thanks Robert for the latest posts, I enjoyed them immensely. So nice to see Lewisia dediviva growing like that. I have two little lewisias in my rock garden but still tiny plants and I haven't seen a flower yet. The lupinus you photographed are beautiful too, especially L. albifrons. I would love to try that here. I just can't resist silver foliage... I love the lomatias, always been a big fan of umbels. We are quite apiaceae poor here in Australia I think, compared with the northern hemisphere.

I also love your North america violets. That little yellow one is stunning isn't it? Flies in the face of the conventional blue purple shades we associate with viola.

Do you see many astragalus on your treks? Perhaps they flower later, or occur at higher altitudes?

Jamus,

I like Lupinus albifrons too, and have them planted throughout the garden. The silvery foliage looks great, especially during the spring, summer and fall. They grow in the full sun on extremely hot and dry (summer) hillsides and rock faces. In our garden the foliage can sometimes get a bit moldy looking if there is not enough winter sun and the weather has been extremely rainy. Too much irrigation during the summer shortens their life span. For us, established plants do better with no summer irrigation at all.

I especially like our native violets. Some species are xeric, others are not. For the most part I have found the xeric types easy to grow in containers. In the open ground, insects seem to bother them. In a quick draining soil mix some of the xeric types seem tolerant of some summer watering, for us others need to be dry during the summer when dormant and are best planted in a sandy clay soil. There is much more, maybe someone could write a book about such things.

Yes, I do see Astragalus species. The majority do grow at much higher elevations. Some of our Lotus species can look somewhat like an Astragalus and grow at the lower elevations. In addition, they are for the most part very xeric. I am seeing them now, however only a few are blooming now.  Lotus humistratus is blooming now with its yellow, pea-like flowers. It is an annual, however good ones can be very nice. Unfortunately, my camera has a difficult time with the yellow color, especially in bright light, and getting a good focus on the small flowers.

Maybe it is apparent that I see much more than I report on. Sometimes there are photographic issues. Now, the main issue is the large number of plants seen. I am glad that you, and others are enjoying this. I have only skimmed the surface. For me, there is a whole life time of learning out there and I hope to be at this a long time.

[Hoy]

Robert,

You steadily supply pictures of superb plants and scenic country!
I am jealous
The flora there are so rich and contains amounts of beautiful species. Do you know how many species it's around where you go?

[Robert]

Robert,

Do you know how many species it's around where you go?

Trond,

In the case of the Traverse Creek area, I have a good idea of the number and type of species found. It is a good area to see interesting plants and many professional botanist have visited the area over the years. The Forest Service has a published list compiled by the professional botanist. There are over 200 species on the list for this area.

Most of the places I visit have very few travelers. It is highly unlikely professional botanist have been to these areas. It is most likely 200 or so different species grow in these areas too. I am still weak with my identification of some plants, such as  Cyperaceae and Juncaceae however I am making good progress in these areas.

Another consideration is I am out in observing the plants weekly, or more often. I know that I am seeing plants that have been over looked. At Traverse Creek the other day I saw an oak that I am sure was a natural hybrid of Quercus kelloggii x Q. durata. In addition, have seen a few species at Traverse Creek that are not on the list, such as 2 species of Viola (perhaps easy to over look) and a few others.

In other areas I find plants that I am not sure what to think. I have found Claytonias that do not fit any description. I keep checking on them and am mindful to see if the same "type" shows up elsewhere, both near by and not so near by.

For me it is very good. I try to understand the plants well and in simple terms so that I can describe the most complicated plant in a simple way so that even children can understand. I find it sad that many times the only acceptable way to understand the world is through science. I am clearly not into reductionism. I like to keep open to many possibilities.

Within a hour or two of the farm there are something like 1,000 or more different species of plants. Maybe even more. I have journals full of all the plants that I have seen over the years, but I have never counted the complete total.

[Robert]

Trond,

Here is a follow-up on the plants of the Traverse Creek / Bear Creek area.

I counted about 240 species on the list. The majority of the species I generally see within the whole season. On my last outing I saw 59 species. This total is somewhat low for this time of year, as I generally see about 75 - 100 species on an outing this time of year. Of coarse, location is a large factor in this too.

Here are a few photographs of some of those plants that are difficult for me to explain.



I saw this oak on my last outing to Traverse Creek. The leaves are very small and clearly evergreen or semi evergreen as per Quercus x morehus. The "tree" was equally small, about 2 meters tall.

I am not sure what to make of it. It grew with Quercus durata and other shrubby plants.

1.) It could be a natural hybrid of California Black Oak (Quercus kelloggii) x Q. durata.
2.) It could also be a natural hybrid of California Black Oak x Q. garryana var. breweri. Q. garryana var. breweri is on the Traverse Creek list, however I have never seen it in this location before.
3.) It could be a stunted Oracle Oak (Q. x morehus) or California Black Oak. This is unlikely. The leaves are very small and the other stunted trees in the area have full sized leaves. This "tree" is semi to fully evergreen, California Black Oak is deciduous.



I also found this interesting Ceanothus on my last outing. It grew as a low prostrate shrub, maybe 20 to 25 cm tall and wide spreading maybe to 1 meter or more. The flower color is that of C. lemmonii but much earlier blooming. I have seen C. lemmonii somewhat nearby. C. lemmonii is a tall growing shrub to 2 meters or more.

The leaves were also not quite like those of C. lemmonii. In some cases they were quite smooth (glabrous) like the leaves of C. palmeri, a species that I am quite sure does not grow in this area.

I am not sure what to make of this Ceanothus. It could be a hybrid with C. prostratus. I have not seen C. prostratus in this area however it is possible that it is nearby. Anyway, it does not look right to be a hybrid with C. prostratus.

Another possibility is that it is some sort of dwarf hybrid with Deer Brush (C. integerrimus). Not likely. Deer Brush grows very tall and large.

I am sure there are other possibilities.



Here is one last mystery plant. A very tiny Claytonia or a Claytonia look-a-like that has me fooled! I found this plant on a high ridge overlooking the South Fork of the American River a few outings ago.

I have seen stunted forms of both C. parviflora and C. perfoliata, however this plant is very different.

Most likely it is a species that has me fooled or something that is not reported in any of the keys or books that I use.

Anyway, this is a sample of some plants that keep my mind and eyes alert.