This is a collection of articles dealing with organic gardening, ecology, environmental restoration, news items of interest, travel and just about anything else I find of interest and willing to share with others around the globe. - ENJOY!
These native Fremont Cottonwoods are all but gone now as the picture below reveals. What ever rains have fallen have been spotty at best. Even Palomar Mountain to the west of here which historically received 8" to 13" even during small winter storms because of it's unique geographical location has at best gotten 2" to 3" in latest storm events these past seasons. Nothing in the realm of drenching downpours, subsoil recharging caliber floods which were promised by the Press and Scientific soothsayers has happened this past season. Their promised weather Messiah El Nino was a bust, a fraud and as usual unpredictable. The El Niño eco-activist cheerleaders around the internet with Pom Poms were smoke screening the true irreversible climate change problems behind the scenes. Nobody wants to deal with such a possibility as the idea that human activity has gone to far to be salvaged. I understand wanting things to improve, maybe even getting back to the way things use to be (whatever that was), but times have changed and I'm afraid we've gone well past that point of no return scenario many scientists have feared regarding reversing the climate degradation. The photo below is viewing towards the south. from that point on 1000s upon 1000s of native Oaks are dying. Even many area of chaparral are in trouble.
photo credit - Kevin Franck - (June 11, 2016)
What Does 30% Chance of Rain Forecast really Mean?
In the San diego area, the region known as Mission Valley which is an ancient floodplain with massive development is often known for it's flood events nearest the San Diego River. When news stations need to provide a sensational headline to bait it's viewers and up the ratings, they send news crews down into Mission Valley. The actual storm may have dumped only a half inch of rain, but by golly they're find a reason to hype it as catastrophic. From Mission Vallley eastward, the landscape has radically changed from it's historical past. What was once 10s of 1000s of hectares of wildland is now concrete, asphalt and commercial & residential rooftops. Now any little piddly rain will create runoff for Mission Valley low spots and provide News Hype fodder for Media. And for those who believed what all the cheerleaders said about El Nino saving the day for Central and Northern California, think again. Yes they got large amounts of rainfall in some locations and many mountain areas had large snowpacks. But these mountain ecosystems have a long way to go before subsoil moistures are restored well enough to capacity to allow wild native plants to maintain health and vigor during the dry hot months of the year and these areas are also setting record high temps across the board. Record high temps early on allowed snow melt much earlier as opposed to later when much needed water would be most needed in the peak of Summer. This entire year has thus far had each month setting new heat record highs and this month of June 2016 is set to break even more records as I write. Take a look at the video below of how dire the situation is in forests of the Sierra Nevadas. Eco-Activists don't have to worry about the Timber Industry, nature is deforesting itself in response to irresponsible scientific innovation.
But there are some possitives, but they're mainly localized urban landscape ones
photo credit - Kevin Franck - (June 30, 2014)
Pisolithus tinctorius truffle
It was on June 30th 2014 when we first planted Foothill Pines, Engelmann Oaks, California Holly and Cleveland Sage. By most folks standards it was risky because it was during a time of 100+ temperatures outside. We of course inoculated each planting with MycoApply, but I also had visited the Hwy 79 Desert View Vista Point south of Julian and collected numerous truffles of the mycorrhizal fungi Pisolithus tinctorius. The one here to the left was huge as comparison to the USA 25 cent coin shown for scale. I also incorporated crushed truffle spore powder within the soil of each plant. Below this year is the first I've seen of truffle formation on my brother's plants.
photo credit - Kevin Franck - (June 11, 2016)
The photo below is a Foothill Pine [Digger Pine] (Pinus sabiniana) which is probably a little more drought tolerable than others even native to the area and this particular location and climate. Although like others, this pine has limits as well. Back on June 30, 2014, this plant wasn't even a foot tall when I purchased it for my brother at Las Pilitas Native Plant Nursery in Escondido, which also has gone by the wayside. Other decades old specimens exist on other folks properties here in Ranchita and are doing exceptionally well. Hence I thought it a good fit for my brothers 5 acres in an enviornment which is often challenging because of it's dry climate nature, heat and constant prevailing wind conditions. Not many of the conventional retail plant nursery pics of non-natives will make it up here.
photo credit - Kevin Franck - (June 11, 2016)
Some references for home gardeners and urban landscapers [habitat restoration is out of the question for the moment]
Concluding Commentary It's commendable that many wish to fight to save what remains as a remnant of what once was. Unfortunately all the environmental activism in the world is not going to save anything. Mainly because the passion so often is hatred filled against those deemed as the cause environmental ruin as they see it and their solution is to force the opponant. Declaring massive tracts of land as Preserves, Reserves, Wilderness or National Monuments are certainly admirable, but these are not going to reverse anything regarding climate and other natural world ecosystem disruption. And what are they really saving anyway ? The rescued Land has already been degraded long ago of any old growth plant community ecosystem and it's inhabitants. These heroic acts are more of a symbolic victory than viable corrective solution. More often than not it has become a maneuver to trip up a much hated political opponant's ideological worldview. There is no real materialist fix here or viable scientific solution. Despite the propaganda about Science, it is truthfully not the self-correcting fix all which will reverse the damage caused by the misuse and abuse of industrial science for over a century of imaginary enlightenment. Science today is infected with way too much politicking and ideology. As time pants on to the end, the words of United States Environmental Lawyer, Gus Speth, ring so true. Mankind's problem is a spiritual one and not a materialistic innovative one. And by the word/term 'spiritual', we're talking about clean healthy human personality traits which are not necessarily something physically seen, but rather the secret person of the heart expressed in daily conduct. Every man, woman and child in every land around the globe has to be on the same page morality-wise if mankind and nature is going to have half a chance. Qualities such as neighbour love, which mainly is a respect for fellow man and nature. But admittedly, even the world's mainstream religions are bankrupt on this one. It's funny, I get slammed by both sides if I refuse to participate in one position or another. The old biblical saying, "The Truth will set you Free" doesn't really apply with this subject, especially since telling the truth in this present dysfunctional system more often than not gets you hammered by either side.
This was the usual attitude I found when discussing plants in landscapes up in Anza California by new land owners moving up from the cities. People in general by their very Nature are impatient when it comes to landscaping and they want instant landscapes NOW, not what they perceive as being years or decades on down the road. Species of Populus are widely used in landscapes – especially when fast growth is desired. Most of these are hybrids and most often they are so-called “cottonless”Cottonwoods. These are male clones selected because they do not produce the cottony seeds that become a nuisance. I also believe their origin is from back east as they do not have the same characteristics [bark, leaf, or even silhouette patterns] as the western natives like Fremont. Keep in mind that I'm not saying here that they are a great choice for residential landscapes – they are not. In many ways, I think that are a bad choice because their water requirements are much greater than natives, especially when older. These "cottonless" varieties of cottonwoods can become very large when grown in or near a perennial water source. When young, they often perform well in irrigated landscapes. This is why they are preferred. Over time, they usually outgrow the irrigation system and begin to die back or succumb to disease. I have rarely seen large cottonwoods that have survived longer than 12 or 15 years in a landscape unless they have a creek, river, or septic system to sustain them. When regularly flood irrigated, they will grow and survive, but most drip systems [typical for Anza] will not provide adequate irrigation. Their roots are also extremely aggressive like the one in my former front yard had roots over 100' away clearly on the other side of the home. So anybody can be successful with them that first decade, but it's that time afterward when these giant trees have much greater water requirements especially in drier climates like Anza CA.
Photo: Mine
Göteborg Botanical Gardens Spring 2013
But that takes me now to the biggest complaint against the native Fremont Cottonwood which admittedly does have a cottony seed, but only the size of a Dandelion. It's a minor inconvenience to live with for selecting a better choice for cottonwood which will have deeper roots and be a tougher survivor as compare to the back east hybrid which is not really that long lived by comparison. Up in Idyllwild, folks will complain about the Pines dropping pollen everywhere. Seriously no one would suggest getting rid of them in favour of neater choices. ALL Landscapes have maintenance issues. But this brings me to my recent visit a couple of weeks ago the Göteborg Botanical Gardens. There was a tree there that I really never noticed before or paid any attention to it being a Cottonwood. I supposed I always missed it because I came at the wrong time of year before or after it bloom, but here it is below. It is Populus wilsonii and is from central China in Asia.
This was enough to make anyone do a double take. This stuff was everywhere. It was undeniable what this tree was and reminds me of something I've never forgotten when it comes to plant identity, although while the origin of this saying did have to do with plants, it was used illustratively in identifying the type of person we run across in life.
"By their fruits you will recognize them"Matthew 7:16
Believe it or not, when I'm stumped out in the field and having a difficult time identifying plant which looks familiar, but has familiar shapes or patterns to something else, I actually look for fruits, nuts or other seeds. So the old saying of "by their fruits you will know them" holds an element of field working merit. While there are many type of plants, within the same group there will always be similar characteristics or identifying marks and patterns in the fruit they produce. Of course there are always exceptions, but still it makes things a fun challenge.
Photo: Mine
Here is a view from underneath the Cottonwood's canopy looking up towards the sky. These large cotton balls are so unmistakable and hard to miss. Wonder why I never paid any mind before ? Oh yeah that's right, I was always there in the middle of deep summer.
Here is a much closer zoomed in shot to give you an idea of the size of these cotton balls. The leaves also are far more bigger than what most folks are use to seeing over in the States with the Native Fremont Cottonwood (Populus fremontii). The size of the cotton balls in this tree were huge and in some cases bigger than any actual cotton boll I've ever encountered in a Texas Farmer's field when I stopped along the roadside for the first time in my life encountering them. It was incredible stand under this tree and gazing up at some so unbelievable. And to think, if I had come at another moment as times past, I would have missed all of things and never paid the tree any mind as I had in the past. Funny, I never once when passing this tree ever glimpsed at the identification sign below it to find out what it was. I'll always pay close attention now and be sire to come back at the right time of year. *smile*
Photo: Mine
And finally to give a better sense of scale for this trees leaves and the size of those large cotton balls, here is my hand lowering down a branch a bit for a closer shot. Looking at the size of these things, I wondered if anyone historically attempted to utilize these cotton bolls the same way we use the conventional cotton plant.
Photo: Mine
Anyone find this incredibly enlightening and educational ? I did. Fremont Cottonwoods (Populus fremontii) don't really look half bad now do they ? This photo was taken in middle May 2013 in the San Jacinto Valley just north of the town of San Jacinto on what I presume is State Street or old Hwy 79. That sign is an indication you are approaching the San Jacinto River bridge to the Jct of turning right to Soboba Rd heading towards the Indian Casino or left onto Gilman Springs Rd towards Moreno Valley or north to Beaumont. The entire area was once a massive miles long and wide Cottonwood and California Sycamore Forested Savanna with most likely other trees like Arizona Ash which actually have heavy woodlands further upstream in Bee Canyon which is a tributary to the east. The natural world Juan Bautista de Anza saw in the Spring of 1774 & once again in 1775 must have been at it's peak in pristine condition must have been ever so beautiful.
In the San diego area, the region known as Mission Valley which is an ancient floodplain with massive development is often known for it's flood events nearest the San Diego River. When news stations need to provide a sensational headline to bait it's viewers and up the ratings, they send news crews down into Mission Valley. The actual storm may have dumped only a half inch of rain, but by golly they're find a reason to hype it as catastrophic. From Mission Vallley eastward, the landscape has radically changed from it's historical past. What was once 10s of 1000s of hectares of wildland is now concrete, asphalt and commercial & residential rooftops. Now any little piddly rain will create runoff for Mission Valley low spots and provide News Hype fodder for Media. And for those who believed what all the cheerleaders said about El Nino saving the day for Central and Northern California, think again. Yes they got large amounts of rainfall in some locations and many mountain areas had large snowpacks. But these mountain ecosystems have a long way to go before subsoil moistures are restored well enough to capacity to allow wild native plants to maintain health and vigor during the dry hot months of the year and these areas are also setting record high temps across the board. Record high temps early on allowed snow melt much earlier as opposed to later when much needed water would be most needed in the peak of Summer. This entire year has thus far had each month setting new heat record highs and this month of June 2016 is set to break even more records as I write. Take a look at the video below of how dire the situation is in forests of the Sierra Nevadas. Eco-Activists don't have to worry about the Timber Industry, nature is deforesting itself in response to irresponsible scientific innovation.
