Death Valley Wildflowers: Superbloom

What a glorious year to visit Death Valley. This photo is of Desert Gold carpeting the gravely ground in the lowest elevation of the valley near Badwater.

Superbloom
This is the beginning of a Superbloom, something that happens every 10 years or so.  As we visit, the blooms are just starting and are carpeting the valley floor at the lowest elevations. Probably the blooming season will continue to later April at different elevations and with different species emerging.

A Superbloom occurs when the rainfall comes at just the right time and right amount.  Flowering plants in the harsh environment of Death Valley bloom and set seed only rarely; it is one of their adaptations to the sparse and sporadic water.  Seeds may lie dormant for many years under the soil with hard coverings preventing the seeds from sprouting when the plant will likely not survive to create the next set of seeds.

What is needed?  A heavy, gushing rain in the fall which washes off the hard coating.  Last October was such a flood year, washing out roads, some of which are still closed.  But that is not enough. There has to be enough rain in the early spring (Dec to Feb) to moisten the soil and allow the seeds to sprout. This year, big storms swept across the southwest in later December and again in early February.  One more storm would be good the rangers tell us. But the rain in October released the hard casings; the ones in Dec and Feb are enough for the flowers.  Hooray!

February 15 is usually the beginning of a wildflower season if there will be any.  It has been on  my bucket list to be here for a Superbloom.  I have made it.  What a lovely few days.  My eyes are filled with beauty.

Desert Gold
This species, Desert Gold, is the one blooming profusely just now.  It covers the ground as shown in the top photo. The flowers are about 2" across and stand 1 or 2 feet tall. It is one of the largest flowers displaying just now; the others are small to tiny.

 Brown-eyed Primrose
These white flowers are growing at various elevations. The larger one in this set is the Brown-eyed Primrose.  It is flowering abundantly just now and grows at lower elevation but is not confined to below sea-level. It is mixed in with Desert Gold and other flowers as we show here. The tiny one beside the primrose is Scented Crypthantha.  I could not get a scent but maybe because we were there during the day. Crypthantha is just beginning.  We saw many plants with buds not yet open.

These are small.  The primrose is about 1/2" across; crypthantha, maybe 1/4" if so much. They reminded me of some of the tiny flowers at the Burren in Ireland.

Most of the white flowers, including these flourish at night since they are pollinated at night. We were dismayed, at first, to realize that there were no insects.  How horrible for the plants to get the right rainfall, sprout but to be ready before the insects arrived.  But fret not!  There are several insects that work at night--a specialized bee and a fairly large moth.  Apparently that is one reason that many flowers are white, so that the insects can find them in the dark.

Gravel Ghost
Another plant just beginning is a rare one, the Gravel Ghost.  The first photo below shows one near some primroses. Much taller and larger flower--about 8-15" tall, single flower on a stalk, flower about 1.5" across.  Many will be emerging soon as we saw buds and only a few flowers.  But these only grow below sea-level and are sparsely scattered.

Desert Star
Another white flower is just emerging at low elevations. You can see how many buds are not yet flowered out.  More beauty to come.  The flower is about 1/2" across and forms mats on top of the gravel.

Pebble Pincushion
This was quite rare for us.  We found it only at the lowest elevation (-250 and below).  It might bloom elsewhere later.  Its leaves and stems are so spare we may have not recognized it without the flowers. The flower is rounded, about 1/2"across. This, too, is said to have a scent but I guess at night.

Desert Five-Spot
This is another fairly rare flower, also found at very low elevations.  We saw few plants but those we saw had many unopened buds.  The flower is about 1" across and really stands out against the gravel and white flowers.

Notch-leaf Phacelia
This was found at lower and mid elevations mixed in among other flowers.  As a cluster of purple, the flowers stand out. Each bloom is about 1/2" but the clusters can be 3-4" across.

Golden Evening-Primrose
This was the first flower we saw as we entered the valley from the east near Beatty, NV.  It was blooming from about 1000' down to almost sea-level on the east side.  We found it on the west as we left the valley later.  But it was absent at the lowest elevations unless it has bloomed and died back.  It is about 1' tall with showy yellow clusters.  It is shown above with the Phacelia and below for closer up. Many unopened buds!

Brittlebush
As we drove up the west-side highway, we found Brittlebush at mid elevations in the mountains. It is another with many buds so should be putting on a good show over the next few weeks. The bushes are about 15" tall and the flowers stand up above the bushes.  Each flower is about 1" across.

Joshua Tree
These are not blooming now and may not be blooming this year at all.  They do not live in the depth of Death Valley but are the signature plant of the Mojave Desert, of which Death Valley is part. Joshua Trees are a variety of yucca which can grow up to 15 feet tall with many branches.  They are not part of the flowering-plant cycle affected by the rains as are the other plants in this post. They flower every several years--not this year apparently.

As we climbed thousands of feet on the west-side highway, we began to see Joshua Trees in the sunset. We had seen many earlier in Nevada and will likely see more as we go south along the eastern Sierra. But it was our good-bye to the specialized eco-system that is Death Valley.

Text and photos by Julianne.
EXCEPT the great cover photo showing the carpet of gold with desert rocks in the background. Naturally, that is by Nancy.

Eccentric desert art - Amargosa Opera House and Goldwell Museum

"Lady Desert," by Dr. Hugh Heyrman (1992)
Rhyolite, Nevada, at Goldwell Open Air Museum

Julianne and I are carrying on our project of traveling by car in a great circle from Detroit to Seattle. So far, we enjoyed Christmas in New Orleans, then booked it across western Louisiana, southern Texas, and southern New Mexico. To Arizona where we stayed a month in Tubac and Tuscon, then up to Jerome and Grand Canyon. 

After that we headed west past Hoover Dam and Las Vegas, to Death Valley (actually in California). Many of our notes and pictures only saw daylight in our FB postings, as we have been too restless to actually write complete sentences. Hopefully I'll do some retrospective postings to the blog. But for now, onward! 

Here we are resting in Lone Pine, California, for a few days, and I want to look back upon Nevada a little. We only saw a little of it, the southern tip. But still.

Nevada struck us both as the most amazing place. The bleakness of the landscape attracts few people to settle and try to make a go of it -- we thought, before we got there. We've had to reconsider every bit of what we assumed about Nevada, including the notion of bleakness itself.

Passing on Las Vegas

Let's get Las Vegas out of the way. It's got fantastic architecture, but really, it's all for commercial purposes, and I don't count it in the same basket as art that comes from the heart. But it certainly fits in the fantasy basket.

Sphinx in Las Vegas, pyramid behind, obelisk in front

In Las Vegas, we had lunch with a friend of Julianne's from her working days. Eva is a down-to-earth, smart person who retired to Vegas for the weather and cheap prices. She seemed slightly surprised we were going to the Strip. Just looking for fantasy. Don't have to gamble.

Statue of Liberty with roller coaster

Venice-style fantasy - or something about Carnival?

We drifted along the Strip, stopping for photos as possible. Out-the-car-window shots, many of course out of focus or bad angles. Too bad about the poor focus on the blonde young "cops" in thigh-high boots, high-cut short-shorts, official badges on their hats and handcuffs at their waists. There was a fantasy.

Goldwell Open Air Museum

There's good imaginative art in southern Nevada, for instance the Goldwell Museum, close to Rhyolite. 

Rhyolite is a ghost town close to Beatty. We stayed at the El Portal Motel in Beatty, a town founded in 1904 to supply miners at Rhyolite. Beatty has always been small and unpretentious, with a couple restaurants, a gas station or two, and businesses that only open when you call the proprietor. It has a little local museum, a library in a geodesic dome, and a stream, the Amargosa River, which actually flows in this desert. Come to think of it, the water is the reason the town survived.

Rhyolite, on the other hand, had the gold mine. Discovered 1904, and by 1907 it had 5,000 people looking for a buck. A train station, a hotel, several banks and a school, also of course saloons and brothels. No natural water, though. And not as much gold as suppposed - by 1917 it was all but abandoned,with houses and other assets moved to Beatty or left to ruin. 

Rhyolite train station, with Joshua trees and chain link fencing

Ouside Rhyolite stands the Goldwell Open Air Museum, a serious endeavor to preserve outdoor sculpture in Nevada. It began 1984 with "The Last Supper" and other works by Albert Szukalski, and has been going on since. There's more to it than meets the eye, and the visual impact is engaging on its own.

"Ghost Rider" and Scotty the miner, who first found gold at Rhyolite

Maze, parking lot, sculpture of Scotty

"Server Ghost"

"Last Supper" by Albert Szukalski, 1984

Amargosa Opera House

The Amargosa Opera House and Hotel just misses being in Nevada. But since the road is straight and the border is hardly marked, and since the hotel doesn't offer any food (for which you have to drive over to the Longstreet Casino in Nevada), I will consider it an honorary citizen of Nevada. Honestly, it should be in Nevada.

It's quirky, with an atmosphere of being a manifestation of sheer will. A dancer with Radio City Music Hall, Marta Becket, by a process of serendipity found herself in Death Valley Junction - you can read her story at the link.

She (and her husband, who later left) established her theater in the abandoned building she found, painting the scenery and the walls, establishing the program, dancing. Through ups and downs, over decades, she continued. The building was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012, and stands now as a non-profit hotel and theater. Marta, 91, still lives there, and only stopped dancing herself at age 85. 

We stayed there one night, charmed by the whole thing. Sadly, we were there on Thursday, so we missed the Friday night performance by Jenna McCintock, a ballet dancer recreating Marta Becket's ouvre. If you go, be sure it's a weekend!

Satin cover, and golden swan painted by Marta Becket

Bedroom wall, painted by Marta

Now isn't that too darling for words?

TLC would be welcome.

That was our last night near Death Valley. We intended to shift to Lone Pine, California, and come back for another day in Death Valley. But the road from Death Valley to Lone Pine! We couldn't do it again. Once was too many times, actually. More on that in another post. Meanwhile, I have to think that Nevada is the most eccentric state we've been in, so far. Hm. Rural Louisiana gives it a run for the money. And, what about south Texas? Hm. We can go on!

Nancy Donnelly

Grand Canyon: Indoors and out during winter

Who goes to the Grand Canyon and writes a blog about the design of the dining room?  Well it is winter: dark, cold.  But pretty wonderful here nevertheless.  Stunning scenery, clear days.  Grand Canyon is more beautiful than the many well-published photos. The photo above is our view from the south rim a week after heavy snowfall.

We have had three full days of sun, geology and mountain scenery at Grand Canyon on top of a full month of stunning Arizona birds and desert scenery in southern Arizona; a casual walk in the Patagonia area and an Elegant Trogon appeared (very rare bird in the U.S.)  All this is to say that our time in Arizona has been well spent.  Relatives--time with my dear sister.  Friends--Jean and Cynthia came from Seattle.  New friends--Margie, Gary, Paul and others in Tubac. A lovely visit with Novie who now has moved from DC to Clarkdale, AZ.  Saguaro cacti everywhere my eye falls. This area is a contrast with Louisiana, our other long-stay upon return to the US. Both are a good introduction to resuming life in this country.

But what I was not expecting is the delightful early 20th C resort on the south rim of the canyon.  We walked into Bright Angel Lodge where we are staying--stone fireplace, log design.  Totally a throwback to the era when tourism was starting here with the Santa Fe Railroad bringing tourists.

Our cabin at Bright Angel Lodge

I grew up in Montana with many family vacations to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks but this is my first adult visit to the Grand Canyon; Nancy's first visit at all.  This is of the same era as my much loved Old Faithful Lodge and Many Glaciers Lodge up north.  But this is the southwest and the Santa Fe RR so the design and presentation fits this locale.  I just love this stuff and am happy to learn about the designer of the many buildings that give me such pleasure.

Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter was the architect for the Fred Harvey Corporation beginning in 1901. Fred Harvey was one of the main entrepreneurs of tourism for Grand Canyon, hiring Colter for many buildings and other design efforts. Her 40 years with the company spanned an era of design that I particularly love.  Much in common with Charles Rennie McIntosh in Glasgow, John Ruskin in England and an era of art and design which has largely faded from view except in historic designations. The hotels that Mary Colter designed here are on the Register of Historic Places and are in the "Historic Hotels of America." Fortunately, Bright Angel Lodge is also affordable.

The two buildings shown below are on the south rim of the canyon.  Lookout is directly in front of the building we are staying in and is one of the primo places to watch for California Condors to rise up on thermals out of the canyon.  Right now, too cold for condors, sadly. Desert View Tower is quite far east, near the Navajo lands.  It looks down on the area the Little Colorado River joins the main river. Both of these areas were highlights for early tourists and for us too. I think the buildings are striking.

Lookout, by Mary Coulter

Desert View Watchtower, by Mary Colter

Thomas Moran and early painting of Grand Canyon
A little detour from Mary Colter and architecture to Thomas Moran and painting.  Moran Point, along the south rim is one of the views made famous by Thomas Moran an early 20th C. American painter. Heroic views of scenery, larger than life; some of his work was on view at the Renwick in DC until the recent remodel unfortunately set different priorities.  This famous painting of Grand Canyon is at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (More information here.)



And here is another picture of the same scene by Moran. This is Nancy's snapshot of an information panel at Moran Point, which reproduces the picture below. You'll notice how different it is from the painting above.  The panel at Grand Canyon comments, "Moran placed no value on literal transcriptions of nature. Instead, his paintings were idealized landscapes, drawing from the inspirations that surrounded him."  We can hardly imagine that much mist and cloud cover.

Colter
Back to Mary Jane Colter--her philosophy of architecture was to design buildings and accouterments which fit the physical and cultural landscape of their location.  She preferred to use native materials to blend into the landscape,  Since she designed many of the early buildings of the "Village" on the south rim, her influence is widely felt.

The fireplace in Bright Angel Lodge was designed by Colter to mirror a typical cross-section of Grand Canyon Geology.The stones for the fireplace were hauled up from their places in the canyon by mule and put in place where Colter determined they should go.  Stunning.  The room with the fireplace is a history room now and had no fire, sorry to say.

Fireplace at Bright Angel Lodge

The bottom of the fireplace is made of Vishnu schist, the basement rock of the canyon, about 2 billion years old.  It is dark colored and generally has vertical orientation.  In front of the upright schist layers are rounded rocks pulled out of the river itself, carried along from many layers and eroded into roundish shapes. Next from the bottom is what they call here "Grand Canyon Supergroup."  These layers include the bright reds, blue greens which define the canyon visually for most of us.  In the cnyon and here in the fireplace they are at various angles reflecting their uplift and erosion. Then we have Paleozoic layers--also bright reds and yellows--mainly horizontal.  The top is Kaibab limestone--yellowish, buff, white.

Dining in the early 20th C. and today
So to the dining room.  I am particularly charmed by the dining room at El Tovar, the high-end historic hotel also designed by Colter. It touches all my historic, 20 C. art and childhood buttons and had fairly good food as well.

Lobby of El Tovar

El Tovar Dining Room in dim light. I am taken with the light fixtures (detail below).

Light fixtures, furniture, dinnerware were designed by Mary Colter to fit the era and area.

These lights could be in Glasgow at the Glasgow School of Art. The furniture and animal heads are National Park Lodge style.

This dinnerware though, with similar philosophy, could be nowhere else.  Colter took Mimbres designs (Mogollon culture from southern New Mexico, more information here) and created stunning dinnerware which was used by Fred Harvey and the SFRR in their hotels and dining cars.  Although those corporations have demised, the hotel here has carefully had recreations made.  We had our pork chops and bread and butter on these fine plates. What a pleasure.

We are ending our month in Arizona.  Off to Nevada and Death Valley.  So much rain this year has probably created a great wildflower year.  More delights.