The color of the steppe

Shades of brown, tan, and straw

While my yard is hardy natural steppe it is really a collection of plants from the World's steppe climates or at least semiarid and cold continental climates set in what was steppe before the city of Denver sprawled over it.

after spending 4 weeks crossing the steppe of Patagonia reseaching the flora there I am struck at how both the steppe of Western North America and Southern South America were the same colors at exactly the same time even though they are in opposite seasons (Late winter and Late summer). Here the steppe is slowly awaking from the long brown winter with small patches of color soon to come, there the steppe was brown from the drought and heat of summer with small patches of color from the few summer blooming plants.

While steppe climates are not the only areas of the world that are brown at certain times of the year they might be the one the is brown the most (minus deserts). The mediterranean climates are verdant green from late fall to late spring, The decidious forests of Eastern North America, Europe, Eastern Asia and the Southern Andes go through various shades of green to finally end in shades of red, yellow orange and yes brown, but green is one of the main colors there.Even most tropical forets have some green throughout the year except in areas where seasonal drought is long. Humid grasslands stay green for longer periods than the steppe and even the cold forest of conifers at high latitudes and elevations stay shades of green all year.

Green is fleeting in the steppe, making it all the more important, but also teaching us that brown is beautiful as well. In the end I would rather have my tawny browns and wide open visitas long term to a damp evergeen forest of the Pacific Northwest