by Cheryl Rofer
I woke up to a beautiful smell this morning. In contrast to the Midwest, we have been having excessively dry weather. We had clouds yesterday, so I could open up the house last night before I went to bed. I woke up to a typically New Mexican smell of humidity (not even moisture) interacting with the soil and vegetation.
It's slightly sweet, with a strong mineral component, a bit like concrete, but wilder. We have it in Santa Fe, hardly ever when I lived in Los Alamos. Until I moved to Santa Fe, I associated it with the wildlife refuges at Bosque del Apache and Bitter Lakes, where the Rio Grande and Pecos River supply overnight humidity .
I suspect it has to do with the ancient lakebed soils those three locations share and Los Alamos doesn't have. It frequently contains a hint of sage, particularly at the southern locations. Right now, the sweet is partly from the blooming Russian olives.
It feels good, too, a relief from the dryness. We have had clouds today, and about six large drops of rain.
I suspect that the rain in the Midwest and the dry here result from a stationary weather pattern over the United States, what they call an omega-block. Maybe this humidity is a sign that the pattern is breaking up. Our local news has gone to a non-explanatory weather format: wear your coat this morning, bring an umbrella, not a word of fronts or jetstreams, let alone omega blocks.
The photos are of two kinds of primroses this morning: Missouri evening primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa) and dwarf sun drops (Calylophus serrulatus). The dwarf sun drops are temperamental; they form a small bush, about 20-30 cm across, with woody but very slender branches that I prune back in the spring. One of them died last year for no apparent reason while two others stayed healthy. On the other hand, they are seeding themselves. I tried transplanting some of the seedlings the other evening, but I think they aren't going to make it. I'll wait until the rainy season. Here's the full bush.
