Weather: The seasons unofficially changed Monday when the first tropical depression was reported in the Pacific west of the heel of México. It also went from too cold to hot to plant before May had much begun.
We’ve had no rain since the beginning of April, and no real moisture since last October. Instead, we’ve had front after front come through with water that didn’t fall. Some of the native plants have been able to thrive on atmospheric moisture. The tufted white evening primroses are having a good year, and the needle grass in the prairie has greened.
Unirrigated cultivated grasses are doing less well. The alfalfa in hay fields is up, but the brome grass is still brown in many places. It’s flourishing as an unwanted volunteer in my yard, and even putting out its first flowers.
Last rain: 4/8. Week’s low: 34 degrees F. Week’s high: 91 degrees F.
What’s blooming in the area: Austrian copper and yellow roses, spirea, snowball, broad leafed yucca, Dutch iris, peonies, oriental poppies, Jupiter’s beard, snow-in-summer, blue flax, purple salvia
What’s blooming in my yard: Woodsii and rugosa roses, beauty bush, skunk bush, chives, vinca, Bath pinks, pink evening primroses, coral bells, golden spur columbine, Shasta daisy
What’s blooming outside the walls and fences: Apache plume, tamarix, alfilerillo, hoary cress, purple mat flower, white tufted evening primroses, western stickseed, bindweed, greenleaf five eyes, fern leaf globemallow, scurf pea, fleabane, common and native dandelions, goat’s beard, green amaranth; brome, needle, rice, cheat, purple three-awn and June grasses
What’s reviving: Roses of Sharon, buffalo gourd, showy milkweed
Some things didn’t survive the harsh winter in my yard: four shrubs, moss phlox, blue flax, and oriental poppies. Since they all had been planted in the past two years I assumed they hadn’t developed strong enough roots. However, I haven’t seen moss phlox blooming in the usual places yet.
When I was in Santa Fé last week, a friend told me none of his flax hadn’t survived, though his neighbor’s were blooming profusely. When I was in a plant store, I overhead one woman tell another a third person’s plants at died despite having their roots in the shade and their tops in the sun. I suspect part of the problem is stores sell cultivars rather than the natives that perpetuate themselves with seeds in bad years.
What’s coming up: native sunflowers
Tasks: I started putting in seeds; the afternoons were too hot, too dry, and too windy to transplant bedding plants. The area where the moss phlox died wasn’t level. I think it was one of the places that was eroded before an uphill neighbor dug some trenches to reroute water that was washing down the hill. The bed was edged with bricks, but they had sunk into the ground and were tilted. I put a new row behind them on the surface, then leveled the area with dirt before scattering seeds.
Animal sightings: Two rabbits, quail, small brown birds, gecko, sidewalk ants, hornets. Harvester ants were stealing seeds as I was planting them, but I couldn’t find their hill.
I sprayed the aphids I saw on a rose bud. I also cut every goat’s beard I saw. They get covered with ants and black debris, which makes me suspect them of harboring aphids. The sap in the stems was so thick, I had to scrub the pruners with a brush and soap each time.
Birds were noisy around the peach and black locust trees. I didn’t see any nests. I think they’re lodging in nearby buildings, and using the trees as stoops and watch towers.
The past several winters the ground squirrel has been eating all the new growth off the cholla cacti, and stripped the bark from the stems. I try to keep them going by watering them in the summer, but they that just made them better winter food. Two of the three put out new growth this week.
Weekly update: Long lot ownership governed post-World War II development around Española. While developers in many places were taking advantage of government programs to provide housing for veterans, new homes here were built by individuals, probably on family land.
When someone finally did develop a tract with a plat that would be familiar to a Levittown resident, it was in the area around McCurdy School that originally have been a Brethren settlement, then became generally Anglo. It had cross streets and thematic names.
Elsewhere, individuals who owned long lots sold land along their drives. When the county was assigning addresses to meet 911 requirements, they had no formal plans. It designated some county roads and some private drives while ignoring others. None were maintained by the county. People who actually lived on state roads considered them private drives that can be closed at will.
When the lots weren’t big enough to develop, homeowners subdivided the land around their houses. Wherever you drive in town, you see a house on the street, and possibly an older house, converted outbuildings, or trailers in back. In the country, farmers kept the land nearest the acequia in hay production, and sold the land that was farther away without water rights.
One result was there are a few long roads, with no cross streets. If the main road is closed, there’s no way to get in or out. In an emergency, everyone will be funneled into the main arteries, none of which are more than two cars wide.
Notes on photographs:
1. Tufted white evening primroses growing among native grasses, 11 May 2018. In good years, they blanket areas with splotches of white.
2. Levittown style layout in town between a main road on the left and the acequia on the right. Land beyond the ditch must have been owned by someone else. That road doesn’t go through, but stops before another ditch. Map derived from Google Maps.
3. Long lot street layout in the country between a main road on the left and the acequia on the right. Map derived from Google Maps.
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