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Bloom 2015

PostPosted: Tue Mar 10, 2015 7:11 pm
by CactusHugger
Caterpillars destroying local desert wildflowers
Well, it looks like the bloom down in the Anza-Borrego Desert is going really well, except for one big, fat, ugly, little problem...
The normally scorching, dry Anza-Borrego Desert is now painted with colorful wildflowers. But something else is bursting along with the blooms: the number of white-lined sphinx moth caterpillars.


Re: Bloom 2015

PostPosted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 7:11 am
by wildrose
I recognize sand verbena (Abronia villosa) and some kind of evening primrose as plants that the nasty little caterpillars are munching on. I wonder if any of those nasty insects are munching plants up this way. What goes on in the Anza-Borrego Desert doesn't necessarily happen here in the Mojave also, but since we share many of the same plants, we might also share some of the same pests!

Re: Bloom 2015

PostPosted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:41 am
by twister
Anyone know what all those little white flowers are called? They're all over the place. There are fields of them. If you walk through a bunch of them you get pollen all over your pants. It's kind of trippy!

Re: Bloom 2015

PostPosted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 7:57 pm
by wildrose
twister wrote:Anyone know what all those little white flowers are called? They're all over the place. There are fields of them. If you walk through a bunch of them you get pollen all over your pants. It's kind of trippy!

If they look like this:
Thumbnail Image
then they are:
Brown-Eyed Evening Primrose

Re: Bloom 2015

PostPosted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:33 am
by twister
Thanks wildrose! Thems be the ones! I'm amazed by their sheer abundance. Fields of whitish flowers. Very nice!

Re: Bloom 2015

PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 8:31 am
by hungrybill
There's been an awful lot of flowers. A friend of mine must be allergic. She's been sneezing and suffering from hay fever like crazy. It'll pass pretty soon, but in the meantime she's taking antihistamine tablets and complaining like she's going to die or something. I guess it's safe to say that she's not too thrilled with all the flowers!

Re: Bloom 2015

PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 8:27 am
by BallaratBob
It's strange that there are many parts of the country where there's still snow on the ground and the wildflower bloom is still several weeks away and yet here the flowers are already starting to fade away. I guess that's what living in the desert is all about. If we could just get a little more rain the wildflowers might stick around a little longer, but it's already heating up and there's no rain in sight!

Re: Bloom 2015

PostPosted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 6:55 am
by twister
Are the caterpillars shown in the video from the first post to this thread the same ones that are all over the streets? They seem to be all over the place and they're just plain gross! So far none have entered my house, but I think I'm going to have nightmares of them getting in my bed and crawling all over me while I'm sleeping!

Re: Bloom 2015

PostPosted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 7:43 am
by wildrose
twister: Yes I believe they are the same and oddly enough they seem to only be eating the plant that I posted the picture of in the fourth post to this thread. How strange is that? Quite a coincidence to be sure. I scouted around the neighborhood a bit and from what I can tell they're leaving everything else alone except for the brown-eyed evening primrose plants.

Re: Bloom 2015

PostPosted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 8:11 am
by panamint_patty
Besides the brown-eyed evening primrose they're eating the Mexican evening primrose plants in one of my neighbor's yards. That makes perfect sense since the plants are related. BTW, here's another coincidence for you. A picture was posted by wildrose of the Mexican evening primrose in a thread named after the plant that appears in the Desert Gardening Tips forum. I think that's plenty of coincidences and way too many caterpillars for a single day!