I posted about a typical Rove at Tohono Chul park in early June. We are now in the midst of the summer Monsoon season, and it has been very humid—very unlike our usual desert weather. Last night it rained two inches in the Park, and this morning it was like a steamy jungle. A lot of plants appeared to have grown overnight. There were lots of blooms, and one major change to a familiar landmark.
All the trails were very eroded—when water flows in the desert, it goes where it wants to go.
Two cacti were blooming—one a saguaro way out of season; the other a fishhook barrel, whose season is just beginning:
Desert senna was in bloom along all the paths, and passion flowers were beginning on a vine outside the Sonoran Springs Desert garden:
The biggest monsoon change of all was across from the Overlook, where we have a beautiful, huge copper boulder showing oxidation to azurite and malachite.The ground was evidently so saturated that the boulder had settled, and a previous small crack had widened, splitting the boulder nearly in half!
I asked our resident geologist what could have caused such a split, expecting a technical geological answer, and she said, “Weathering.”
The little female Desert Spiny Lizard who lives in the small crack in the boulder(on the left of the above photo) didn’t seem to mind that her hiding place had become noticeably wider.
Desert Spiny Lizard in crack in Copper Boulder
Enjoyed the rove. Yea for the rain. Glad you alerted me to the boulder change. I wonder how much more it will move before I see it. Sue
ReplyDeleteUh... that should be Sonoran Seasons Spring Garden.
DeleteLee spent some time seeing if he could move any of the parts of the boulder, to determine if it is a hazard, and he couldn't. Supposedly they are going to put a small fence around it.
Beautiful shots, thanks for sharing. It has been dry as a desert here in Ontario this summer, but I don't expect to see any cacti yet!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it. A friend who moved from Tucson to the midwest last year said that their summer has been more like our June usually is--extremely hot and dry. Since we started with the rain it's been relatively cool most days--only in the high nineties rather than the triple-digits.
DeleteI'm sure the lizard will just snuggle in deeper. It probably appreciates the open view of the sky.
ReplyDeleteI think the lizard feels very safe there. She's been in that crack for many weeks. But maybe she feels LESS safe now that it's wider? And I wonder what she was thinking during the time that the rock was splitting. That must have been scary.
DeleteHomeowners insurance doesn't cover your roof splitting open.
DeleteI won't tell the lizard. She's probably traumatized enough already.
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