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You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers

by Anne Laurie|  August 6, 20236:00 am| 24 Comments

This post is in: Garden Chats

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Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers

Another fine set from commentor HinTN:

On our way to the Grand Canyon, Mrs H and I stopped for four nights in Moab. We had been there before but chose some new places to explore. First up was a jeep trip up to Hurrah Pass. There weren’t a lot of wildflowers that caught my eye, but the landscape itself was amazing.

We did see this interesting bit of color along the way. It’s the seed versus the flower but so it goes.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers 1

Along the way there was Gooney Bird rock.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers 2

The day after the excursion to Hurrah Pass we went rafting on the Colorado River. No photos from that wonderfully wet day. 😎 However, the third day we ventured south of Moab to a section of Canyonlands NP that we had only seen from the rim at Island in the Sky (and Dead Horse Point SP). We saw these red fleurs in the way down.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers 3

The Needles is accessed by driving through the Bears Ears National Monument. Immediately upon entering Bears Ears, the road descends into an oasis of green which lines a small creek. Just at the bottom is the Newspaper Rock State Historical Monument. These guys were growing right in front of the “newspaper”.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers 4

Here are close up shots of the fleurs at the newspaper, which was pretty interesting (I’ll reserve the full frontal for an On the Road post, if I can ever pull that together).

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers 5

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers 6

Here’s one more that we saw in the Bears Ears area before heading out into the expanse beyond the wetland/drainage.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers 7

You drive through quite a bit of striking country that is a mix of untended land and irrigated farmland before you arrive at the Needles section of Canyonlands NP. Both sides of the road were meadows of what turned out to be smallish sunflowers.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers 8

The ranger staffing the entrance booth said this was the first bloom of such size in his memory. He attributed to the excess of snow the preceding winter.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers 9

After we spent time wandering around in the Needles section (possible OTR post), we headed further south to visit the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum in Blanding. On the way we stopped for a wonderful lunch at the High Desert Cafe in Monticello.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers 10

The Cedars is on the site of a partially excavated, archeologically speaking, village. They allowed unescorted access to the kiva, which was a wonderful experience. There is a garden off to the side of the entrance with this bit of whimsy.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Moab Area Wildflowers 11

***********

What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?

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Reader Interactions

24Comments

  1. 1.

    Albatrossity

    August 6, 2023 at 6:46 am

    Beautiful! That is a lot of wildflower action for that part of Utah!

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 6, 2023 at 7:19 am

    One of these days, maybe I finally make it to Moab. Thanx for the pics HinTN.

    My gardens are drowning. Every time my flowers stand up, they get knocked right back down by another frog choking rain. I’ve had several cherry tomato plants succumb to the blight in just 2 or 3 days but the others are so far unaffected. The bell pepper plants I bought after my seeds failed are all coming down with tobacco mosaic virus but my wife’s favorites, the banana peppers, are disease free.

    Picking a bushel* of green beans every other day, and the other beans are starting to produce for real (no dawg damned woodchucks this year!). Getting cukes for the crock every other day as well. There must be a dozen or more musk melons on the vines, so I’ll be eating one for breakfast every day pretty soon.

    * ok ok, I exaggerate. sue me.

  3. 3.

    rikyrah

    August 6, 2023 at 7:23 am

    Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊

  4. 4.

    Baud

    August 6, 2023 at 7:24 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning.

  5. 5.

    Jeffg166

    August 6, 2023 at 7:34 am

    The tomatoes and cucumbers are producing. The neighbors are getting what I can’t use.

  6. 6.

    Kay

    August 6, 2023 at 7:44 am

    The Michigan garden is coming along slowly. I planted (the native) dogwood – a 3 footer I grew on from a soil and water conservation whip several springs ago. I ordered a larch. I’ll heel the larch in until October when I’ll plant it. I pruned a huge, overgrown holly and rhododendren in the front yard, took 10 or so cuttings, dusted the cuttings with rooting hormone and planted them in groups in 4 pots. I’ll heel them in until next spring and if they’re rooted well I’ll plant them in the backyard. I have a small redbud I may transplant from OH to MI in the fall.

  7. 7.

    Princess

    August 6, 2023 at 8:06 am

    My garden is controlled chaos. It looks good now but we’re selling/moving. I don’t think the buyers have one sweet clue and the whole place will be an irredeemable jungle in two months.

    And I think it’s a broader problem. I think “kids” these days are great cooks and have done a lot to recover craft of all kinds but have zero clue about gardening. I’m seeing young families buying million dollar plus properties around me because they want yards and then letting them fall to ruin. Two huge houses opposite me — one was a real garden showplace. The other had expensive boring landscaping work done. Then they were both sold.  They’re both jungles now, weed trees growing up in the front yards. It’s sad. The landscaped one’s buyers asked me if I’d show them what was what and I said I’d be glad to, buy they never followed up.

    is this something you guys see where you are?

  8. 8.

    WereBear

    August 6, 2023 at 8:10 am

    @Princess: Huge houses and they don’t bother with a gardener? I’m baffled.

    Here in the mountains, we rarely mow and there’s big rocks in the yards. I used to think people put them in for landscaping when I first moved here, but soon learned it’s merely the tip of the mountain under the house.

  9. 9.

    WereBear

    August 6, 2023 at 8:12 am

    The weird 30 degree moods swings of our weather this summer was a challenge for some of the plants. And I never did get those roses, as the greenhouse kept waiting for them to robust up… and they didn’t. I’m getting them next spring because I’m not a fall planter, not for roses in the mountains.

  10. 10.

    Anyway

    August 6, 2023 at 8:13 am

    My tomatoes were a bust this year :-(

  11. 11.

    Lapassionara

    August 6, 2023 at 8:15 am

    @Princess: I see it, for sure. We live in a part of town that used to be woods, so there are lots of plants that are just waiting for an excuse to make a comeback. Wild grapevine, honeysuckle vine and shrub, poison ivy, wild morningglory vine, creeping charlie, nutsedge, wild violet. I have learned that poke salat seeds can live in the soil for 43 years, and I see lots of poke salat around the neighborhood.

    No rain last night for the first time in several nights, so I will be outside later, to see what has sprouted.

    thanks for the lovely photos.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 6, 2023 at 8:33 am

    @Princess: Out here, there are 2 kinds of people: Those who garden, and meth heads. The only thing the meth heads grow is piles of trash.

  13. 13.

    HinTN

    August 6, 2023 at 8:38 am

    @Albatrossity: Yes, I was certainly surprised. The phone camera just couldn’t do justice to the sunflower extravaganza at the entrance to Canyonlands.

    @OzarkHillbilly: Go to Moab! Lots of people go there and there’s a huge industry set up to cater to us, but it’s worth braving the madding crowd to be in that landscape.

    I’ve whined about the deer before but I’m not gonna build a massive fence so I’m officially done with tilling the soil. Maybe some pots on the deck next summer. I can always buy a bunch of cabbage from the local market if the urge to make kraut overcomes my sensibilities. 😎

  14. 14.

    Scout211

    August 6, 2023 at 8:43 am

    Nice wildflower pics.

    So far, the vegetables are winning over the massive weeds that appeared this year after our massive rains this winter, but only just barely.

    The ambrosia melons and honeydew melons were sweet and tasty this year.  One year they were all eaten by voles.  I have enough tomatoes right now to supply the neighbors and yesterday I made 5 quarts of marinara sauce, now in the freezer in quart containers.  The peppers are looking rather sad but they usually perk back up when the weather cools.  (It should be 105 today).

    Happy gardening everyone.  😊

  15. 15.

    HinTN

    August 6, 2023 at 8:44 am

    @Princess:

    They’re both jungles now, weed trees growing up in the front yards.

    It’s a constant battle here and Mother Nature inevitably wins.

  16. 16.

    Jeffg166

    August 6, 2023 at 8:57 am

    @Princess: A young couple rented the row home across the street from me. They were not aware they were to take care of the flower bed in front of the street porch and back yard area.

    The neighbor next to them told me the young guy was out in the back yard with a weed whacker trying to cut down the weeds between the pavers. He took many breaks. The flower bed in front of the porch is a disaster.

    I hope they remember this when they get around to buying a home. People think they want a lot of ground. If the money isn’t available for a landscaping service it is on them to deal with it. Unless you are into gardening it isn’t fun.

  17. 17.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 6, 2023 at 9:03 am

    @Anyway:

    Mine too, if it’s any consolation. My first fruit just starting forming this week. I think the sustained high temps (including at night) in the southwest suppressed growth for a lot of veggies. My pole beans were a bust, and even my ever-reliable French radishes withered and/or failed to sprout. The only plants showing signs of life and productivity are the Armenian cucumbers and sugar pumpkins.

    ETA: We have had zero monsoon rains so far this year. Climate change sucks.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 6, 2023 at 9:11 am

    @HinTN: A buddy of mine lives in Moab. I’ve been saying for almost 2 decades that I’m gonna get there. Maybe after my wife retires.

  19. 19.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 6, 2023 at 9:19 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    We went to Moab for the first time last year. Totally worth it, except for the gathering of paunchy “Bikers for Christ,”  who found it necessary to open carry at the ice cream shop.

  20. 20.

    Miss Bianca

    August 6, 2023 at 10:19 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: No rains for you this year? :(

    We had a very dry winter and I was really afraid for the summer. Then in June came tons of rain, July (when we usually get monsoon rains) was dry as a bone till the very end of the month, and now in August we are getting rain again.

    And Colorado Springs has been getting hammered with all sorts of weather, including three (!!) tornado watches yesterday. Crazy.

    We don’t really garden up here at the Mountain Hacienda – we just enjoy the wildflowers and worry about dead/dying spruces.

  21. 21.

    Kelly

    August 6, 2023 at 11:03 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I have a buddy that was an 4×4 enthusiast with a classic Toyota J40. He took me camping on the Elephant Hill trail twice. Highly recommend a trip through the Canyonlands backcountry in someone else’s rig.

  22. 22.

    mvr

    August 6, 2023 at 11:58 am

    These are great photos! Got to Moab last year for work and we had an afternoon off to hike in Arches, which really impressed me and made me want to go back despite generally preferring rivers and streams to desert landscapes.  These photos are from other nearby areas I did not get to see.  Makes me want to go back even more.

    FWIW, Moab itself was a weird mix.  A small town w 80K motel rooms, I am told.  Right wing folks w giant trucks and souped up offroaders alongside smaller vehicles w ourdoorsy folks. Some tension was evident.

    When I awoke one morning someone had leafleted every non-Trumpy looking vehicle w Trump propaganda. Since I had Nebraska plates my vehicle was spared.

  23. 23.

    cope

    August 6, 2023 at 4:13 pm

    When my wife and I made an afternoon drive out of Grand Junction to Gateway to see waterfalls in Unaweep Canyon, those red fleurs were conspicuously scattered along the road. My wife had me dig one up to bring home where it did not thrive for long, alas. I looked it up once but have forgotten what it’s called.

    Thanks for the pretty pictures from wonderful places.

  24. 24.

    Dmbeaster

    August 7, 2023 at 1:30 am

    @cope: I believe that the “red fleurs” are desert globemallow.  https://www.americansouthwest.net/plants/wildflowers/sphaeralcea-ambigua2_l.html

    Love the area.  Been there many times.  I always tell people to go to Capitol Reef.  My favorite area.

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