Jon Hammond: Flowers and the calendar confirm the arrival of spring
| Thursday, Mar 25 2010 06:01 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Mar 25 2010 06:01 PM
The appearance of luxuriant green grass, our earliest wildflowers and almond blossoms all verify that spring arrived in Tehachapi weeks before the vernal equinox.
The Nüwa (Kawaiisu) Indian people of Tehachapi also recognized four different seasons but instead of relying on a calendar, they let the land tell them when spring had begun.
The older people in particular would point to the mountains and say "Puhi-güd-kwed shi'id teep üs, which means "The Earth is turning green now."
And so it is.
The coming of spring was reason to rejoice for the Nüwa people because it meant the availability of edible plants -- fresh food after a long winter.
And the return of spring is still cause for celebration. Most of our food supply is no longer tied to spring's arrival but after cold Tehachapi days and still-freezing nights, the warmth alone is reason to treasure spring.
Around our valleys the almond trees are beginning to bloom, a fragrant and welcome sight.
Almond blossoms are light pink when still-closed and bright white when they open, which makes a wonderful contrast against the dark, nearly black rough bark of old almond trees.
Almond trees are long-lived and fairly drought-tolerant so they will sometimes grow year after year with little or no care, outliving the people who originally planted them. There are many very old almond trees scattered throughout the Tehachapi area, including a short row of them on the east side of Curry Street, just south of the fire station.
Almond trees can also become established as volunteers, which in horticulture means a plant that originates on its own without being deliberately planted. There are a couple of these volunteer almond trees in bloom right now along Highway 58 near the Caliente turnoff, and others sprinkled around Tehachapi.
Speaking of Highway 58, there is a sea of light-orange fiddleneck flowers (Amsinkia menziesii) surrounding the Shepherd Oak, a lone oak on the south side of 58 heading down the hill after the Arvin cutoff. I always look for the Shepherd Oak as I drive by, and it is especially beautiful when surrounded by fiddleneck flowers.
Among the other wildflowers that make spring appearances at lower elevations are assorted species of lupine, gilia, phacelia, popcorn flowers, California poppies and more.
Among the bloom -- the attractive little pinkish blossoms of filaree (Erodium cicutarium). They are so widespread you'd think that filaree was native but it is just a supremely successful introduced species. It is good fodder for livestock, however, and filaree is more desirable than most invasive non-natives.
Wild mustard (Brassica species) is also beginning to bloom, producing little bursts of pale yellow flowers along roadsides, vacant lots, fallow fields, etc. One species in particular, black mustard, is responsible for most of those dried skeletal stalks that collect along fencelines (and everywhere else) during windy weather in Tehachapi winters.
At least mustard plants look attractive in spring. Another species of wild mustard is responsible for the beautiful sulfur-yellow flowers that appear in thick profusion among dormant Northern California vineyards.
Cold nights are still in our future and this being Tehachapi, another snow remains a definite possibility, but the appearance of flowers both wild and domesticated are a welcome sign of spring in California.
Have a good week.
This article was originally published in The Tehachapi News, a sister publication of The Bakersfield Californian. Jon Hammond is a nature columnist in Tehachapi. You can reach him at jhammond@tehachapinews.com.
