Biological Soil Crusts: Boreal & Temperate Forests ?

Biological Soil Crusts on a Granite Rock Slab

This is actually a continuation from an article I did on Biological Soil Crusts which dealt with the more traditional focus of Desert Dryland habitats by those dedicated to studying them. My other blog "Earth's Internet" goes a bit deeper into these topics. Here is that article's link:

Biological Soil Crusts: What Are They and Why should I care ?

 I was out walking through the woodlands with my wife just recently and observed something normally considered only a desert phenomena, yet there it was behind my house. Biological Soil Crusts in a Boreal Forest setting ? Hey, how about a Temperate Forest setting ? Most of the literature and folks who study these amazing natural wonders usually don't even come here with their research work and the question has to be asked - Why Not ? It's usually a sort of Drylands Desert Thingy!!! But cannot those same biological components above in the photo on the granite rock slabs also be considered biological soil crusts in the forest floor ecosystem like the one behind my house here in Sweden ?

Let's see now, Biological Soil Crustal mechanisms by their very definition from a reading taken from  soilcrust.org are officially cataloged as  

"Major components are cyanobacteria, green algae, microfungi, mosses, liverworts and lichens." 

Well that would classify my backyard as a typical Biological Soil Crust Habitat , would it not ? But wait a minute, there's more to that soilcrust.org definition, take a look:

"Biological soil crusts are the community of organisms living at the surface of desert soils." 

Woah, wait a minute, back up the Science Train for a moment. Why doesn't my "cyanobacteria, green algae, microfungi, mosses, liverworts and lichens" in my backyard qualify as official Biological Soil Crust ? Well I'm assuming it's because by the officially approved Panel of Peers definition such plant community can ONLY be found in Desert Drylands. Yeeeaah and all Ferns only grow in moist lush Tropical, Temperate or Boreal Forests ONLY!  Hey I didn't just fall off the Crust Truck you know. I appreciate and naturally so do many others who know me that I am not exactly your basic conventional Science Dude.

I have a habit of actually watching and observing nature and making practical applications on those observations. I tend to toss out the Ideological Assertions, Assumptions and Speculations for the FACTS as I observe them with my own eyes. I am also burned out with the way conventional science-based wisdom infected with various ideological philosophies has ruined our planet. So over the years I tend to be a healthy open minded skeptic. Sometimes that puts my understanding which has always resulted from making practical applications at odds with the conventional science follower types.

 What I do know from experience and from personal first hand observation is that things sometimes CAN be what they SEEM. The Biological Soil Crusts behind my backyard covering every exposed Granite Rock faces or shallow soils all through  these Boreal Forests serve the exact same function and purpose as those Desert Biological soil Crusts. And what is it that they do ? They make Soil and hold it in place, just like they do in any other varied ecological habitat around the Earth. When I first came here I was astonished at the sheer amount of granite bedrock everywhere and just how shallow many of the soils were here around western Sweden. I wondered how anything grew at all in these Forests. Obviously LOTS of water takes care of that and it rains here all the time. Now in the past when we've had some periods of no rainy days lasting for a month and a half, many of even the bigger shrubs & trees on Hissingen Island (it's really a Penninsula - but don't ask why !!!) will die. The soils are shallow here, but what soils there are come from these magnificent biological machines. Take a look below at this photo of how common it is to have wind blown downed trees here. The average soil is just not that deep and it doesn't take an extremely violent windstorm to topple down the trees here.

 

Now to give you some geological perspective of Western Sweden, take a further look at the Göteborg Archipelago where the majority of the geology is exposed to the elements. However, in some small niches on these islands, there does exist some soil and vegetation

One of the things that first struck me when I first observed this tough seemingly harsh rocky granite  landscape is where did all of this soil come from in the first place ? If you listen to and believe the story that is told of the history of these particular geological formations of western Sweden with it's extremely abundant Archipelago island chain strung along all around it's coasts, is that it's formation came from the time period of when the Ice Age ended and the great Glacial receding came along and reveal this rock hard sterile looking landscape. Of course like all receding glacial landscapes, for many years there is this sterile appearance to it. Take note of this series of photos which reveals a seemingly lifeless barren landscape after glaciers disappear.

Upsala Glacier, Argentina 1908 to 2004

Krossfjorden, survey of Fjortende Julibreen Glacier

Okay, as you can see and take note above, this is common around the globe. But notice the sterile landscape for which is left behind after the glacier recedes. Makes sense. Every landscape starts with a blank canvas, so how did this particular soil develop over time to allow plant life to be possible ? Clearly seeds just don't blow in on the wind and take hold automatically transforming it into a brand new forested ecosystem. There are clearly a series of successional biological mechanisms which need to take place prior to this seeding event. This is where Biological Soil Crusts come into play. So assuming the Swedish nature Signage along the trail pathway was telling me the truth about how the Ice Age World  finally disappeared, then how did this Soil come about anyway ?

Spores of all these Lichens, Algaes, Mosses and various forms of fungi need to enter the scene first to create a foundational Soil system for the succession of life to begin. A clue for me on how this soil could have developed over time came from that top photo on this page. There was just something interesting I noticed.The rock face with the biodiverse colonies of Lichens, Mosses, Algae and Fungi/Bacteria was pock marked in a sort of checkerboard pattern and I wonder why and what could have done this. Take a closer look:

Now if you look closely, you'll see the area is clearly pockmarked as of some bird or animal were foraging around for some sort of sustenance. And you would be right. It's the local Scandinavian Magpie which does all of this. I've actually watched some of these feisty birds tear up someone's nice lawn before looking for Earthworms for which there are millions in these northern Boreal Forests.

Clearly you can see something has foraged around and turned over some of the mosses here in the photograph to the left, no doubt looking for earthworms or Sowbugs, both of which are abundant underneath this layer of living biological material. It's a sort of natural tillage being done without harm to the mycorrhizal grid infrastructure. Below, let's take a closer zoomed in magnification look at what has happened exactly.

Okay so we get a good idea and picture of just what happens to these granite rock slabs and interestingly, these organisms seem to repair it themselves much more rapidly so that by next year the whole process starts all over again the following year. But what happens to this material once it's turned over by these critters ? Well these granite slab and boulder formations here run for great lengths from north to south and there are many fissures, crevaces and cracks running the same directions. It is here where the soil builds up and let me show you how. This next photo illustrates where the uplifted material goes once it's disturbed. It falls off the edges and into these voids or spaces only to collect and decompose. Not only organic matter, but bits and chips of the granite pebbles and sand grains themselves appear here. Take a look.

This build up here is about 10 inches thick just from this season. Here is an window into the world of the creatures I've seen responsible. These are birds for in or around the forests here. Take a look.

This first bird here you will recognize, but it's far different than the common city pigeon you are use to seeing. It's called a European Wood or forest Pigeon (Columba palumbus) and this is the same ground foraging bird I photographed at the Gunnebo Estate in my other post. They looked like a covey of giant quails in groups of 12 - 15 rummaging around on the ground there. These pigeons are huge and shy. Not like the city pigeons and probably make a better meal for those who enjoy hunting and game foods.

This next bird is not just your common black bird. It is much larger and the male seen here with the yellow ringed eye and orange beak sings like a Western Thrasher or Mockingbird for those familiar with them, The female is dull sooty brown with dull brown beak. The male's singing is beautiful and echoes everywhere through the forest. The are ground foragers like the Pigeons and pick through the easy to turn over mosses and lichens.

This next bird is probably more recognizable to most as they are found not only throughout northern/central Europe, but across North America and Asia in Siberia. We know it as the common Magpie, but they also are ground foragers and are often picking and turning over the mosses and lichens here. With that in mind, let me show you some other images of just where all of these Biocrustal Colonies love to show up here in Sweden. Actually anywhere they want. Often times houses with the clay tile or stone roofs will need replacing if old enough. That's because on the north sides of roofs there are usually heavily encrusted mats of these lifeforms eating and chewing their way through the mineral material. After all, that's what they do. They also chew through headstones at the Cemeteries here and I have some photos of this. People after some decades will have to replace a family member's headstone if it has been severely damaged and crumbled by these crusts. These first two pictures are from the surrounding walls of one cemetery just to illustrate their prolific ability to colonize just about anywhere.

These next pictures are examples of grave stones. when my wife's grandmother died and we went up north for the funeral in this little small town with a small church with an attached cemetery, which was very very old, the wear patterns on the granite stones were extremely well worn and these living things were responsible for this break up of tough mineral rock material. Like the man made material of concrete and such, nothing is safe from these biological mineral breakdown machines.

Well that is enough material to illustrate just what these organisms are capable of doing for a healthy planet, even if we are inconvenienced at times. This cemetery was actually one of the more better maintained one's I've seen. It appeared to me that they have from time to time gone in here and pressure-washed most of the stones as a regular maintenance procedure. Unfortunately on many of these stones, the biological material in manufacturing some of those strong enzymes for which they accomplish their soil building and fertility processes have taken their toll on the normally rock hard material where even the pressure washing will pockmark out chips and chunks of stone which defaces the writing on the grave marker. Eventually the stones almost always have to be replaced, but not for some couple decades depending on how bad the environmental circumstances.

So should we consider these as Biologcal Soil Crusts ?  I think so. They are the same organisms with slightly differing functions in the habitats they are found but ultimately accomplish the same goals. This is not a definitions shell game or word semantics debate. Definitions have a way of changing as we gain more understanding. Why even the Antarctic and Arctic regions are technically deserts by definition. The both have extremely low humidity levels somewhere around 3% and extremely low precipitation averages, though you may not think it so. Cynobacteria which is often spoken of as part of these desert crusts also accomplish this in the photo below.

Would you consider after viewing the above photo that these Cynobacteria a desert ONLY organism ? No of course not. What the Swedish example does is focus attention on an otherwise ignored and discounted amazing biological process found in our desert environments. Yes they are different and yet the same. They work faster and greater which allows one to illustrate a process otherwise unseen or regarded as of little importance. This is now obvious with all the NOT-SO-ECO-GREEN ENERGY VENTURES which are now being bulldozed into the Deserts around our planet which is creating other ecological nightmares for which many of the companies involved couldn't care less.

What will they now do as a means of maintenance with these places ? Once the soil is stripped of their Biological Soil Crusts in these deserts, dust storms become far worse. As a means of maintenance, these companies cannot allow and biological grow in between these solar panels or other wind energy units. Yet like the Oil companies who create moonscapes inside of their oilfields for a purpose, then Eco-Not-So-Green Companies will most likely employ some of the same methods used by the Big Corporate Oil Industry to sterilize the soil arounf their oil wells. Ever see a sterilized looking oil field ? Wanna know why they are sterilized ?

Oil Fields No. 1, Belridge, California 2002

You'll first off take note that I did NOT pull a picture out from a Saudi Arabian Desert Magician's black Top-Hat here. This is Belridge California. First off it should be noted that Oil Companies CANNOT afford to have dry grasses or anything else to facilitate the movement of a grass fire inside any of their fields. When I worked for Coors Bio-Tech back in the late 1980s, we had an Orange Peel Solvent much like the picture here to the right called Bio-T Max. It is known by another name in the chemical industry called D-Limonene. It is water soluble and has numerous practical cleaning and degreasing applications. As a Manufacturing Representative for Coors Bio-Tech (yes the same Golden Colorado Company that makes Beer) it was my job to canvas for official distributors for this product. One of these was a Chemical Distributor of products to the Oil Industries from Santa Barbara to Bakersfield California. Very well known oil producing areas to many. This individual sold a chemical herbicide that was guaranteed to destroy the soil and prevent any kind of plant (trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, etc) seed from germinating on those oil field sites for at least 7 years. I bet most of you didn't know such a hideous thing even existed. Monsanto created Agent Orange for the Vietnam War as a Tropic Forest defoliant for which these areas today are still mostly desert regions. And yet these Oil Companies still need or require a strong chemical sterilizer to keep fields plant life free. 

What do you suppose the Not-So-Green-Energy Companies will be using as a means of an ongoing disinfecting Soil Sterilant program ? Will they even use one ? They have to maintain a plant-free zone and hiring manual labor for a permanent maintenance solution would be cutting into profits which is what all of this is about in the first place. On that note there are other companies that will pursue the opposite. Terraderm is one of those. The application of their product could restore soils destroyed by strip mining istes, solar farms, wind turbine farms etc.

Images - terraderm.com

Here is the company which manufactures a Biolgical Soil Crust Inoculum approach for which a healthy more ecologically sound solution would correct an already mistake ridden system, Terraderm. Someone should monitor what they intend on doing to the soils out there as a means of regular maintenance. In the interest of responsible sustainable technologies moving forwards in this area, we have this company's site to provide a viable idea:

Terra Derm: Restoring Soils on a Global Scale

The facts here show and prove that there are many many amazing things out there in the natural world yet to be discovered, researched and understood for use as a practical application for proper custodianship of this Earth. No matter what or how we want to define these amazing organisms, or what personal professional bias we have on these subjects, the work with which they accomplish everywhere around our planet Earth should be admired by everyone. To that end I hope I've made an otherwise boring science subject fascinating to the average person.

Southern California to be hit hard by a developing El Nino Pattern

The Weather Space

News in Weather, Space, Geology

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This Headline Weather News reporting appeared recently on the weather watch link above the illustrated animation in what could possibly be another catastrophic global weather event. Given the changing weather pattern times we live in nothing in the News these days would be a surprise. Here is some of the information taken from this website's article.

Southern California to be hit hard by a developing El Nino Pattern 

 Published on June 10, 2012 - 6:55 UT
- By TWS Staff Reporter
- Edited by TWS Editor

(TheWeatherSpace.com) - Forecasters across the planet are watching a developing scenario in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean. This scenario is the El Nino, which comes strong only eight times a century.

TWS' Southern California Weather Authority is gearing up for what may be a deadly storm season from Fall through Spring of this coming year. 

 "The 2012 to 2013 El Nino looks to be a high impact event," said Senior Meteorologist Kevin Martin. "This will be a dangerous time for us in Southern California, especially those in the flood prone zones. Flooding is going to be very common this coming rainy season!"

Last year , Southern California's mountain resorts failed to get the needed snow to make a good season. Many; whom buy season passes, were very upset at mother nature.

"This year we are looking at a spectacular resort season," said Martin. "So if you have doubts about another mountain resort season pass then do not hesitate to buy them when they go on sale. This year will have above normal snow in Southern California's mountain resorts."

Helpful links to get your through the weather hazards of Southern California are;

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Related Discussion Links:

 Southern California Weather Authority: Forecast & Research Office

The question is, when will El Nino make it's presence felt ? Summer or this winter ? Actually this summer has already proven that Southern California has already felt it's effect from a greater and more intense Monsoonal Moisture flow season. Places like New Mexico felt less of this traditional moisture flow. This mirrors almost exactly the situation of early 1980  to 1986 where both winter and summer rainfall were heavier than normal.

(Reuters) Weather center: 50 percent chance of El Nino later this year

NEW YORK | Fri Jun 8, 2012 7:44am IST

(Reuters) - There is a 50 percent chance the feared El Nino weather pattern which can trigger droughts in Southeast Asia and Australia and floods in South America may strike later this year, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center warned on Thursday.

Such a potential for a Prophetic 2012/2013 Rainy Season weather news brings back memories for many folks in Southern California who were around back in the 1980s during the notorious flood events of that 1980 decade when El Nino really got it's reputation as the bad boy wetter-weather phenomena. I remember those times well. Not only were all the winter rainfall records broken just about everywhere in Southern California, but these years were also known for heavy summer monsoonal thunderstorm seasons where those Thunderbumpers often working in teams as opposed to the common localized individuals, didn't confine themselves to only the mountains and deserts which is normal, but rather ventured much further west over as far as the Pacific coastline.

There have been other times like in 1993 when I lived up in Anza, California. This was a very heavy rain year. The weather pattern up in So-Cal mountains is nothing like the weather often seen and visualized from those touristy postcards. Weather is often as cold and heavily wet as anywhere back east. But I remember this particular year was insane. In the Southern California Mountains, even when the storm technically passes over into Arizona and all points east, cloud layer masses continue to hug the higher elevations, almost as if not wanting to leave. Our home was actually 450 foot above Anza Valley which was already at 4000' level. At that height you are actually up in the storm clouds, not just under their influence. It's cloudy, foggy and the rain fiercely driving sideways. It seemed as if it had been that way for weeks on end. Finally tired of living under those conditions and even though the rain was still down pouring with constant steady squalls, we decided it was time to go somewhere and do ANYTHING but hang around there at home in the dark & gloom. 

The idea came up that a trip to Olde Town Temecula and lookie-looing thru Antique stores would be fun, even if it was raining. And it did - CONSTANTLY!!! We parked our Toyota Forerunner down in Public Parking next to this old time historical bridge. Now below is an updated photo from WeatherCurrents.com & photo by Greg Turbeville, but it illustrates the same exact historical old bridge. The parking lot was on the other side of this shot on the left hand side. We were there for several hours in the afternoon. From the time we left home at around noon Saturday to the time we left and went back up the mountain around around 5:00 in the evening it downpour rain with no intermittent breaks at all. Here's that bridge.

Now visualize for a moment here water so high that it was up to the white railings on this bridge, in fact on the left hand side is where the water was coming from by moving through to the right in the photo. The left side had strong wave after wave currents fiercely slapping those rails on that side. When we first arrived and parked, the water was just about as high as you see it here. After we ate at the Bank of Mexican Food, we walked around town going from store to store and all the while I'd look down the street just to check and see the water levels rising by our parking lot. When it finally was bashing the north side of that bridge,  I said to my wife, we need to get out of here. We got in the Toyota and drove north towards Rancho California Road, seen here in this photo again from WeatherCurrents.com & Greg Turbeville.

Now keep in mind that this bridge was also having water issues as the downstream bridge, but here it was actually flowing over the bridge which they quickly had blocked off and these waters were actually running down Front Street which is the sort of main street for Old Town Temecula. At this point in the photo above we turn right heading up that hill to the Freeway on-ramp to head south and then turning east on Hwy 79 towards home back up in Anza. This whole time it's mega pouring still. We made it to the Aguanga Junction where the Temecula Creek runs along side of the Hwy 79, before the Hwy 371 turn off to Anza. It was now fairly dark at this time as traveling had been 30-40 miles per hour up the hill in pouring rain for which it was almost impossible to see clearly. As we past Temecula Creek in Aguanga just before the old Country Store, you could just make out that the road had been eaten away by the swollen floodplain to the right and that Cal-Trans workers had put up some barriers, but the road was still opened. It wasn't until the next day we had heard that less than a quarter mile section of that highway had been completely taken out. There is no available  photo of the flooded washout, but it happened just west of this little store.

This next photo looks west from the Hwy 371 & Hwy 79 junction west towards the store and the flooded washout took place over that hill in the distance. This road was closed for weeks until they made a temporary bypass. 

http://oldtowntemeculatours.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/and-109-years-later/

The above link is a great accurate description of that day!

The worst flooding though was the early 1980s. Roads and bridges everywhere were torn out on ALL major highways and folks were stranded for months and had to take detours which were burdensome. Lakeside California was one of the worst hit areas in 1980-1981 rainy season. Hwy 67 bridge wasn't gone, but was old and two upsteam dams were overflowing their spillways and water was raging underneath this classic Art Deco antique, something hardly anyone could remember happening before. Here are some photos from Mission Trails Park and other areas around San Diego area that should give one pause and take serious this coming El Nino weather forecasted event.

San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium 

For the record, these flood event photos up above are lame by comparison to what a bad El Nino Phenomena would do. These events are caused by regular mild winter storm spitting events. Want to know why they look so ominous ? Here's why such lame pitiful storms cause so much high water damage.

Most all of this mammoth housing and commercial build didn't exist in the early 1980s El Nino years. Yet these present  Mickey Mouse weather patterned Winter Storms can even now cause headaches for the infrastructure. What would this coming predicted El Nino Season do ? In historical times past most of these average southern California Storm rainfall totals would simply percolate and saturate deep into the natural landscape. All those Asphalt paved and Concrete slabbed Foundations are nothing more than potential runoff expressways. But there's even more to exacerbate the potential problem !!!

2003 Cedar Fire

(Image: Ramona Journal)

And the list is endless from this past decade and no amount of regrowth is going to hold back floods of a bad El Nino Event made worse by climate change. Those two Mega-Firestorms are a drop in the bucket from what you all know has happened this past 2000 decade over there and the fire season there now is just beginning and with a bang in the southwest.

Red Flag Warning Update as of 6/10/12

Even if the backcountry were still in pristine old growth chaparral or forest condition, such extreme weather events as we are experiencing globally which have been caused by human mismanagement of natural resources around the planet would still be a challenge and great risk this coming season in the event of an El Nino occurring today. The last couple of decades have been horrible as far as rainfall totals needs for the southwestern USA and that tends to relax some from any potential future disaster. Whether anyone takes any of these predictions seriously or scoffs at them, the facts show that you are at least on notice and it's just barely the calm before the storm. I certainly don't know everyone's individual circumstances or situation. Where ever you live you know the history of the risks living in your area. Take precautions and plan for potential disaster and emergency situations as if all of this were to really come true.

Be Warned!!!

On an interesting note. Here is a link to my other blog in which I have always had a obsession with knowing how the natural world works and what drives global weather patterns. The Science behind the Climate Change research is making a huge mistake by focusing on Warmer Temperatures and rise in CO2s. These are mere symptoms of the actual cause. I've tried to make it simple to understand and help the average person to understand some incredible processes by which Earth mechanisms for weather patterns really work through the use of simple illustrations and common ground examples. Unfortunately the folks behind Modern Science generally talk down to the average person, as they tend to have an inability to communicate properly by using common ground words/terms as opposed to the usual Intellect speak. Please feel free to ask questions or relate what you know or have observed in the real world.

One other note. In this post I give numerous references and other posts where I've identified where science knows about some intricate details of how things work in forested and other vegetative systems, but has thus far refused to offer viable solutions to rebuilding forested ecosystems of all types around the globe. rather as usual, they opt for quick fixes which address symptoms which never once address the behavioral causes behind the problem. It should also be noted than many of their solutions involve making obsessive amounts of money, which is okay in itself, as I understand the money necessary to accomplish anything, but their solutions are not even close to sustainable. Bookmark the link below as the info is extensive and come back to it later if need be.

Turning Badlands & Wastelands into Productive Wonderlands

Bougainvillea: A Bold Stand Alone Statement Plant

This plant is quite capable of making a bold statement on it's own without any help from any neighbours or friends.

photo by Jeff (Non Paratus)

I have mostly practiced a gardening standard and principle of community planting in the urban landscape. I mean that is how nature does it in the wild. We now know that plants can  compliment each other not only in the garden, but from a scientific perspective they do very well in the wild as an interconnected community which cooperates together for each other's survival. But the Bougainvillea is simply not that kind of plant. Oh I'm sure it somehow cooperates with others in it's natural environment somewhere down in the South American lands of Brazil, Argentina, or Peru. I'm also sure it has it's own natural checks & balances which keep it in it's place. But even in the wild it must be a sort of wandering maverick if it's habit of overwhelming other plants in an urban landscape tells us anything.

 The best places I've ever seen it used is among the landscape settings down in the Canary Islands. I mean the plant must have Hispanic ethnicity encoded in it's very DNA. Can you imagine this plant not in a setting of Spanish Architecture ? It was everywhere in the Canary Isle of Tenerife. Take a look at one of our favourite Gardens next to Hotel Atalaya where we stayed on our very first ever trip. This is the perimeter wall around the very private gardens and pool areas. Not only was it a thing of immense beauty, but it was a formidable security defense barrier.

Photo: Mine

When I worked as the head gardener at the Property management company in San Diego, the equipment necessary for managing Bougainvillea were long blue jeans, long sleeve shirt and a pair of thick leather gloves and Corona Hand Clippers which were never far from heavy leather belt holster. You know how it is, a landscaper with out his Corona Clippers and holster is like a Tombstone Gunfighter with nothing more than a water pistola.

I remember one year where we had problems with neighbouring apartment properties where their residents, who were generally young people that used to climb a wall or chain link fence on a front border and jump an Ivy covered fence in the back of this one Mobile Home Senior Park we managed. The place was made into a regular thoroughfare because they didn't want to walk the extra mile around the block to get to the stores on the other side. Unfortunately many of these individuals were shady characters and they spooked some of the residents who were retired. The front chain-linked fence was next to the Park Resident's Launderette and it was the easiest to discourage the Jumpers by putting this super sticky substance called Bird Repellent made for discouraging Pigeons from roosting on ledges. Put this on the any fence's top cross bar and when it's grabbed you almost can't get this stuff off your hands without some sort of solvent. However they got clever and started using Newspapers or old Advert magazines as a sort of half glove for jumping over the fence anyway. 

But the back wall was a different animal all together. It was also a chained linked fence, but this was English Ivy covered and there were no places to put this sticky substance which didn't work anyway since they had found ways around that. Trying to come up with a solution was tough, but one day I was trimming a Bougainvillea which had really gotten out of hand with six to eight foot or longer branch suckers. Then it suddenly occurred to me that I could utilize these rather lengthy cuttings with a bit of clever weaving work into the top of the Ivy where they would be hidden. Let me show you why !!!

Nobody messes with these thorns. It's like an Ocotillo on Steroids. If the Bougainvillea plant had a face on  it to warn people off from it's nasty sometimes slightly toxic thorns , it would like this!!!

Nobody ever messed with that wall ever again and there was no clever defense around they could come up with. It's like messing with what appears to be a cute little doggie that actually has a feisty bite. Those wicked thorns would go through any newspaper. But back to Bougainvillea as a statement plant. The best place I've ever seen on the planet where this plant is used to it's full potential is the Canary Islands, especially Gran Canaria in a beach town called Puerto de Mogan. Take a look here, sit back and soak up some of the views.

What is it with ethnic Hispanic folk and their bright colours ? On the other hand, what is it with northern Europeans and their lack of artistic imagination ? Hmmmmm ? I'm in the wrong land.

These next pictures are of what are called Canals in Puerto de Mogán because of their striking similarity to canals in Venice.

Puerto de Mogán is also called Little Venice or the Venice of The Canarias because of it's obvious similarity with the canals which link the fishing harbour to their Marina. A person seriously does not have to be a camera expert to find just that right shot.  Taking walks down beautiful side streets and over  small canal bridges, everything, not just Bougainvillea here is in bloom, flowers of all sorts are everywhere,  Citrus trees, Coconut & Canary Island Date palms, crystal clear waters at the marina and for that matter all along the coast line of the Canaries seem to be so pristine, clean and refreshing to the spirit. And this is in winter. You can get yourself so lost that the CNN & BBC World News negativity brought to you continually on a daily basis doesn't even seem to exist anymore. I'm actually surprised more American Tourist don't come here. Mostly it's Europeans like German, British and incredibly Finnish. 

Well it's springtime here and for the past couple of weeks we've had our home heater on. Man this really stinks.  But hey, don't forget about planting or adding Bougainvillea to your landscape if your climate allows. Keep in mind that it will need regular care, especially with pruning. And I don't mean hack job pruning. I'm talking about sculpting for a creative artistic effect. Not everyone has this intuitive ability, but at least with Bougainvillea if you make mistakes, wait a few weeks. It'll give you another blank canvas to work with. As far as feeding, there is no real feeding that I have ever known other than your native soil when I worked with it. Mycorrhizal applications will always be a must, as they are for every plant on Earth. Unless I've missed something, others may contribute their experiences here in the comments section with their experiences and care techniques.

I don't know what it is about the Canary Islands. They have a draw for me like no other place. I could actually live here and have it feel like home. My present northern European location has never really felt that way, though I am close to our friends and family there and that makes a difference.But the Canaries are a feeling of home where I would rarely feel homesick for the land of my roots. *sigh* For now, all I have is my imagination to keep me company. I really need a new office location and work station cubical !!!