Fields of Gold

We experienced a rare phenomenon in Augusta, Georgia a few weeks ago; snow. Oh, it didn’t stick and accumulate, but it wasn’t a welcome sight to a transplanted Yankee who grew up in the heart of snow country, Buffalo, New York.

I’m not going to try to equate this event with the current craze about global warming. I leave you to ponder that for yourself. However, nearly the entire nation has been in the grip of a cold and snowy winter, and we’re only halfway through it.

Instead of doing a column on winter, I’m going to revisit a column I wrote almost four years ago while I still lived in El Paso. We also had a rare phenomenon there and it was near enough to my home that I was able to enjoy it for several months. Here it is, complete with pictures.

Originally posted April 2, 2005

Since the middle of February we have been experiencing a rare phenomenon here in El Paso. About once every ten years, the weather is just right for the explosion of our species of poppies. (They were identified on Jeopardy this week as California Poppies) They only grow on the east side of the Franklin Mountains in an area known as the Castner Range in Northeast El Paso. It was once the artillery range for Fort Bliss, but it has been inactive for years. The entire field of poppy plants is a restricted area, due mainly to the unexploded ordnance that might still be buried there. However, people like yours truly are brave enough to venture out into the
desert to see and photograph the blooms. The poppies do bloom every year, but this year has been a banner year for them, and folks come from miles away to see our El Paso Fields of Gold.

This week I’m going to share with you the pictures of these flowers. If anyone ever got the idea that the desert is a colorless wasteland, I think this will convince you otherwise. We do have lots of other blooming plants, but these are really spectacular.

There is little likelihood that we will ever lose these wildflowers, because the whole area is still part of Fort Bliss. Unless the Congress closes the fort, a highly unlikely scenario, the flowers will remain in a protected and restricted area where they can be viewed and enjoyed.



These are mainly yellow poppies, but there are three distinct shades, orange, yellow and pale yellow. They blanket the desert with bright color and should last for months.



The close-up shows the bright orange flowers in the foreground with the more predominant yellow ones behind them



If you look closely, you can see that the flowers are also up on the mountainsides. Trans Mountain Highway angles up from right to left in the background, and there is a rest area at the far left just above the yellow hillside—a perfect viewing area.



Oh yes, one other point…
Like all desert plants in Texas, people are forbidden to pick or uproot them

I hope you enjoyed seeing these as much as I enjoyed photographing them.