Bloom season continues well into November
For the last five years, the plant enthusiasts at the Jemez Mountain Herbarium have been keeping informal records of what species are found flowering around Los Alamos County in early November. The average is about 10 species, and those are usually spotted during the first week of the month.
Here it is November 12 and in the last four days I've found 37 species blooming as if it were late September. The difference in 2017? First I would think that five inches of rain in late September helped stave off the usual late fall drying of the soil as we wait for a decent snowfall. But more important are the temperatures for the last month. With a only few chilly days, the recent daytime highs have been in the upper fifties to mid-sixties--about 10 degrees above average. Nighttime lows--and here is the real difference--have dipped below freezing maybe three times, with the lowest recorded temperature of 29 degrees F.
Put on a personal level, I have a self-imposed rule that I never turn the heat on the house (except for the wood stove in the evening) until November 1, always with much complaining from other residents. I still haven't turned it on, and I haven't heard any complaints.
With warm and damp conditions, the blooming continues, and I have mixed emotions. A wood in the woods is always more appealing with flowering plants, but its about time for winter to arrive and bring New Mexico the moisture it needs for the next growing season.
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