Desert wildflowers - video entertainment

[McDonough]

While still in the throes of winter here in New England, I took a virtual tour through American desert wildflowers, and not just photos, but embedded videos.  I've watched this one several time through, full of beautiful plants which seem so much more alive with the blooms waving in the strong breeze, all set to a soft jazz soundtrack.  

This also gives a chance to highlight the YouTube feature that has been added to the NARGS Forum, allowing YouTube videos to be embedded within these pages.  It's easy to do... after visiting a YouTube video, the URL can be copied, then in the body of a NARGS Forum message, click the YouTube button and paste in the URL.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQT8B5FJJlo" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQT8B5FJJlo</a>

In this particular video, there are some familiar rock garden plant friends seen, such as fetching clumps of a white evening primrose (I'm guessing Oenothera caespitosa ssp. marginata), a couple different Sphaeralcea species (Desert Mallow, Globe Mallow), Showy Four O'clock (most likely Mirabilis multiflora), Calochortus, and many others.  If anyone recognizes the Penstemon species at the end of the video, with tall wand-like stems and light sky blue flowers, tell us what you think it is... I think I'm in love!

Nice page on 3 species of Sphaeralcea (coccinea, leptophylla, parvifolia)... these are a party for the eyes
http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/Pink%20Enlarged%20Photo%20Pages/sphaeralcea.htm

[Lori S.]

Wow!  Thanks for posting that, Mark!  A spring trip to the desert would be very much in order!!

[McDonough]

Wow!  Thanks for posting that, Mark!  A spring trip to the desert would be very much in order!!

Yesterday's snow and freezing rain turned to a concrete-layer, and overnight another 5-7" of snow is predicted, I needed the vitual flower break

In the earlier portion of the video, a shrubby pink vetch is shown, any idea about what it might be, Lathyrus? or Vicia? or Astragalus? Its very pretty.

Also, has anyone actually grown Stanleya pinnata, Prince's Plume, (the branched shrubby plant with upright wands of yellow flowers).
http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/Yellow%20Enlarged%20Photo%20Pages/stanleya%20pinnata.htm
http://www.laspilitas.com/images/plants/stanleya_pinnata.jpg
http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/stanleya-pinnata

[Lori S.]

Well, I grew Stanleya pinnata from seed in 2009, and they came through the winter and bloomed in 2010, but my rather wimpy examples would hardly be representative of the species!  
I like the look of those yellow spires... especially against that red Utah sandstone.

[AmyO]

Wow! thanks so much for that video Mark! Very much needed these days.

[Hoy]

A huge contrast to the gray and wetweather we have here today, Mark! We even got some sleet this morning

[Weiser]

Mark
I do grow Stanleya pinnata. It grows on dry slopes through out the Great Basin. In dry sights it is a very long lived perennial. I see it growing from 18" - 24" (45-60cm)tall in flower and about 12"- 18" (30-45cm) across on sights that receave less than 10" (25cm) of precipitation a year. You can expect it to grow at least double that size with additional moisture. The foliage has a distinctive mustard smell when touched. The lower stems and their long branched taproots are woody. If you decide to relocate the plant, expect some of the remaining root remnants to resprout. Solitary bees seem to depend on these heavily for pollen in the high desert environment.

I believe the Penstemon at the end of the video is Penstemon comarrhenus. Here a pictures from my garden, see what you think.

[McDonough]

Thanks John, I think that's it (Penstemon comarrhenus).  I watched the video again in "full screen mode", and the very narrow stem leaves look very similar.  I'll have to be on the watch for that one, I like these tall wand-like penstemons.  In your plant it seems that the axillary side panicles are more floriferous than the plant in the video.  

For inquiring minds, here's the USDA Plant Profile page for this species:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PECO5&photoID=peco5_001_avp.jpg

Thinking about Stanleya pinnata, and when I have traveled the Western US States, this plant is very common, but I can't say that I've seen it cultivated much.  I'd be interested to see how it performs for you.  Looking at the USDA page, there are 4 varieties of S. pinnata listed, so no doubt the plant is variable.  

USDA Plant Profile page:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=STPI

[McDonough]

Stanleya pinnata photos, I always get an impression of yellow Eremurus when looking at these:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelingwild/2571059808/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pix-diana/3820830609/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grandma-shirley/2676345328/
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/view?q=stanleya%20pinnata&psc=G&filter=1#5569478270844569618
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/view?q=stanleya%20pinnata&psc=G&filter=1#5070236165959130578

Many photos of plants in the wild show the persistent remains of previous year flower stems:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/walksoftly/148494542/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rix_photostream/4666611951/

[Schier]

I love the video & the Sphaeralcea are indeed a party for the eyes. I'm planning to grow a few from seed, and as well, down in the local coulee there is at least one native species that I plan on investigating further this spring/summer. I spotted a couple last year when I took a load of stuff down to the landfill aka dump! which is situated in a gated area in the coulee. ( thank goodness it's a small landfill and not too terribly unsightly, as they really spoil the look of anything... I guess we should be lucky it's a transfer station only ) anyway, I'm off the subject! the little sphaeralcea was in bloom, and I put a couple of weird looking rocks right by them, so I should be able to spot them this spring. They are such cheerful plants...

[Lori S.]

Yes, that would be Sphaeralcea coccinea, scarlet mallow - our only Sphaeralcea, and a nice one!  I always enjoy seeing them.

[Tim Ingram]

I don't really live in a desert in North Kent(!) but I have tried growing quite a few of the plants in the video. Stanleya grew and flowered for me but went down with a serious attack of flea beetles, which love brassicas. Sphaeralceas and penstemons have come and gone and probably need an open glass covered area to intensify the summer and dry the winter (I have seriously thought of this because when running the nursery stock plants of things like Convolvulus cneorum grew beautifully in the greenhouse, where they generally struggled outside; as an aside this does grow well high up in a wall at Sissinghurst, so wants complete starvation).

The video is really entertaining; I am so used to seeing slides or digital images of plants on the web or at talks, that one doesn't get the full sense of them in their habitat, which is so evocative. I don't know about the States but there is a dearth of sensible television programmes on plants in the UK, even with our fantastic tradition of fine Natural History programming. Even such a simple video shows what people are missing! I hope to learn a lot more about the wonderful flora of the Rockies and California via the forum.

[McDonough]

The video is really entertaining; I am so used to seeing slides or digital images of plants on the web or at talks, that one doesn't get the full sense of them in their habitat, which is so evocative. I don't know about the States but there is a dearth of sensible television programmes on plants in the UK, even with our fantastic tradition of fine Natural History programming. Even such a simple video shows what people are missing! I hope to learn a lot more about the wonderful flora of the Rockies and California via the forum.

Increasingly there can be found some good videos taken on wildflowers on mountain hikes and such; wish there were more of them.  There is something about seeing the blooms bobbing about in the wind, in a wild unscripted habitat, that connects with rock gardeners reverence for nature and plants.  I want to learn how to do this; my new droid 4G class touch phone has a 8 megapixel camera, and video capability, I just need to know how to edit and downsize videos to be suitable for web viewing.