Flowers!
I was actually a bit inspired by rafqa’s post about the flowers in her yard. I actually don’t have flowers in my yard, but a lot of the local wildflowers are in bloom right now. So I thought I would do a post about them!!
So first off. Despite not having flowers, my yard is still pretty. Its nice and green on one side of the house, but off course, directly on the other side of the house is lots and lots of desert (complete with sand, juniper trees, and sage brush)
The trees are budding leaves right now too! Yay!
These flowers have actually come and gone. They are the first to bloom every year and are thus a sign of spring. They’re real small (max 3 inches high), but they’re just all over the ground around here. (As you can see by my cats feet). Everyone just calls them “Those little yellow flowers” but I’ve heard my aunt refer to them as “Valley Gold”
These are “Sand Flowers”. I really don’t know their proper name, but around here, that’s what everyone calls them. They smell delightful, but sadly they last all of about 5 minutes if you pick them. But they enjoy growing on some of the sand dunes around here.
Next we have yarrow!
Lupines!! OMG. The Lupines are everywhere right now. All over the valley. It’s lupine mania!
Happily, on my walk this morning, I actually stumbled upon a small batch of the rare (or at least rare for this area) White Lupines. Seriously, considering the valley is flooded with lupines right now, Ive only ever found two tiny patches of the white ones. They are seriously rare around here.
Here we have a nice yellow flower that may or may not be a weed. Oh well.
These flowers also don’t have a name. But they are pretty and purple and enjoy growing out in the sand.
There are also these other small purple and yellow flowers that grow out in the sand. They’re really tiny. I had a hard time getting a pic of them. But they are also out at the moment.
Purple seems to be the popular color around here. Because we also have these purple desert flowers. My Grandmother always called them “Bunny Ears” since that is what the look like when they are closed up.
Now, My Ranch is quite unique in that we have all of these like …micro climates. Its true, for the most part we’re out in the great desert here, but we also have a spring creek that comes off of the mountain and gives us a nice strip of a foresty green area. And then that water goes right to our fields and pastures to grow stuff. So that doesn’t look like desert at all. But anyways, here are some pictures of the creek and a bit of the long thin forest that has developed because of it.
Near the creek we have holly! Which is in bloom right now with its yellow flowers:
Also near the creek are these really vine-y flowers which are more leaf than flower. But they have these adorable little with flowers:
Pine Violets are not actually out yet, (so I had to steal this image from the internet) . But they are a favorite of mine and also like to grow by the creek. As a child I always called them “Lemon Flowers” because of their shiny yellow texture.
Another favorite of mine is the Indian paintbrush. They are not out quite yet, but I expect them any day now. (Im using another stolen pic from online) It actually doesn’t like to grow on the Ranch. (But you might able to find the rare patch of them if you look real hard). We’re just not quite at a high enough elevation here for them to be happy. But if you take the short drive up to highway 97 (which is a full 1000 ft above where my house is) they’re everywhere.
Anyways, I picked myself a nice bouquet of things this morning!
So first off. Despite not having flowers, my yard is still pretty. Its nice and green on one side of the house, but off course, directly on the other side of the house is lots and lots of desert (complete with sand, juniper trees, and sage brush)
The trees are budding leaves right now too! Yay!
These flowers have actually come and gone. They are the first to bloom every year and are thus a sign of spring. They’re real small (max 3 inches high), but they’re just all over the ground around here. (As you can see by my cats feet). Everyone just calls them “Those little yellow flowers” but I’ve heard my aunt refer to them as “Valley Gold”
These are “Sand Flowers”. I really don’t know their proper name, but around here, that’s what everyone calls them. They smell delightful, but sadly they last all of about 5 minutes if you pick them. But they enjoy growing on some of the sand dunes around here.
Next we have yarrow!
Lupines!! OMG. The Lupines are everywhere right now. All over the valley. It’s lupine mania!
Happily, on my walk this morning, I actually stumbled upon a small batch of the rare (or at least rare for this area) White Lupines. Seriously, considering the valley is flooded with lupines right now, Ive only ever found two tiny patches of the white ones. They are seriously rare around here.
Here we have a nice yellow flower that may or may not be a weed. Oh well.
These flowers also don’t have a name. But they are pretty and purple and enjoy growing out in the sand.
There are also these other small purple and yellow flowers that grow out in the sand. They’re really tiny. I had a hard time getting a pic of them. But they are also out at the moment.
Purple seems to be the popular color around here. Because we also have these purple desert flowers. My Grandmother always called them “Bunny Ears” since that is what the look like when they are closed up.
Now, My Ranch is quite unique in that we have all of these like …micro climates. Its true, for the most part we’re out in the great desert here, but we also have a spring creek that comes off of the mountain and gives us a nice strip of a foresty green area. And then that water goes right to our fields and pastures to grow stuff. So that doesn’t look like desert at all. But anyways, here are some pictures of the creek and a bit of the long thin forest that has developed because of it.
Near the creek we have holly! Which is in bloom right now with its yellow flowers:
Also near the creek are these really vine-y flowers which are more leaf than flower. But they have these adorable little with flowers:
Pine Violets are not actually out yet, (so I had to steal this image from the internet) . But they are a favorite of mine and also like to grow by the creek. As a child I always called them “Lemon Flowers” because of their shiny yellow texture.
Another favorite of mine is the Indian paintbrush. They are not out quite yet, but I expect them any day now. (Im using another stolen pic from online) It actually doesn’t like to grow on the Ranch. (But you might able to find the rare patch of them if you look real hard). We’re just not quite at a high enough elevation here for them to be happy. But if you take the short drive up to highway 97 (which is a full 1000 ft above where my house is) they’re everywhere.
Anyways, I picked myself a nice bouquet of things this morning!