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Thursday, July 13, 2023

Tree-following: Junipers in July

My field assistant stayed home (too warm). But I managed to find both my trees and the shutter release button, thereby verifying my visit.
Several months had passed since I last visited the Rocky Mountain Junipers I'm following this year. What a changed landscape! We had a cool wet spring, and a cool wet summer so far. Many are wondering—have we've ever seen the Laramie Basin so green so late?

I suppose it still looks arid to those elsewhere. But for us, this is LUSH!

Needle-and-Thread, Hesperostipa (Stipacomata.
It was impossible to capture the grass diversity in a photo. For example there are least four species in the one below: Needle-and-Thread, Indian Ricegrass, Blue Grama, and Western Wheatgrass.
Grass enthusiasts can click to enlarge the image and search for species.
I soon left the trail to cross slabby limestone to the junipers I'm following.
Hello little Limber Pine. I'm back.
There was a light breeze at most so for the first time I was able to photograph the foliage and "berries" (technically fleshy cones). Only the darker tree (above) has berries. They are yellow brown, perhaps immature. It is said that they take two years to mature and turn a glaucous blue.
Berries can barely be spotted in the foliage.
But I wonder—will these berries mature? They look a bit sickly to me, maybe from our multi-year drought. We shall see.
This is my contribution to the July gathering of Tree Followers, kindly hosted by The Squirrelbasket. More news here.

7 comments:

  1. Actually, in most years your landscape would look arid, but not so much to me this year. Our drought is finally coming to an end, but the prairies and sunny areas around here were so dry until a few days ago. Wonderful tree to follow! And your wide open spaces are lovely.

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    1. Thank you, Beth. Glad to hear you are getting rain finally.

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  2. Replies
    1. Hello, Flighty. I hope you get to visit your tree next month!

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  3. Lovely to see your landscape look so green. i hope your juniper fruits ripen

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    1. Hello CGP and Squirrelbasket :) Sorry to be so late, but thanks for visiting and commenting. Yes, the limestone will be barren for many years yet. Only in crevices do plants grow.

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  4. Nature is so patient - hope those "berries" survive long enough to turn blue...
    Here it has been wet, wet, wet, and everything is truly green.
    I suppose the grass doesn't stand a chance on those areas of limestone slabs.
    All the best :)

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