The Beautiful Desert 5 Spot

Eremalche Rotundifolium

This past summer and fall I collected some Desert 5 spot seeds from flowers out in Death Valley at the mouth of Titus Canyon. Yesterday, I noticed that the seeds had started to grow and the photo that you see is the largest of the new plants. The cold weather last week was rough on the little seedling but today it seems to be doing OK. I should have put a penny down next to the plant to show scale. Realize that the gravel you see in the photo is just small to medium size gravel. I will take a photo every Sunday to show you the progress of the plant. The Desert 5 Spot is one of my favorite desert flowers. I also put some of the small black seeds in a plastic cup with some soil and I noticed lately that they are starting to grow. Still very small, however.

Taken on February 6th, 2011 (Sunday)

Taken on February 6th, 2011 (Sunday)

This photo was taken February 20, 2011; two weeks since the last photo.

I spotted this new growth several days ago. Taken on Feb 20, 2011

February 21, 2011 Remember I talked about planting some of the Five Spot seeds in a cup? Well, I took it outside to soak up some sun several days ago and ended up forgetting about it and when I finally brought the cup in the house the little delicate starts had burnt up - or were eaten up by a bug.

February 27, 2011 (largest plant)

February 27, 2011 (medium plant)

February 27, 2011 (smallest plant)

March 13, 2011 (largest plant)

March 13, 2011 (middle-size plant)

March 13, 2011 (smallest plant)

March 27th, 2011 (largest plant - notice the blossoms)

Today while I was photographing the plant, I noticed a fifth 5 - star growing. Yay!

Sunday, April 3rd, I walked out and noticed that one of the buds on the largest 5-spots was just about to bloom. When I came out in the afternoon it had bloomed. You can really see how much more it grew when we finally got warm weather when you compare this photo with the photos taken on March 27th, 2011

Here it is below.

Taken Sunday April 3rd, 2011

Photo taken April 10th, 2011.

Lowest bud on the right side of the flower (half way up) is last weeks blooming bud. This last week the 5-spot has grown faster than at any other time.