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

[Robert]

EL DORADO COUNTY GABBRO SOIL COMPLEX

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Monday, 1 July 2015

Weather: High Clouds

Temperature,  High: 91 F (33 C)  Low:  61 F (16 C)



A short distance from the farm is a nature preserve with a gabbro soil type. This soil type tends to be high in magnesium and iron and more frequently supports unique flora. The habitat is low elevation chaparral dominated by Mazanita, Arctostaphylos viscida and Chamise, Adenostoma fasciculatum. This day I started out at 1,431 feet (436 meters) with little elevation change.



We are in the middle of our dry season. There has been very little rainfall in the past 2 months and 30 - 40 C temperatures are normal daily high temperatures at this time of year. Yet, there are still plants blooming in the chaparral such as Gumweed, Grindelia camporum.



Savia sonomensis grows abundantly in this area. On warm summer days its fragrance is intoxicating. I still do not have enough of them planted at the farm. I thoroughly delight in its fragrance.



The red seed pods of Western Redbud, Cercis occidentalis, are very colorful at this time of year. The color of the pods will persist well into the fall until they finally turn brown.



I was delighted to find Ceanothus pumilus. This species is more often found in Northwestern California. This evergreen species grows flat on the ground and has light blue flowers in the spring. It is quite lovely. Without flowers this species can be confused with our El Dorado county endemic Ceanothus roderickii. The leaf tips of Ceanothus pumilus are tuncate, so identification is easy if one pays attention to the details.

[Robert]

Chaparral can be extremely difficult terrain to hike through. The branches and a foliage most often grow thickly and all tangled together making progress very slow. At times I have had to crawl on my hands and knees to get though the thick growth. At this location there were some trails making hiking much easier.



Another El Dorado county endemic, Wyethia reticulata was in bloom and looking great.



Despite heat (40 C or more at times) and drought they provide summer flowers to the chaparral.



Berries can be beautiful too. This is the evergreen Rhamnus ilicifolia with its red berries.



Still another late season bloomer is Helianthemum scoparium. At one time the Genus for this plant was Crocanthemum. Good forms can have many flowers and can be very ornamental.

[Robert]

Thunderstorms were brewing in the high country. This has been a frequent occurrence this season. It is usual for us to have frequent surges sub-tropical moisture and thunderstorm activity at this time of year. At times they have even drifted to lower elevations.



In open areas there were drifts of the tiny flowered annual Navarretia pubescens. They created a haze of purple-blue flowers where they grew abundantly.



Symphorocarpus albus getting ready to bloom. This xeric species has attractive white berries in the autumn.

On this outing I was hoping to find Calysegia stebbinsii. I had seen some blooming near the freeway entrance a few weeks ago and felt sure that I would see some. Not today. On the way back to the farm I stopped by the freeway entrance to photograph the plants. The highway department had mowed them down. 

On this day I found only 29 species, however it was a very enjoyable short 1 hour outing.

[Maggi Young]

Oh dear - the roads/highway departments everywhere seem good at mowing wildflowers.  They seem less good at cutting back more  direct hazards to traffic. #sigh#

There are campaigns here to try to stop this legalised vandalism.

[Robert]

Oh dear - the roads/highway departments everywhere seem good at mowing wildflowers.  They seem less good at cutting back more  direct hazards to traffic. #sigh#

There are campaigns here to try to stop this legalised vandalism.

Maggi,

The folks in Scotland seem far more progressive! Sadly, around here, nobody seems to care about the plants growing along the right-of-ways. This is often the only refuge they have, especially at the lower elevations. During the spring this is where I often find Erythronium multiscapoidium blooming at the lower levations. Locally, I wish that more attention could be payed to the flora in the right-of-ways. 

[Robert]

Thursday, 9 July 2015

Heavy rainfall in the high country today with some flash flooding in areas. I had to cut my outing short and hope to have a short report on Saturday or Sunday.

Our weather is very unusual this summer!

[Hoy]

On this outing I was hoping to find Calysegia stebbinsii. I had seen some blooming near the freeway entrance a few weeks ago and felt sure that I would see some. Not today. On the way back to the farm I stopped by the freeway entrance to photograph the plants. The highway department had mowed them down. 

Oh dear - the roads/highway departments everywhere seem good at mowing wildflowers.  They seem less good at cutting back more  direct hazards to traffic. #sigh#

There are campaigns here to try to stop this legalised vandalism.

It is the same everywhere! When I am driving, like yesterdays for instance, it is always very annoying to see roadside vegetation cut back in the middle of the flowering period. Why can't they wait til the plants have seeded? As you say Robert, it is for some species among the few habitats left for them. It is even worse when the roadside is sprayed with glyphosate

[Hoy]

Robert, you didn't find gold in El Dorado but some lovely plants!

The leaves of Rhamnus ilicifolia, are they, well, Ilex like but smaller?

Interesting that the Symphoricarpos albus is xeric - I thought it was a woodland plant for moist areas.


Hope the flooding don't damage anything, I think you need the water!

[Robert]

IRON MOUNTAIN

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Wednesday, 8 July 2015

Weather: Partly Cloudy

Temperature, High: 84 F (29 C)  Low: 58 F (14 C)



Thursday I was hoping to do some plant exploring in the high country. I had a few hours on Wednesday evening to scout the situation. Iron  Mountain at 6,194 feet (1,888 meters) is an easy hike from the parking at 5,987 feet (1,825 meters). I was hoping that this might give me some clues as to what I might see on Thursday.



There were many plants blooming where I parked the truck, a very good sign. Many Lupinus grayi were still in bloom. This is an easy species to identify, however one can check the upper part of the keel petal with a hand lens to make sure. The upper margin of the keel petal has hairs all along its edge, especial near the tip. This species has been blooming in this area for over a month now.



Eriogonum nudum is a species that is frequently seen in bloom in this area now. At this elevation, the plants look in appearance as something between E. nudum and the more compact variety deductum.



Madia glomerata a small annual. Not the showiest species as the blossoms are rather small and there are very few ray flowers.



The very lovely Sidalcea glacescens. This species is not that common in this area, however in other locations it can cover whole mountainsides.

[Robert]

As I started to move up the mountain Eriogonum umbellatum var. polyanthum was seen. This is a common species at this elevation and the bright yellow flowers certainly stood out on the mountainside, mixed with the other wildflowers that were in bloom.



Castilleja applegatei was frequently seen too. It is generally easy to identify by the wavy margin to the leaf, however it is always a good idea to check other attributes as Castilleja species can and do hybridizes with each other.



Monardella odoratissima. These were the odd-balls. This patch had much deeper lavender-pink flowers than the variety pallida which grew in plenty nearby. Finding plants with deeper colored flowers is somewhat unusual at this elevation. Generally those with deeper colored flowers are found at the lower elevations.



Greenleaf Manzanita, Arctostaphylos patula, with next year's flower buds.



It is a short distance to the top of Iron Mountain, however it took me a considerable amount of time to get there. There were many plants to check on.

From the top of Iron Mountain there are excellent views. At one time there had been a fire lookout here, however it has been removed and all that remains is the concrete foundation.

[Robert]

At the summit I spent a considerable amount of time looking for seed on Delphinium gracilantum. I did not find much as the plants were now dormant and there were very few dried stalks remaining with seed. This is a beautiful species that I dearly would love to grow in the garden.

I did see some patches of Erigeron breweri in bloom. This is a good xeric species, or at least I like it.

It was disturbing to hear cow bells in the distance. The U.S. Forest Service still allows seasonal grazing in parts of the National Forest. The cows are not easy on the ecosystem including the wildflowers.



It was evening and it was time to head back to the truck. On the way down the mountain I did find a few patches of Erigeron inornatus. It seems ornamental to me even if it does not have any ray flowers, but then I do like to experiment and grow all sorts of oddities.

From the top of Iron Mountain I could tell that a storm was brewing. This turn out to be the case. Thursday morning there were heavy rains and even snow on the highest peaks and some of the higher mountain passes. I never remember it snowing in the Sierras in July or August - very strange weather. Needless to say with the cold and stormy weather I never traveled to the high country on Thursday.

[Robert]

Robert, you didn't find gold in El Dorado but some lovely plants!

The leaves of Rhamnus ilicifolia, are they, well, Ilex like but smaller?

Interesting that the Symphoricarpos albus is xeric - I thought it was a woodland plant for moist areas.


Hope the flooding don't damage anything, I think you need the water!

Trond,

Yes, the leaves of Rhamnus ilicifloia are like Ilex, however they are considerably smaller, maybe 1 to 1.5 cm long at the most.

Yes, Symphoricarpos albus is very xeric in our area. I found the pictured plant growing on an extremely dry mound in full sun. It looked very healthy. In this area 40 C temperatures during the summer are not unusual. Summer drought is the norm. One last comment, I more often find this species in dry woodland conditions, somewhat shaded from the hot summer sun.

The Sierras received most of the rain, however we did get some rain at the farm and even a trace fell in the Valley (Sacramento). The rain and moist conditions with keep the wildflowers blooming in the high country for a good while longer. 

Oh, and by the way, I have found plenty of gold too. When I was a teenager I would pan for gold and I still have a few viles with gold nuggets around.

[Alan_b]

Oh, and by the way, I have found plenty of gold too....

Next trip to Demder Hills?

[fermi de Sousa]

It was disturbing to hear cow bells in the distance. The U.S. Forest Service still allows seasonal grazing in parts of the National Forest. The cows are not easy on the ecosystem including the wildflowers.

Robert,
We well understand that!
The previous Victorian Government had reversed a ban on cattle grazing in the High Country which the government before them had imposed. They said it was doing "a trial" to see if cattle helped reduce fire risk. But all the scientific community were up in arms because there was nothing scientific about the way they were doing it. And the alpine ecosystem was just starting to recover! To me it was simply because part of their power base were the cattlemen who got free grazing for their cattle.
Fortunately that government only lasted one term and the new one re-imposed the ban,
cheers
fermi

[Robert]

Next trip to Demder Hills?

Alan,

Can you explain Demder Hills? 

I guess, at times, I can be kinda' slow.     My wife and I are very old fashion by U.S. standards; no TV, no radio, no newspaper, no cell phone-smart phone thing, much like the Amish, however we clearly have a computer! At times, we certainly get confused with popular culture in the U.S.A.

Despite my confusion an interesting comment.