Poppy Apocalypse: Crowds Descend On California City To See Superbloom

Discussion in 'Photos & Video' started by Frank Sanoica, Mar 18, 2019.

  1. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    See: https://frontier.yahoo.com/news/pop...california-city-see-superbloom-195221111.html

    It happened only once or twice while we lived in Phoenix for 20 years. South Mountain Park, largest City Park in the U.S., covering 16,000 acres, was literally covered with Mexican Poppies. Only for about 2 weeks or so. Rest of the year there is only scant vegetation to be seen there. Altitude at the peak is 2000 ft. My wife took the pic; as you can see, no hordes of people had descended on the area, in fact, I was alone. A "today's" camera would have provided an even nicer view.

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  2. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    11 months out of the entire year, our Desert area looks bleak, in a word, pretty much like this long shot taken at slightly higher elevation (hence the larger desert scrubs:

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    Every 5 years or so, Mother Nature is generous with rain during our winter, and by March whole mountainsides are abloom. Beautiful Desert flowers of many colors, produced by plants which mainly sprout up from seed long dormant, flower and produce new seed, then are dead before summer begins. An ages-old cycle. One hillside a mile from our home attracted my attention yesterday, covered with tiny purple flowers. I drove my wife there today with her camera, frightened her in four-wheel drive up the sandy slope, stopped when she demanded it; she went ahead on foot, here are a few of the pics:

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    Life in the Desert is topsy-turvy to that in humid areas like the Midwest; summers are hot-as-hell and pretty dead until Monsoon rains bring violent storms, the Autumn returns to dry and hot. Winter is dry for the most part, but little of the native plant life "dies-off" for Winter. If rains come then, Bermuda grass sprouts all over, thousands upon thousands of acres of it, from seed naturally-sown by relentless Desert Winds. Accompanying it, the plants producing beautiful flowers, this all occurring after March begins, and ending before Mid-April. The humid areas of the country are of course bleak in Winter, but everywhere-green from Spring through Fall.

    Frank
     
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  3. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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