Succulents and More™

Every now and then a book comes along that is a complete game changer. California Desert Plants (ISBN 978-1-941624-14-2) is one of them. Written by Phil Rundel, Robert Gustafson, and Michael Kaufmann and published just a few weeks ago by Backcountry Press , a small independent publisher in Northern California, it covers the tremendous diversity of plants in the three deserts that extend into California: the Great Basin, the Mojave, and the Sonoran (the California portion of the Sonoran is often referred to as the Colorado Desert, after the Colorado River). Of course there are other books on California desert flora, especially wildflowers. However, they're often organized by flower color (like Introduction to California Desert Wildflowers ), which makes it difficult to grasp the bigger picture. California Desert Plants takes a different approach, focusing on desert plants within distinct ecological communities. As a result, plants that live together are described together. “In this...

My recent trip to Las Vegas  with my friend Justin was a 3-day string of highlights. Being surrounded by monumental scenery was one:  Red Rock Canyon , Gold Butte , and Valley of Fire were even more spectacular than I'd hoped, but we found beautiful desert landscapes off the beaten path as well. It often pays to take that side road just to see what's there. I'm a big believer in wonderful things happening if you open yourself up to chance discoveries.  On that note, I wonder how many Las Vegas visitors ever leave Sin City and venture out into the desert? Most of them probably have no idea what's out there—and zero interest in finding out. Gold Butte National Monument Valley of Fire State Park Yours truly walking through a slot canyon in Valley of Fire State Park Red Rock Canyon Red Rock Canyon The goal of our trip was to see Mojave Desert plants in habitat, above all cacti and the elusive  Agave utahensis  var.  nevadensis  and  eborispina . We s...