Moorten Botanical Garden

10/16/2020

Gardening Tribe

Amazing persian carpet flower!!! 😲😍😍

09/23/2020

HWY62flora

Accents and containers made of ceramic and metal make the most beautiful and long lived elements in high desert gardens. Recycling old metals into garden pots for rugged sites makes the natural and man made elements blend subtly and authentically. Planting inspirations for fall 2020 in the desert.

09/10/2020

Take a peek at our high desert fb page at HWY62flora for more old desert in a new world.

In the process of conjuring a new outside the box "paper" for Hwy 62 communities after COVID when the dust and smoke settles enough to get a sense of where we are going and where we came from.

Always plant, history, art and desert oriented....here at HWY62flora

08/30/2020

HWY62flora

A most amazing herbarium sheet that shows how they preserve cholla cactus in these horticultural archives. Pressing succulents, especially spiny cactus like they do regular plants is difficult if not impossible. Yet here is the presentation of a plant and all its parts in cross sections. This takes a wooden plant press devoted exclusively to spine and glochid plants or suffer the consequences.

08/26/2020

HWY62flora

1901 Palm Canyon after Indian burning. Demonstrates how they managed unwanted competition for food bearing plants. Burning also created bumper crops of seed in the following years.

08/20/2020

HWY62flora

When it's hot and muggy and smokey and drizzly out here I always think about the women who came to 29 Palms in the 20s. Helen Bagley told her story in this amazing view into life with an asthmatic husband, spending their first year in tents with kids then they moved into the communal adobe (Now 29 Palms Inn). No ice, no fans, just the desert wind and water to cool these dog days. Without electricity and only a well, they began their store in that communal adobe helping others find supplies while they hauled much in from Banning by mule or truck. Find her story and be inspired to abide all things as they did, putting one foot in front of the other.

08/09/2020

HWY62flora

Palm Springs Art Museum holds the Willard archives — more than 16,000 items, including photographs, glass and film negatives, hand-colored lantern slides, photo-paintings, postcards, correspondence, maps, and photographic equipment — donated to the institution in 1999 by Beatrice “Bettie” Willard, the photographer’s daughter. It’s where we found him stranded on a dirt road in 1917.

Willard built the house on South Palm Canyon in Palm Springs that was later purchased by Pat and Slim Moorten. These pioneers turned it into Moorten Botanical Garden planting everything that grows on that site today. Thank you Clark Moorten for the old picture of your house!

08/01/2020

Parque Nacional Canaima- La Gran Sabana- Cultura y tradiciones.

Gastronomía indígena pemón.🥘🏹
Gusano de la palma de moriche🌴🐛
Es la larva de un escarabajo de la especie Rhynchophorus. También es conocido por el nombre de picudo de la palma, iwo en la lengua pemón.
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Estos gusanos siempre han formado parte de la gastronomía pemón, es muy versátil a la hora de cocinarlo, se pueden comer crudos, cocidos en Tumá, fritos o a la brasa, y no es habitual agregar aceite porque las larvas tienen un alto contenido de grasa y exudan aceite durante el cocinado, contienen hasta un 69.78% de grasa; son una excelente fuente de varios nutrientes como magnesio, potasio, calcio, hierro, fósforo y zinc, así como aminoácidos y ácidos grasos monoinsaturados y poliinsaturados saludables. Son además como casi todos los insectos comestibles en la cultura pemón, una gran fuente de proteínas y son los mejores proveedores de energía, incluso mejores que la miel, por lo que las larvas de palma son como barritas energéticas naturales.
Los han probado? O les gustaría probarlo❓🤔
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📸 Créditos a los autores de las fotografías.
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▪︎Únete a mi grupo si quieres saber más sobre mi cultura.
KAVANAYEN, SU GENTE Y LA GRAN SABANA
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1573118122862565/
▪︎

06/30/2020

HWY62flora

Cochineal: The Power of Red

That white fluff marring your Opuntia cactus this time of year are parasite insects called cochineal (coach-en-eea) or cactus scale. Composed of microscopic bugs, it discolors skin and destroys plant vigor. Discovered as a superior red die used by the Azetcs this is a excellent material for high desert fabric artists, weavers and anyone looking for a fun thing to do with kids while learning about vegetable dyes and Aztec history. Have fun with it since you'd best power wash them off every few weeks to keep your cactus looking pretty!

06/20/2020

Celebrate the desert!!!

Visit and like Hwy62flora and follow these amazing original posts every day! Nothing else like it, guaranteed!

Desert fashion and design trends 2020

1. Plants inspiring summer desert clothing design.
2. Camping in the desert early on.
3. Plein air desert landscapes (Hilton shown)
4. New attire for hot summer ranch wear.

06/09/2020

Evening bees mobbing Tricocereus spachianus (Torch Cactus) last evening just before sundown. I believe they gather like this to literally pull the bud tip open so they can climb in and feed while it's warm since this morning was in the 40s today. Weird for our desert, should be warm night every night. Apparently the bees knew it would be too cold in the AM, their usual feeding time when flowers are open.

06/03/2020

Amazing Succulents

Amazing Succulents

05/06/2020

HWY62flora

Opuntia spp.
Prickly Pear Cactus

With so few truly native prickly pears, the vast majority of flowers coming out now in the high desert are exotics, many dating back to arrival at turn of the century. Their diversity in Mexico is enormous resulting in many unknown yet intensely beautiful plants just coming into bloom after this first sudden heat wave takes out the fragile wildflowers.

05/04/2020

HWY62flora

From my Morongo Valley home site: I love when the phacelias mature because the spirals become larger and the plant parts change color for this visual feast of desert botany. They are like this all over now as the heat is here to force them to fruition.

04/30/2020

Milton Sessions was a contemporary of Patricia Moorten who likely was well aware of the desert garden at Balboa Park while planning Moorten Botanical Garden.

A horticultural legacy: As a horticulture student during the late 1970s I took a job with landscape architect Milton Sessions taking care of his garden at the big Sessions Ranch on the Russian River north of San Francisco. He was in his early 80s and I was his private student when he told me all about his aunt to inspire me to become like her. You see, Milton, in turn was student of his aunt, Kate Sessions, taking over her landscaping company in the early 20th century , and is now rediscovered for contributions to our California landscape aesthetic. She communicated with those in the desert from her nursery at Balboa Park. I was a work-study student - the best kind of learning compared to all work, or all study. My legacy goes back to her.

04/28/2020

Watch for them along roadsides now!

Datura wrightii
Sacred Datura

Growing singly, often along roadsides where we see them open in the mornings as they are pollinated by hummingbird moths. A powerful nightshade that can cure or kill, beware the power of Datura and appreciate it's incredible beauty revealed to those who rise early to find moths satiated, job well done, flowers pollinated.

04/28/2020

HWY62flora

"To some the desert was a wasteland. To him it was like a Virgin."

04/24/2020

HWY62flora

Echinocereus engelmani
Hedgehog Cactus

When you find them in bloom it is like discovering a glowing Burmese ruby the size of a baseball popping out of the scrub. This is the most amazing of all cactus on HWY 62 due to the size, age and intense color of most specimens. They are just starting with the heat but bloom season may be more lethargic and continue later than usual this year.

04/21/2020

HWY62flora

Eschscholzia glyptosperma
Desert Gold Poppy

A true yellow compared to the state flower species, the short desert poppies love high places and unstable ground. They often appear as a mountainside waterfall of golden yellow however short lived!

04/18/2020

HWY62flora

Mojave Aster
Xylorhiza tortifolia

A stellar perennial blooming now on cliffs and alluvial sandy gravel at about 2500 feet. Big plants with lots of elegant flowers could be another highbrow garden perennial you might find in an English border! Hard to find but once discovered they will always be a favorite to sow into your desert home site.

04/13/2020

HWY62flora

Yucca shidigera
Mojave Yucca

I have been studying hundreds of these on my south facing slopes for a decade. All of them are pollinated by a single species of moth. Neither yucca nor moth can reproduce without the other so it is truly symbiotic. The Native Americans came here for a long time to harvest. They ate fresh flowers, baked flower stalks, roasted seed pods and the roots made such fine shampoo they preferred it in modern times as well.

04/11/2020

HWY62flora

Ferocactus cylindraeus
Compass Barrel

This very old specimen here in Morongo Valley escaped all the fires that ringed this community. This cactus is so named for its propensity to lean to the south, which provided desert reckoning just as moss on the north sides of trees do the same in other climates. They are always the first cactus to bloom, just starting to show and a few are opening at 2000'.

04/08/2020

HWY62flora

Desert Gold Poppy Eschscholzia glyptosperma

This is a smaller species of California poppy that prefers the tops of hills and near vertical slopes to form its colonies. High above Little Morongo Canyon they are showing patches now that can be seen from long distances. It's rare to find them like this but after burning off over a decade ago they are back with a vengeance!

04/06/2020

Photographers create page dedicated to Highway 62 wildflowers for those who can't see them because of COVID-19

Photographers create page dedicated to Highway 62 wildflowers for those who can't see them because of COVID-19

A Morongo Valley botany writer has created a page for those missing out on the high desert wildflower season because of COVID-19.

04/05/2020

HWY62flora

Salvia columbariae CHIA Note the dimensions and details of these super tiny blue flowers on each bloom whorl. I never really saw them in detail until I took this shot that gave me super big image to study. These dry into seed heads shaken over cone shaped baskets when gathered by the Cahuilla, as this was a staple food widely available.

04/04/2020

HWY62flora

Sphaeralcea is the genus: globe mallow+ sphere/shape alcea/genus for hollyhock. Shown here in Morongo Valley with Yucca shidigera and ephedra. Shown in my old Palm Springs garden, it loves the blow sand from the old El Mirador golf course underneath, and loves my irrigation until it goes dormant in early summer and dies entirely if I keep watering. Easy for seeding into existing properties to expand native populations.

04/04/2020

HWY62flora

Globe Mallow Flowers I am enchanted with these flowers that are so numerous and truly bright in the landscape. But to really understand them note how they hold their cup like flowers... Jim shot this top down as he's tall and I got a great edge view where blossom laden branches weighted to higher density as the bloom progresses around the outer edges.

04/04/2020

Wildflowers at HWY62flora on Facebook!

Today is globe mallow day. This is a big subshrub that makes large single plants to four feet wide and nearly as tall. They are starting to pop the first flowers now and will proceed to full flowering. Here is the Mockel description and their botanical full size drawing. It is also proving a popular Southwestern plant for tattoo due to the bright orange flowers.

03/27/2020

Vivero Plant-Craft

Tephrocactus 🌵😍😍😍😍

03/15/2020

Cactos

03/02/2020

The Cactus Explorer

Giant cacti, erosional caves and Chañar - the Chilean palo verde. Echinopsis atacamensis dominates the dry rocky slopes of the Chilean Altiplano while Geoffroea decorticans, locally knows as Chañar, inhabits many arid forest zones across South America, occurring naturally in Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Peru and even parts of Paraguay! This desert tree is popular in local culture because of its ancient ethnomedical uses. Locals also use the old wooden stems from the Echinopsis which are commonly used in building and furniture making across the Altiplano! (*See pic 10). It’s impossible not to be awestruck by the geology that’s been sculpted for millennia by the wind and water 🏜🌧🌬🏔 Plants and places featured on my Cacti of Chile and Altiplano tours - www.cactiexplorer.com⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀ @ Antofagasta Region

02/25/2020

Cactus Garden

Cactus Garden 🌵

02/10/2020

The British Cactus & Succulent Society

The British Cactus & Succulent Society

Provided to YouTube by CDBaby The British Cactus & Succulent Society · Biscuithead & the Biscuit Badgers The British Cactus & Succulent Society ℗ 2019 Biscui...

01/13/2020

Secrets of Namaqualand succulents - Secrets de succulentes du Namaqualand

This is the N°1 concern for the conservation of Namaqualand.

Increased temperatures and disturbed rainfall, wind and fog regimes, is what scientists predict for Namaqualand (to get a good insight, read the book "Fynbos" (2015) by Allsopp, Colville and Verboom, or type "South Africa climate change" in https://scholar.google.fr/).
The reason why Namaqualand is so rich with small succulents and geophytes (it is the richest semi-arid land on earth) is because 1/the rainfall is predictable (there are few drought years, when rainfall

01/10/2020

The Cactus Explorer

Echinopsis atacamenis subs. pasacana forest high on Bolivia’s altiplano! 🇧🇴🌵☀️ Photos taken on Isla Incahuasi located in the middle of Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ @ Isla Incahuasi