In a Dry World

It takes a very long day of driving to get from our home in Dallas to Big Bend National Park in far west Texas. We recently made this trip. Once you approach the arid, southwestern part of the state, the horizon becomes almost cartoonishly flat. After a few hours and hundreds of miles of the same thing, you realize that whether or not you reach your destination is wholly dependent on the reliability of your car and the increasingly rarefied gas stations along the way. This is a world where people have always been at the mercy of their transportation.

The pinpoint is Big Bend National Park headquarters.

Flights to El Paso and Midland/Odessa in West Texas will bring you somewhat closer to the area, but driving enables city dwellers like us to see and experience more of the Chihuahuan desert. The area covers about 200,000 square miles, the majority of which is south of the United States. It's the largest desert in North America. The climate can be scorching hot during the day with temperatures that drop down to freezing at night. Needless to say, life is not easy either for people or animals and plants. Reading this from books about the area and now seeing it in person, I turned my attention towards learning more about the vegetation. This large area is known as a shrub desert. While biological diversity is abundant, the perennial plants are somewhat limited. Yuccas, agaves, grasses, prickly-pear, and Creosote bushes are a distinctive feature of the land. Thorny Acacia and large Ocotillo shrubs are prevalent as well.

A Creosote bush is in the foreground. The plant has been described as having a fragrance associated with rainfall, ironically.

Creosote bushes, along with Prickly-pear in the foreground. Creosote covers an estimated 40% of the Chihuahuan desert and often is one of the few plants that provide shade and food for small mammals.

Being a clonal plant, Creosote reproduces via offspring that remain attached to the original plant – at least until established. It's one of the reasons why a transplant will do better than growing one from seed. An extremely large Creosote clonal community can be found in the Mojave Desert. It's estimated to be 11,700 years old, making it one of the oldest living organisms on Earth.

A small tree in the legume family that I was also fortunate to see in Big Bend is the Palo Verde. There are a number of varieties that exist across the southwest and California but the trees I saw in Santa Elena canyon are likely the Mexican Palo Verde. Its bright yellow flowers bloom from April to August. Palo Verde live from 50 - 150 years and have a distinct top to bottom green color. Basically, that means the entire body of the tree is capable of performing photosynthesis.

Entering the Santa Elena Canyon.

Palo Verde trees inside the Santa Elena canyon.

Palo Verde tree flowers.

Looking down the dry river bed of the Rio Grande. This is the middle of May, so clearly it will be a long, dry summer ahead. The cliff to the right is Mexico. This vast area of plants survives with only about 10 inches of rainfall per year. That said, as you approach the Rio Grande (which was dry when we visited), you'll see that the Palo Verde trees not only do well in drought conditions. They clearly tolerate being submerged in water when the river is running full. No doubt the tree's exceptionally deep roots enable this tremendous resilience.

Experiencing the Chihuahuan desert makes me wonder, how can I use more of these plants in the design our future garden in Dallas? After all, this summer in particular, plants that survive extreme temperatures and drought conditions are increasingly appealing. Especially for those who have witnessed life in the dry world.

A few more photos of the Big Bend area below.

The Terlingua Cemetary.

The Chisos Mountains, viewed from a high point in Terlingua.

A slight bend in the otherwise endlessly straight road.