From My Perch: Hunting Green

We started our trip south from Minnesota (early March). I know we went north to go south but we had to see the grandchildren first. Much of the grass along the roadsides in Minnesota and Iowa was no longer covered with snow but everything was brown, even the dull green of Michigan was absent. The snow had disappeared entirely and the ponds had lost their ice coverings in northwest Missouri but not a blade of grass grew until we reached Texas. When we arrived in Big Bend National Park in West Texas, even then, there were no green leaves on shrubs or trees and no plants and wildflowers.

My first colors were purple, yellow and red on shrubs that could not be called green. The Feather Dalea is a gray and the Creosote is an olive color.

Photo taken at Big Bend NP, TX on 3/14/2008

Feather Dalea - Dalea formosa (Pea Family - Fabaceae)

Photo taken at Big Bend NP, TX on 3/17/2008

Creosote - Larria tridentata (Creosote bush Family - Zygophyllaceae)

Creosote bush is an evergreen shrub with small leaves covered with a protective varnish to conserve its moisture. It is found every where in this Chihuanhuan Desert of Big Bend. No animals eat this plant except for the camels brought into the Big Bend area in the 1860 experiment by topographical engineer 2nd Lieutenant William H. Echols. It grows everywhere!

Ocotillo (o-ko-tee'-yo) also grows everywhere in Big Bend NP. It is my favorite plant of the desert but it is not a cactus. Every spring red flowers grow at the end of long thorny branches which usually appear lifeless. These flowers are very important food source for all kinds of insects, hummingbirds and orioles.