Day 6

(Shot with an iPhone; processed using Instagram. Copyright Diana Shay Diehl)

Today's photo is one of my absolute favorite plants on Earth - the Joshua tree, aka Yucca brevifolia. A Joshua tree can live for hundreds of years - some species even thousands. It's not really a tree per se. It is "tree-like" in habit. In order to bloom, they must have a winter freeze. That puzzles me because I can remember many very cold winters (I live at about 3800-3900 ft. above sea level with a huge forest of Joshua trees I pass on the way home....) with freezing temps but will yield no blooms the following spring. Apparently that coincides with adequate rainfall as well - and, even then, they won't bloom every year. When they do, those of us who call this desert home can get pretty darned excited.  Joshua trees are also home to the yucca moth - a rather small, day-flying moth with tiny spines covering its wings. In real life, this particular Joshua tree is HUGE. Have any of you park visitors ever seen it? Hint: It is off a dirt road in Joshua Tree National Park, not too far off the usual paths, but you would need to know which one..... I am sure it is hundreds of years old. Oh, the stories it could tell...

I could go on and on about the uniqueness of life here in my little corner of heaven.... Why don't you visit and discover for yourself? As for me, after this post, I'm headed out for a moonlit walk amongst my Joshua trees..........

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