This coming spring should be an opportunity to capture some canyon winds; they can be sustained to over 60 mph overnight or up to 2-3 days, with gusts over 110 mph. Tropical storm strength at times, without the benefits of a sandy beach...and without the trials of hurricane or typhoon-prone areas.
For now, something lighter, but still brisk - north at about 15-20 mph and gusts 25 mph, following a wintry cold front. (forgive and mute the noise; I must learn how to edit that out or not record it...#TechChallenged)
Once I placed my tiny handheld camera on a sturdy tripod, and shivered through this, I became renewed at the power of my place.
The fountain trickling, the wall that colors up the often drab winter or droughty scene, and the way the deergrasses sway and swipe across that wall behind more fixed elements - potted chollas, etc. Just perfect!
That is so neat! The fountain is a nice accent sound - is it louder in the wind? How fast do you think that wind was going? Have you ever purposely designed something to take advantage of the wind (like a planting layout, etc?) So many questions!
ReplyDeleteWe get some pretty fast wind out here too - I'll have to watch and see what it does to my garden. Thanks for the thought-inspiring post!
Thanks - you're right that the fountain can get louder in the wind. Wind was not bad...just clarified it in the post! But usually it's so serene! Never have designed a planting layout to watch the wind, except grasses...all but breezes hard to mitigate.
DeleteI remember in Anza the fierce Santa Anas that would blow off Santa Rosa Mountains from the northeast. 50-60 mph and frigid. I was doing some PR work back in Detroit one year and there was one of the older original K-Mart stores going out of Business. They had stuff 70-80% off price. I purchased several sweaters, but also 3 or 4 pairs of these heavy duty Dickies Canvas material coveralls which were also interior lined with extra insulation. I had never seen these before, since out west there is mostly never a need. I had to buy a cheapy suitcase just to carry these things home. It was worth it.
ReplyDeleteThose coveralls were big enough to climb into with your regular clothes and came also with a separate hood which was shaped to fit close to the head. Zippers on the sleaves and ankle areas for easy climb into with shoes on. I use to sit on my deck and drink coffee with temps at 6- F and not feel a thing. It was wonderful. Those things didn't work well on a col day below. You's roast and sweat in a matter of an hour
Yes, Santa Ana winds warming at lower elevations (or brush fires) is quite different than where the wind starts up high, without compressional heating...just cold. Great clothing set up!
DeleteA favorite author, May Sarton, said a garden lacked sound. Not true. Wind thru the leaves.
ReplyDeleteWhen I built my home, new subdivision, it was depressing for years. No trees. No sound. SAD.
A client on acreage near Athens has major winds. I want her to get a wind gauge!
Garden & Be Well, XO T
Ha...wind, birds, water (or lack thereof...that has a sound, too). I hope your client not only measures it, but photographs and describes it...wind so amazing, and this video thing being your idea will get refined and repeated!
DeleteAlmost like being in your garden!
ReplyDeleteWe've had amazing east winds through the Columbia river gorge the last few days. Bamboo blowing almost horizontal, tall Doug Firs whipping around like giant feather dusters. It's peaceful out there now, thank goodness. Strong wind starts to drive me mad.
Such power in video...I need to video each project of mine. Glad your plants survived; winds from the wrong direction (E) seem the most damaging, even to the soul! Those gorge winds...
Deletethat looks soo peaceful. I looove to see grasses swaying with the wind. It's a magical experience.
ReplyDeleteYes, and the side benefit is being inside looking out, in windy cold weather. I really see the need to use more "kinetic plants"!
DeleteLove the Deer Grass whipping about in the wind...sublime!
ReplyDeleteYeah! I'm going to have fun with more grasses in the garden and in the nearby wilds, not to mention with sotols and beargrasses.
DeleteInteresting - I have never really thought about wind as a gardening concept, but your grasses look so pretty swaying in it. I should take more notice of the wind here. You just may have inspired a grass garden area in my garden!
ReplyDeleteOooh, that will be nice...a mass of grasses work well under plants that have thin, bare trunks - palms, roses of course, especially at the edge of something, or a swath through the middle of it.
DeleteI love New Mexico's weather. Its never boring, and if so, not for long. However, I hate our windstorms with a passion. Albuquerque's east canyon howlers rivals Guadalupe Passes screamers at times. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI think NM weather is interesting when it tweaks from the usual sun, dry. It's own brand of severity compared to that in Tornado Alley, etc.
DeleteWind....power! Force...strength! Craaaaazy what plants can weather through...
ReplyDeleteIt really is, and with wind, it's often day in and day out...and then there's spring winds.....
DeleteLove hearing the New Mexican wind captured on video (or audio?)...and thanks for the glimpse of your garden: I just bought a shirt at Macy's in Manhattan Beach the EXACT color of the wall (in honor of Christopher Lloyd who loved purple--but apparently in honor of your wall as well). Your Chollas in pots trump mine (I find they can only grow in pots for three to five years max without repotting, that is, and fertilization). I grow almost twenty selections of cholla: I was worried about what that meant until I saw your's. We can't both be wacko psychopaths.
ReplyDeleteYou bet...sounds like a nice shirt purchase, after seeing gardens and plants in the land of no winter! I need to get one that color, just never have. That Cylindropuntia echinocarpa form is my favorite, but at 4 years in pots, I'll be sure to fertilize and watch them.
DeleteWe are not wacko psychopaths, just admirers of beauty...chollas are the roses of the desert in bloom!
Gorgeous as usual with the deergrass moving against the wall.
ReplyDeleteWe get a good bit of wind here fall and spring and the pink muhly looks amazing then.
It is (but that pesky left grass is always smaller than the others!) I remember your wind in spring of 2011...like here.
DeleteI like that you took the time to document the wind. It's important, I think, to appreciate all the elements in the landscape. Some take more time and are easier than others to appreciate :) As always, I leave here wondering where I could incorporate a colorful wall!
ReplyDeleteYes - and it was easier than taking still photos! Colorful walls - I may now have to do a post on some...
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