May 21 – June 3, 2018
Mount Washington — Beech tree buds, elongating and swelling, looked like golden spear points two weeks ago when I was absorbed in packing to leave for the southwest. A family affair was taking me away from the newly open ground and awakening forest. The window for planting cool-weather crops was short. I rushed to set hundreds of onion seedlings and a few pounds of seed potatoes; to sow spinach, lettuce, arugula, dill and radish seeds before departure.
A few green tips of Turtle Tree Sugar Lode snap peas were breaking ground. I dropped a second sowing of Renee’s Garden heat resistant Super Sugar Snaps into holes made with a dibble. I lamented the prospect of missing the trees leafing out and, separating from all that I had planted, felt like a mother abandoning her children to the vagaries of the weather, chipmunks and wild turkeys.
Just in case you, too, missed the opening of beech tree buds, here’s a wonderful time-lapse film of the leaves emerging, like the unfolding of solar collectors on instruments sent into space tightly folded.
At the end of a day flying under cerulean sky above a sheet of clouds and traversing airports, my eyes exchanged the densely wooded, rounded hills of the northeast for Albuquerque, New Mexico’s fantastical Sandia Mountains, and then the dramatic 10,000-foot Magdalenas of Cibola National Forest, Socorro County, New Mexico. From a distance, the view is of sparse vegetation on vertical expanses of dry, ocher-to-reddish ground but, up close, in steep canyons that rise above streams, the forest habitat includes magnificent ancient cottonwoods, ponderosa pine, juniper, willow and oak.
The city of Socorro is home to the New Mexico Institute of Mines and Technology, also known as New Mexico Tech, Tech or NMT. From a Massachusetts perspective, I like to call it N MIT. Among the graduating class of 2018 was Kelsy Waggaman, my belle-fille and graduate of Berkshire Country Day School. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental engineering, with honors. Kelsy earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts several years ago.
After graduation, I found myself on the shore of the Rio Grande at Riverbend Hot Springs in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, about 75 miles south of Socorro. Jake Foerstner, general manager and former professional gardener, oversees a thriving landscape of flowering plants that are familiar to the northeast gardener, alongside southwest natives. While he cut red dianthus to give to mothers on Mother’s Day, I complimented him on the vibrant color, texture and all-around interest that contributes to the beauty of the landscape around Riverbend’s buildings and pools. Foerstner said, “I plant what works by trial and error and repeat what survives in many areas.”
For bones, there are arbor vitae and cottonwood, prickly pear, red yucca, agave and cholla cactus. Trumpet vines climb on porch posts, softening edges and framing structures in luxuriant green. Desert willow (Chilopsis) shrubs were covered in pink blossoms. Ice plants in many colors, dianthus, variegated vinca, Russian sage, coreopsis and lantana hold the ground.
Yes, I did soak in the hot mineral waters and drench my head under small, well-crafted waterfalls that accented several pools. I read, gazed at the birds flying over and river flowing by.
Resources
Time-lapse of beech tree buds opening – https://www.britannica.com/plant/Fagales#ref594769
Riverbend Hot Springs – http://www.riverbendhotsprings.com/
Opportunities to Participate
Native Plant Workshops at Helia Native Nursery – http://helianativenursery.com/
May 26: Native Plant Propagation; July 7: Attracting Butterflies and Pollinators; Sept. 1: Building Meadows and Seedbanks
