From the Tropics to Tahoe

My sojourn of family visits continues as, after a prolonged visit in tropical Florida I have traveled west and north, to the Sierra Nevadas and the Lake Tahoe region. I am enjoying mountain vistas and brisk morning walks in a new landscape that starkly contrasts to waxy, exotic effulgence of tropical horticulture (as seen in this post). Here, at an altitude of approximately 6,225 ft (1,897 m), the air is dry and so is the soil.


The climate of the Sierra Nevada varies from hot desert (similar to the Sahara) at its eastern base to an artic-alpine climate only a few miles away on the highest peaks. However, most of the Sierra Nevada is enjoys a Mediterranean (low temperature) climate that dominates the Sierra below about 6000-7000 ft. (where I am currently visiting). These climates are characterized by warm to hot dry summers and cool to cold wet winters.

As was true of my visit to Florida, I am unfamiliar with the standard flora of this region. Hailing from New England, the alpine/desert mix is fascinating, inspiring and confounding. I've included a few photos from my morning walks, gloriously illumined by morning haze, sunlight and dew. I have not, as yet, pinpointed the proper names of these simple yet generous prairie grasses.

Common grasses and shrubs that thrive here include:

• Yellow Monkeyflowers, Orange Alpine Lilies, Yellow Arrow-leaved Butterweed
• Purple Tower Delphinium and Yellow Buttercups
• A strange red plant called a Snowplant
• Low growing Evergreen Squaw Carpet
• Mountain shrubs:  Deer Brush and Tobacco Brush
• Mountain Mules’ Ears: large fuzzy leaves that look like donkey ears
• Sagebrush and Bitterbrush 
• Willows: common water loving shrubs that grow in meadows and along creeks
• Cow Parsnips: flat-topped clusters of blossoms that form one point like an umbrella 

Other prairie grasses include:

• Prairie Dropseed [Sporobolus heterolepis]
• Little Bluestem [Schizachyrium scoparium]
• Switchgrass [Panicum virgatum]
• Indiangrass [Sorghastrum nutans]