More precocious blooms
Jane McGary (Sat, 06 Jan 2007 11:23:26 PST)

Here in the foothills of the Oregon Cascades, I think there is no bulb
flowering in the open garden except Galanthus 'Allenii'. Weather is chilly,
though not too far below freezing yet, and very, very wet; 3 inches of snow
on Thursday, melted by a hard rain last night.

The atypical weather patterns in North America are being attributed to ENSO
(El Nino and the Southern Oscillation), a cyclic event that is not directly
associated with global warming. These patterns are not all harmful either
to the environment or to human activity. Our correspondents in Australia
will face yet another drought, and probably wildfires, but on the Pacific
coasts of the Americas farmers will revel in extra moisture (though the
offshore fishermen will suffer). Ski and snowboard teams have moved from
European training areas to the mountains of Oregon to take advantage of the
snow conditions, and when the snows melt the native plants will flourish
and the salmon will find it easier to get upstream.

And for plant enthusiasts, we can expect a year of flowering deserts. I
went to northern Chile after the last El Nino winter and saw marvelous
sights, and many of us remember the epochal flowering in the southern
California deserts a couple of years ago, when Death Valley's floor became
a shallow lake. I hope to return to Chile late next fall and find seeds in
some of the places I photographed in flower in October, and to visit some
mountain areas that were still under snow when I was there before.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA