Another striking desert phenomenon is the sundog. In this case, we mean the sundog of the parhelion, not canine or human, variety.
Due most frequently to reflections in cirrus clouds, or in this case from jet exhaust, sundogs form rainbow-like spots or streaks on either side of the sun, roughly 22 degrees on either side, the National Weather Service informs us.
For more in-depth and fascinatingly obscure information, the Wikipedia sundog information page is at your service.
Striking petroglyphs are found carved into the dense basalt rocks of Hedgepeth Hills in Glendale, Arizona.
Rock art, Hedgepeth hills
Over thousands of years, people traveled from nearby and far away to gather the dense basaltic rock they could use for food-grinding stones and other tools. And while they were there, they carved pictures in the weathered surface of the rocks.
There are obvious as well as more subtle things to consider when planting a landscape around your desert home.
Not surprisingly, the number one limiting factor in the desert is water.
Domesticated cactus
The number two limiting factor is shade. Some desert plants can’t tolerate any, some need it.
Other factors such as temperature, predators, and wind vary by specific location.
Interestingly enough, as well as enduring brutal heat, many parts of the North American desert reach temperatures below freezing at least a few days a year. The thorns and armor on many desert plants attest to their predators, ranging from insects to grazing mammals.
See what the experts have to say about useful and well-adapted plants that conserve resources: www.amwua.org:plants_index.html
With a little knowledge, you can enhance your landscape naturally.
Here’s one way to encounter caliche. Some friends pulled over one night in the New Mexico desert and camped in their truck. Happily for the desert, there was rain in the night. Unhappily for them, the next morning, they found themselves surrounded by a huge pond of extremely slippery ankle-deep goo. Only after a long dirty struggle were they able to push their truck back onto the road. Caliche is what allowed a puddle to form in the middle of the desert.
Another way to discover caliche is to dig a hole almost anywhere in the desert. Soon, inches or feet deep, you’ll hit a layer of what seems to be cement, even in places where you know there’s never been any construction.
What you’ve found is caliche, a white layer of soil, rich in calcium carbonate, clay, and other minerals that have been driven down into the ground by the hard infrequent desert rains until the minerals form an often impervious layer of soil, also known as hardpan.
When rain falls on an area with dense caliche, rather than sinking into the soil, the water runs off, if it can find a channel, sometimes causing the surprising desert flash floods, because so little water is absorbed into the ground. Or it puddles up, creating a sea of mud.
Digging a simple hole can require a pickaxe. Since the calcium carbonate can be strong enough to harm plant roots, planting in an area with caliche means that you may have to add nutrients and conditioners to the soil– and make sure there is drainage, even if that means digging a drainage hole through the caliche.
The Arizona Master Gardener, a great source of information, gives details of how to deal with it.
1. Cup your hands around the end of a creosote bush branch.
2. Gently breathe on it.
3. Inhale the scent of the desert.
Even the simplest things about the desert can be strange.
Rain, for instance.
When you need rain the most, where you need it most, seems to be the place you find it least.
And sometimes it comes unusually close, but never arrives.
An eerie and frustrating example is the dry rain that can occur in the desert west, called “virga.”
In the distance, you will see the clouds form, then curtains of rain finally begin to fall. But the rain disappears in the middle of the sky, between cloud and land.
Leaving you high and dry. Or low and dry.
Virga actually does happen in other regions, and can involve snow as well as rain.
It’s a sight to see, watching the rain come down, but never land on land.
Tour images of the desert in spring.
Early spring in Sonoran Desert mountains.
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