General Discussion & Chat: Best/Worse and what did I learn today?visit with friends..., 1 by taters55

taters55 wrote:
There are several native bushes that do well here. We have the mesuite tree, the purple sage, and lots of cacti and rocks. If anyone has a nice lawn, it is because they brought in lots of top soil to fill it in. Lots of people just don't bother with the lawns, or the do the zero scaping, and have lots of colored rocks and cacti.

Caliche: Most people who live in the drier parts of Texas are familiar with caliche. It’s that white soil that you commonly see. In some places the white soil is soft, and other places it’s almost as hard as rock. The soil is white because it’s mostly calcium carbonate, the same mineral that makes up limestone, and scientists call these “calcic soils.” Calcic soils form in desert areas where the rainfall is low. The rainwater is absorbed by the soils, but the soils are so dry that the moisture stays in the top few feet of the soils until it evaporates or is taken up by plant roots. The rainwater has minor amounts of calcium carbonate, either particles that have dissolved in the water or tiny dust particles, and the calcium carbonate is left behind in the soil when moisture is evaporated or used by plants. Over many years so much calcium carbonate is added to the soils that they turn white. Over thousands of years so much calcium carbonate is deposited that a rock-hard caliche is formed that may be several feet thick.


This is a picture of the rio grande river. It is about 5 miles from my house.