GREEN BEAT LANGLEY: Miracles bloom in the desert<\/p>\n
Published 6:00 pm Saturday, March 28, 2026<\/p>\n
My wife and I heard a rumour the poppies were blooming near the base of the Organ Mountains.<\/p>\n
The Organ Mountains are named for their resemblance to organ pipes and stretch majestically across the eastern skyline of Las Cruces \u2013 where we are living for a few months, as I pursue my sabbatical research.<\/p>\n
When we reached the vicinity where we thought we might find them and didn\u2019t see any, a woman told us, \u201cno, I think we need some rain before the poppies appear.\u201d<\/p>\n
So we drove on, disappointed, thinking the rumours might be untrue.<\/p>\n
However, a few minutes later, there right by the road the poppies were blooming \u2013 living miracles in this desperately dry desert.<\/p>\n
Thinking back a few days, we realized it had, in fact, rained.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d been amused when the channel 7 weatherman, Dave Speelan (affectionately known as \u201cDoppler Dave\u201d) announced that Las Cruces was to receive a small fraction of an inch of rain.<\/p>\n
Our rainfall for the whole month of March, so far, is in fact 1.7 mm, received on March 10. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, British Columbia\u2019s Fraser Valley is once again receiving way too much rain, I know.<\/p>\n
At the same time, here in New Mexico we are breaking temperature records, seeing temperatures above 90 \u00b0F (32 \u00b0C), a few months earlier than normal.<\/p>\n
However, it is that very combination that the poppies seem to love \u2013 a little rain, a lot of heat and \u201cboom\u201d they bloom!<\/p>\n
After photographing the roadside poppies, I looked across the road to see a sea of brilliant yellow poppies buoyantly waving at me.<\/p>\n
In fact, the desert is rife with colour now.<\/p>\n
My son Luke and his wife Alivia were visiting from Prince George this past week and were impressed by the myriad of desert blooms \u2013 the yellow-topped Fishhook Barrel Cactus, the delicate red flowers on the Octillo, and the devastatingly beautiful scarlet flowers on the Scarlet Hedgehog Cactus, to name a few.<\/p>\n
Along with the flowers, the butterflies, the birds, and the lizards were out in force, and at one point on a hiking trail through a canyon we were surrounded on all sides by a small herd of Auodad or Barbary sheep and their baaing lambs, no doubt also enjoying the fruits of spring.<\/p>\n
Springtime is particularly dramatic in a desert, where all appears to be deader than dead in winter, and yet a mere 1.7 mm of rain can produce miraculous re-birth.<\/p>\n
.<\/p>\n
\u2013 David Clements<\/a> PhD, is a professor of biology and environmental studies at Trinity Western University<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/p>\n LAST LANGLEY GREEN BEAT: A different type of white Christmas<\/a><\/p>\n LANGLEY GREEN BEAT: Can water issues be turned around for Truth and Consequence?<\/a><\/p>\n LANGLEY GREEN BEAT: New admirer of a B.C. treasure<\/a><\/p>\n LANGLEY GREEN BEAT: Students spare a hug for Big Lonely Doug <\/a><\/p>\n