High Desert Life

Same old blog :)

Posted by: calpoppy, 6:25 PM GMT on March 13, 2012

The berries of the juniper

Mistletoe

A dead juniper with the stems of mistletoe still attached

We go on mistletoe patrol several times a year to get rid of the parasitic plant off of our native California Junipers ( Juniperus Californica). We have close to 100 of these beautiful evergreens on our 5 acres so it takes a little time to get to each one. Our cabin is located in the Joshua-Juniper woodland with the Juniper being the dominant shrub of the region.

Mistletoe attached to juniper, notice the lighter green color. Sometimes the mistletoe is a dark green and hard to spot amongst the juniper foliage.

How wonderful they are to have in the desert! Evergreen, reddish exfoliating bark, no watering needed, beautiful blue berries and they are dense so they provide a nice screen from neighbors if we had any close by! What more of a plant could you ask. Deer will browse them and so will wild horses, burros and our huge jack rabbits. Coyotes and birds will eat the berries.

Our daily coyote :))

California juniper mistletoe (Phoradendron Juniperinum) inhabits these junipers. And in my area the mistletoe is everywhere. Do they kill the junipers, no not really but they take a lot of nourishment away from the plant particularly when there is a drought . We can tell the difference between the junipers we have cleaned from a few years ago to the ones out in the desert still full of mistletoe.

One of the birds that come to feast on mistletoe berries is the Phainopepla, a beautiful almost all black bird (has white on his wings when he flies). Since we have been cleaning up the mistletoe we have seen a decrease of this bird on our property. But there is plenty of mistletoe berries elsewhere for them.

We also have had infestations of the leaffooted plant bug that come and scarify the berries. There are so many of them you can hear their mouth parts on the berries! It is actually noisy. But luckily they come and go within two weeks, but there are thousands of them.

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101. ycd0108 12:50 AM GMT on April 25, 2012
calpoppy: Thanks for your hello on my blog. Your subject here is a bit too close to home so I put off commenting. I worked in isolated camps and saw the dysfunction grow there. Limited amount of various personnel and no females. Things go a bit sideways. Nobody was hurt in any way (except feelings) but one day I was in flying the camp with the chopper pilot and he said: "How are things going?" I said: "Fine." He said: " I don't mean with you - when I take the Party Chief and Brent out and drop them off together I wonder what I would do if only one of them showed up at the pickup point." At some point I quit contributing to the: "You want to know what the a$$hole said today?" dialogue. That Chief was lucky to get out alive. Member Since: January 1, 2008 Posts: 142 Comments: 3441

102. Ylee 7:59 PM GMT on April 25, 2012
Hi, cal! have you done any preparation for the seminar yet? Do you NEED to do any prep? :) I'm figuring that you already have most of the info down that you can recite it at will! Love the coyote pics! Congratulations on the AC! I like the yawning photo, lol! Member Since: February 3, 2011 Posts: 65 Comments: 11306

103. MissNadia 11:17 PM GMT on April 25, 2012
The feds have given up on looking for the Dodge pick up. They are now looking for a blue 2001 Honda CRV. How many can there be on Kodiak Island ??? Member Since: July 27, 2008 Posts: 0 Comments: 2674

104. WatchinTheSky 10:03 PM GMT on April 28, 2012
Chilopsis linearis update: Now I just have to figure out where to put 12 to 15 of these! Member Since: September 20, 2005 Posts: 115 Comments: 812

105. calpoppy 8:40 PM GMT on April 29, 2012
Catch up time!!! Hi MissNadia! Not much to say about the shooting. No info coming out of Kodiak. Hi SP! Knitting tomorrow, got my needles and practice yarn, I am ready. :)) No rain for us, except some sprinkles. A dud of a storm! Glad you had fun at the book fair. I never heard of it before. But anywhere there are lots of books I would want to go. Hi ycd!! Tempers flare when men who have been doing the job one way for years have to change. But to kill two people is just way to extreme for my way of thinking. Sounds like you have witnessed similar situations. I am glad the outcome was better then this one in Kodiak! Hi Ylee!! I just wing the talks, and ask for plenty of audience participation! Thanks on the congrats! What a fun yote to photo! He was more concerned about other yotes then me. Hi WTS! Your seedlings look great! Maybe you will have to plant your neighborhood or the Wild Animal Park with some of them. Love the weasel pic!!!! My talk went well, close to ninety people there!!! I was shocked,so was the county people putting it on. I can't seem to get my voice real loud so that was a problem for one women. I do ask at the beginning of my talks for people not to be shy and please raise your hands to ask questions during my talk. This gets people talking with each other, telling gardening stories and also includes lots of laughter at funny situations. I can also take a break from talking, LOL! It went over two hours, and the county served a great lunch and they had lots of giveaways for all the people who attended. It is funny when I mispronounced participation ( I said precipitation, LOL) I had at least 30 people shout out PARTICIPATION! Way funny!!! You can't get away with anything with that many people! I need a new blog, it may or may not happen this week. But I am personally getting tired of scrolling down to get to comments, you probably are getting tired of it too! Dogs are both still here, snoring away. Amazing on Dre. My cactus garden is awesome this year. Maybe I will do another cactus blog, or did I do one already? I am starting to ramble, and my stomach is starting to rumble, bad combo! Talk with you all later! Member Since: February 18, 2008 Posts: 33 Comments: 2431

106. Ylee 8:42 PM GMT on April 30, 2012
Glad the seminar was a success, cal! The thing to do would be hired by a company to tour the US to give gardening tips and promote whatever product they had to sell! Nah, I wouldn't want to do that, either, lol! Hope you're having a good day! Member Since: February 3, 2011 Posts: 65 Comments: 11306

107. BriarCraft 10:59 PM GMT on April 30, 2012
Not sure where you came up with those underwater doggie's but they're way cute. Great that your seminar was such a success. With that kind of turn-out and audience "precipitation", it has to feel that your efforts were worthwhile. So, does audience precipitation mean they laughed until they cried or ??? Member Since: June 21, 2004 Posts: 49 Comments: 2412

108. GardenGrrl 10:06 AM GMT on May 04, 2012
Good Morning, congrats on a great (and fun) presentation. Gots to go to work now bye. Member Since: March 25, 2007 Posts: 218 Comments: 7248

109. Ylee 4:38 PM GMT on May 04, 2012
Hi, cal! Just checking to see if you've fallen off the map or not! :) Have a good day! Member Since: February 3, 2011 Posts: 65 Comments: 11306

110. BriarCraft 8:59 PM GMT on May 04, 2012
Which way did she go, George? Which way did she go? I see there's a recent batch of new coyote pics, including an AC. Great series, Poppy. Hmmmm. I wonder if the coyotes got her.... Member Since: June 21, 2004 Posts: 49 Comments: 2412

111. calpoppy 10:44 PM GMT on May 06, 2012
I'm baaaack!! I did fall off the map for a little while. Busy start to the garden season!!!!! I am tired :(( Not much to report except working. Hi Ylee, so glad the osprey cam is back, I wonder will you put the sled dog pups back when it is time? Please, Please :))) Hi Briar! Thanks for your comment on the coyote pics. He is so pretty! He looks like he uses eye liner, LOL! The tulip fields look so beautiful!! Just like being in Holland! LOL, on the precipitation!!! Hi GG!! love the bonsai!! Always have, they are works of patience lots and lots of it!!!! Don't think I have that much. New blog coming up on my days off, don't know what it will be but it WILL be a new blog :))) Member Since: February 18, 2008 Posts: 33 Comments: 2431

112. Ylee 6:07 AM GMT on May 07, 2012
Hi, Cal! Work is good, yes? :) At least I have the advantage of doing this from work! You can absolutely count on the sled dog puppy cam being on the blog this year when Denali NP brings it online! :) Member Since: February 3, 2011 Posts: 65 Comments: 11306

113. sp34n119w 6:22 PM GMT on May 07, 2012
I like the old blog! It has pretty pictures and good comments :) But, where's the knitting lesson update? How did it go? I know - you're all outdoorsy now and have no time for knitting ;) It's just occurred to me that I had thought you already knew how to knit ... yet, I've been following along with your anticipation of learning ... that's weird. Brain spasm, I guess, LOL Have fun playing in the dirt :) Member Since: January 27, 2007 Posts: 77 Comments: 4049

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