This could be the year for good wildflowers

[cactusland]

Stuff is growing everywhere. Can't keep up. These slow and steady rains are great for deep watering anything in the soil.

[PhureeKeeper]

Originally Posted by New Horizons

Sometimes I wonder if all this rain is is indicative of a broader change, a shift away from a desert region. I'm seeing huge swaths of land completely covered in green. Even places with crushed rock landscaping are overun with plants, some a few feet high. Perhaps we'll see more people replacing rock yards with grass.

I guess this is great for people who felt that Phoenix was too brown.

Hopefully when things heat up and dry out, the green will DIE!

Careful what you wish for. Today's multitude of spring flowers die off and become ripe for wildfires.

[ScottsdaleMark]

Originally Posted by PhureeKeeper

Careful what you wish for. Today's multitude of spring flowers die off and become ripe for wildfires.

Really? I don't think a surface burn poses any real issue to healthy and well-watered trees...if anything that sort of grass/brush fire is usually considered healthy for the forest floor and wouldn't generate enough heat to damage any trees.

It's when the trees get dried out that things get really bad and scary.

If there are any foresters here let me know if I'm wrong, but that's my understanding from what I've read over the years.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by ScottsdaleMark

Really? I don't think a surface burn poses any real issue to healthy and well-watered trees...if anything that sort of grass/brush fire is usually considered healthy for the forest floor and wouldn't generate enough heat to damage any trees.

It's when the trees get dried out that things get really bad and scary.

If there are any foresters here let me know if I'm wrong, but that's my understanding from what I've read over the years.

The forests will benefit from the rain/snow - they will be greener and the tree killing insects are better resisted, but the deserts are at greater risk. Most desert species are not evolved for fire and are easily killed. Without humans, a wildfire in the desert is a rare occurrence. We usually see some nasty fires in the deserts after a wet year - all caused by carelessness.

[ScottsdaleMark]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

The forests will benefit from the rain/snow - they will be greener and the tree killing insects are better resisted, but the deserts are at greater risk. Most desert species are not evolved for fire and are easily killed. Without humans, a wildfire in the desert is a rare occurrence. We usually see some nasty fires in the deserts after a wet year - all caused by carelessness.

Thank you for this ... would this be stuff like the riverbed burn that happened up in Globe-Miami area a year or two ago? I think there was a burn out in Buckeye in the last year or two as well.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by ScottsdaleMark

Thank you for this ... would this be stuff like the riverbed burn that happened up in Globe-Miami area a year or two ago? I think there was a burn out in Buckeye in the last year or two as well.

Fires out east of the valley on the way to Payson, etc - Yarnell hill. Those places where the weeds and brush grow large with the rains and then dry into tinder in May. There was a really big fire near Fountain Hills a few years ago (maybe more like 20?). You can still see the saguaro skeletons along the Beeline. IIRC some campers were killed in a brush fire out that way too.

[RenW]

When we bought our house in 2015 there was a sickly grass yard in the back with no irrigation system. We had no desire to water grass and we decided to let the yard go. My hope was that we would be able to fill the yard with native plants. A hardy deep rhizome grass began growing throughout the yard.

Our front yard is a desert landscape without any rock (but with weed barrier). It looks nicer than it sounds. We've been fighting the non-native plants back there. The rhizome grass is the worst.

Our little chihuahua terrier mix has been exposing some of the weed barrier in the backyard. Multiple types so I think it is years of different types of barriers. That really isn't stopping the plants (especially the rhizome grass).

I'm beginning to make peace with our back yard full of non-native plants. Our backyard is full of blooming non-native plants this year and it looks naturally pretty. Once I let go of the desire to "control" my yard and appreciate what is happening naturally I've been much happier. It also makes me smile to see bees in the yard.

I hope I continue to be happy with it. We would be limited with herbicide use in the back since our little poochie likes eating plants in the backyard. I call it "eating her daily salad".

[exit2lef]

I saw plenty of flowers while hiking at White Tanks today; however, I'd still say we're still ahead of the peak because for every blossom on the brittlebush, I saw several buds that look like they're going to open any day. Expect the desert to look even more vibrant in the new few weeks.