It feels like there have a been a couple false starts to fall, at least temperature wise, but maybe the cool days of autumn have arrived. All the other signals are here: Sandhill cranes are arriving, I saw my first brown female northern harrier, I caught and moved a daytime rattlesnake and rubber rabbit brush is blooming. I’m just waiting for the turkey vultures to leave, then I will announce to anyone that will listen, “It’s official, fall is here.”
It’s fun to find fall color at the mid elevations and the two sumacs mentioned are usually quite showy. The thicket creeper is also scarlet and clambering up and over trees and shrubs. That said, some years are better than others and this year I do think drought has played a part in dimming the show. Oh, there are other plants- like wild cotton- doing a colorful fall thing and I shouldn’t forget about going up a little higher in elevation for some maple and aspen color. So, just say yes to fall and don’t forget to dance!
The photos are mine of scarlet sumac (Rhus glabra) and some creeper climbing up an oak trunk (Parthenocissus vitacea).
The better common name for Terrapene ornata luteola is the ornate box turtle. The name desert box turtle is old like me….not Miocene old…maybe...
Some spring time banter about the soaptree yuccas (Yucca elata) and pale wolfberry plants (Lycium pallidum) found in the scruffy grassland surrounding our home...
Here is the full botanical name of spreading snake herb: Dyschoriste schiedeana var. decumbens. Someone (Asa Gray?) had fun putting the Greek words together...
