Tag: wildflowers

Flowers Blooming at Borrego Springs, California

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Everyone wants to enjoy blooming flowers after a winter season. Whether it is simply to see more color in the world, hike in a colorful area, or capture a photo of nature’s beauties, we search for the bloomers! I went to Borrego Springs to do all of the above last month!

The scenery was dreary as I looked to the mountains west of the Salton Sea; however, what the heck, drive over and check out the Borrego Springs area. I arrived about 9:00am and walked among white and purple wildflowers with 4 other people at a wildflower field just off the main road. It was wonderful having the place to myself as I photographed the field and flowers.

As I walked back to my van to check my photos, many people were arriving and within the next couple of hours at least 100 people stopped by! Even as clouds with rainfall started, people were walking into the field with umbrellas and cameras trying to capture  the right light for their photos. Many people enjoyed the scene as I did. Here are some photos:

Field in Borrego Springs, California
Hairy sand verbena
Everyone enjoys the flowers!
Storm is coming this way.

My Weed Experiment

Posted in environment, wildflowers, wildlifeTagged , , 2 Comments

First off, technically a weed is a plant someone does not want at a particular location. My HOA (Homeowners Association) has no wildflower on their approved plant list; therefore, wildflowers are weeds. Wildflowers on my front yard are therefore considered weeds. When there are too many “weeds”, I receive a notice of violation.

Second, hydroseed was sprayed by our home builder when the house was built, thus wildflowers grow from the seeds. When the seed flowers I will not pick it. I’ll wait till the flower dies. Do I sound frustrated?

I think I’m six years into this weed/wildflower conundrum and I don’t think it’s my imagination, but the wildflowers are increasing in number! This is despite my weeding them out, applying salt/white vinegar/detergent combo sprayed on various areas of the front lawn these past number of years.

This year I decided to try a “weed experiment”; however, it requires a huge amount of my manual labor. I weeded a section of land by hand. I cleared out every plant. Then I raked the rock off the area, made sure every plant was gone, applied the salt/white vinegar/detergent combo and raked rock back onto the area.

In the photo below, front portion is totally clear of plant life, the back has many wildflowers.

Cleared area in front, wildflowers at top of photo. There are more in number every year despite my pulling them each year. What to do?

If you follow my blog, you know I travel. What will I discover when I return. Will that rock area have plant life and me finding my work was in vain? Time will tell.

Now to decide what to do in other areas of the front yard. Does anyone have a HOA list in southwest USA that DOES list wildflowers as an approved plant? If so, please share! Would be greatly appreciated!