2019 - Robert's botanical adventures in Northern California

[hamparstum]

A brief report Robert:
some of your Placerville Black Oak seedlings!

[Robert]

Arturo,

This is fantastic! 

And it appears that you have a camera too. If so, this would be great. I think that everyone on the forum would enjoy seeing images from your part of the world. This is true for me. I know next to nothing about your area or what you contend with in your gardening situation.

Anyway, this is all great news. 

[hamparstum]

Yes Robert I do have a borrowed camera but very scanty digital skills...
 However I do want to start to register ( pictorially) what I've been achieveing these past seasons. So I'll take the liberty of intruding in your thread with pics of those of your plants that somehow made it and at least reached germination.
I discovered today that a single Lewisia cotyledon var howellii has a cluster of fall blooms upcoming. Do you ever find Lewisias blooming a second time in the season in fall? These are plants from seeds provided by Alplains:

Many other Lewisias are growing so in due time I'll intrude into the thread some of the California natives that have migrated south.
Arturo

[David Nicholson]

Arturo, I don't think I have ever seen a Lewisia cotyledon var. howellii as tall as your example! I lost my own plant of howellii a few years ago and so far have had no success from seed. It is not uncommon in the UK for L. cotyledon plants to flower at least twice in a year and particularly so if the flower stems are cut back after the first flowering. A friend of mine had some that were still flowering in February 2019 after starting to flower in April 2018.

[hamparstum]

David, hmm I must be very fortunate then. I got 11 plants from my Alplains seed packet. The Lewisia pictured bloomed in spring ( November 2018) and doesn't have any new flower stalk. The one mentioned above is a different plant about to bloom for  the first time. I am growing them outside in a cool shaded position, but are brought inside my cool greenhouse for the winter rainy season. Could the fact that they grew under glass condition account for its height? In all cases they only receive bottom watering. Outside they may get a smattering of rain from above during the extremely rare rains during summer. I do hope to learn how to keep them all year around outside. I read here at the SRGC forum about planting them double potted. All of my other Lewisias are yet too small, some are from Seedex '71. I've got great expectations though...
Arturo

[Robert]

ELDORADO NATIONAL FOREST
El Dorado County, California

Part I

Thursday, 18 April 2019

Weather for selected site:

Eldorado National Forest, 5,450 ft., 1,661 meters
Weather: Clear
Temperature, High: 65 F, 18.3 C
                       Low: 34 F, 1.1 C
Relative Humidity: 28%
Dew Point: 27 F, -2.8 C
Wind: E 3 Gusting 10 mph



Last Thursday I conducted my weekly manual snow survey at specific sites in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This week I added a few of my high elevation sites to the itinerary.

The spring season is arriving to the higher terrain. Although there is still a considerable amount of snow, it is melting quickly.



The cascading falls on Tells Creek are nice to see this time of year.



There is a dirt track into one of the sites that I visit on a regular basis. This time of year it is a seasonal creek. In places there were large snags that had fallen across the track. It will be at least 2 to 3 weeks before anyone drives in, providing that the snags are removed.



The snow was firm and very easy to walk over without snowshoes or cross-country skis.



As I approached one of my survey sites, the beauty of the snow-covered mountains captivated me.

Too be continued…

Presently I have a very busy schedule. I will work on posting this outing in small increments. With all the snow it may appear that there was not much to see in the way of plants. This was not the case at all! There are many details that I wish to share. It is important to me that I take my time posting this outing.

Until part two…

[Robert]

ELDORADO NATIONAL FOREST
El Dorado County, California

Part II

After traversing the crest of the ridge, I worked my way down into the next basin. Here there was, on average, 96 cm of snow still remaining on the ground. The bottom of the basin rested at an elevation of 5,450 feet (1,661 meters).



I had just descended from the north facing ridge (pictured above), and started off toward the opposite side of the basin. The goal was to find open ground free of snow on the south facing slopes on the other side of the basin.



This is another view of the southern ridge and its north facing slopes. There are a number of interesting plant species on the ridge, however I will have to wait until the snow thins a great deal before exploring this area later in the season.



It is hard to believe, but this pond was nothing more than a bare open log deck when commercial logging was in progress in this area 15 plus years ago. When I visited this site in the autumn of 2017 it was still a fairly degraded habitat. Now only in its second season of restoration it is a recovering habitat and full of life.



The upper pond at this site is natural and most likely dates back to the end of the last major Ice Age 17,000 years ago. Over this period of time, this pond has filled with sediment and is now very shallow. At this point, it is seasonal, becoming dry by mid to late summer. Still, this pond is an important habitat at this site.

[Robert]

I first made my way over to the primary creek that drains the basin. Although it looks placid in this photograph, there was a strong, deep current of water flowing down its channel. I worked my way up stream and found a site where a large log had fallen across the creek. Here I could easily cross the creek without getting wet.



When I arrived on the other side of the basin, I found the idea conditions I was hoping to find. There was still plenty of snow however there were also bare sites where the snow had recently melted. In addition, there was also no shortage of standing and running snowmelt.



Where the snow had recently melted there was no shortage on newly emerging plant growth and even the germinating seedlings of native annual species.



Juncus ensifolius is a very common species in the basin. It is among the first to emerge from the ground after the snow has melted from the ground. This time of year it can be found growing up through standing water (It is a moisture dependent species). The regenerative buds of this species are well protected below the ground and the new growth emerges at snowmelt. Thus the new growth is protected to some degree from hard frost.



Horkelia tridentata var. tridentata is another species that emerges from the ground immediately after snowmelt. This strategy is generally quite successful providing that there is adequate and lingering snow cover during the winter. During the winter 2017-2018 season there was very little or no snow cover in much of the Sierra Nevada Mountains for much of the winter. Last spring, I noticed a considerable amount of cold stress on a number of species that do not have an apical meristem region located well below the surface of the ground, thus protected from winter temperature extremes. How rising snow levels might affect such species is something I wish to investigate further.

Tomorrow, 25 April I will be out doing botanical fieldwork. I will continue this report when I arrive back in town. At this point I will have back-to-back outings to report. This has not occurred in a while. 

To be continued…

[Robert]

ELDORADO NATIONAL FOREST
El Dorado County, California

Part III

A variety of plant species were emerging from the ground as the snow melted. Each species has it own strategy to cope with the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, in particular UV-B (280 to 400 nm), and cold weather stress as they emerge from the ground. Plants produce a variety of flavonoids, anthocyanids, carotenes, and waxes to protect their cells from the damaging affect of UV-B radiation. The reddish shoot on the right is a good example of this strategy. With another protective strategy, plants initiate new growth at snowmelt, but delay greening and activation of photosynthesis. This can be seen with the new shoot on the left.



Species such as Eriogonum nudum, remain green all winter and retain their full photosynthetic ability over the winter. Other species remain green over the winter, but delay full photosynthetic capacity for up to 2 weeks after snowmelt. Identifying and understanding these strategies can be crucial to the successful cultivation of some plant species.



Carex integra greens quickly after snowmelt. As with many Carex species, early in the new growing season this species is very tolerant of waterlogged soil conditions. Both Carex and Juncus species form most of the early season “green” in our mountain meadows before the Poaceae take over later in the growing season.



The shoots of Toxicoscordion venenosum var. venenosum can experience some bleaching and cold weather damage, however the new growth recovers quickly.



I still have much more to learn about snow molds, however when plants are stress, especially with high nitrogen levels in their tissues, snow molds can cause considerable damage to some plants species as the snow melts.

[Robert]

After spending all winter under the snow, the growth from last season can turn to mush and/or be brown and lifeless from being frozen all winter. In the case of Panicum acuminatum var. fasciculatum, the apical growth points have remained safe all winter and will commence new growth now that the weather has warmed and the snow has melted.



Much of the low ground was flooded. I moved on to slightly higher ground to see what I might find in drier terrain.



Although partly green after being buried under snow all winter, the fern Aspidotis densa had not commenced new growth. The altitude and habitat range of this species is quite extensive in our area. How this species succeeds under varying climatic conditions can be fascinating and enlightening.



Lupinus grayi can look pretty sad after the winter snow melts and look as if it is ready for the compost heap. The plants generally recover quickly after snowmelt.



Poa secunda ssp. secunda commences growth immediately after snowmelt. This species makes quick growth and will be among the first Poaceae species in bloom in this region.

To be continued...

[Hoy]

Robert,

The snowclad landscape looks very familiar! Also the pine forest does although it is an unfamiliar species. It is much like the forests close to Oslo where I grew up. I often went into the forests in spring when the snow was thawing. It was always an exciting time of the year. The plant species were different of course! Early in the day the snow was firm, later it became rotten and it was heavy walking when I had to cross the snow patches

[Robert]

Hi Trond,

I had a successful outing a few days ago. At the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains there is still over 2 meters of snow on the ground. I walked into one site early in the morning. Early on, temperatures were below freezing. The snow was crusted over and firm. Temperatures climbed quickly and the snow quickly soften. Hiking out was a bit of a challenge.

Right now my work scheduled is very busy, so it will be a few days before I finish the last part of the current outing I am writing about. Then I will start in on writing about the next outing. I have some excellent photographs of some of our California native Viola species. I will need to get out again, this coming week. I will have a back log of outings to write about. This does not hurt my feelings. 

[Robert]

I know that I still have part IV of my last outing to post, but today I will share some of our local phenology, “happenings”. When I was young there was a saying that, it always “snowed on the dogwoods”. 40 years ago this was true, even if it appeared that it could not possibly happen, due to drought or an early spring heat wave. Old time stories like this do not die easily. I was in the store today and over heard the cashier tell the customer, “The wild dogwoods are blooming around my home, it always snows on the dogwoods”. Sadly, these days it rarely snows on the dogwoods. I keep track to things like that. All those numbers, lists, statistics, and geeky things like that. With the snow on the dogwoods, always came the last killing frost. The Old Timers never planted their summer garden until 1 May, the last killing frost date. This year the last frost was on 14 March. This is an incredible statistic! This has been our most protracted frost season in over 100 years, and most likely much longer. There is constant change. The plants have their many stories to tell concerning these events and I get out as often as possible to record the events.



Today I was out briefly. I never miss an opportunity to get out, even if it is only for a short period of time. The dogwoods, Cornus nuttallii, were in their prime today. A storm is forecast to arrive this coming Sunday, a cut-off low spinning around in the eastern Pacific. We are more likely to get a thunderstorm than a snowstorm from this event.



When I finish the write up for the current outing (part IV), I now have two more outings adventures to describe. There have been many unexpected surprises this spring. Today’s unanticipated event was the extensive colonies of Diplacus (Mimulus) kelloggii seen on the slopes of the American River Canyon. I have never seen them in this area and wondered how they all (thousands) seemed to appear at this site out of nowhere. Last week I witnessed the complete lifecycle of a convective storm. I guess only a weather junkie like me could get off on something like that. Watching super-cooled cloud droplets phase change into ice crystals was amazing as the storm collapsed. And this week I discovered a new colony of natural Viola tomentosa hybrids (x puprurea ssp. integrifolia). There is never a dull moment!

The spring season is here and things have taken off for me in a most unexpected way. I have no intention to miss an opportunity of a lifetime. This keeps me very busy. And there is Outing Part IV to complete, and two more exciting outings to report on. “Rome was not built in a day”. It will be a pleasure to write up these outings as I can. More outings are currently scheduled for the near future.

So until next time…

[Leucogenes]

Hello Robert

Great pictures and words... like always.

I know the genus Minulus only recently...through pictures of a botanical friend in Canada. I find it very attractive. But they seem to spread where they feel comfortable...or did I misunderstand that?

In the appendix...Minulus lewisii from WA

[Robert]

Hi Thomas,

Interesting. 

I have a keen interest in our local “Mimulus” species, especially the annual species. I have been studying them in detail for some time now, but there is still a great deal for me to understand and sorted out concerning the details of their phenology, physiology, and genetic dispositions as it pertains to our specific region.



This photograph of Mimulus lewisii was taken on 31 August 2017 in the upper montane zone near the old Red Peak Stock Trail, El Dorado County, California. This is on the western slope of the Crystal Range. This species is fairly common in this region. It can be found growing up to the tree line and the beginning of the alpine plant zone. The plant in your photograph appears to be growing above the tree line in the alpine zone. This is very interesting!

As for their performance in cultivation, at this time all that I can answer is “it depends on the situation”. Indirectly, I will eventually have much more information concerning their cultivation in our local region. How the different species will react in cultivation in your area is unknown. They are beautiful plants. I currently cultivate many of our local species in our Sacramento, California garden. There are certainly obstacles that need to be understood and over come before they become widespread in cultivation, otherwise they would already be in widespread use. Mimulus lewisii performs well in our garden, however I currently have only representatives of one race. A great deal still needs to be done. This, and a few other related projects, occupies all on my gardening time and space.

Thank you for sharing the interesting photograph.