It's spring in the desert, and it came a little early this year. I noticed wildflowers blooming in late January! I hoped we'd get another rainfall to extend the season, but now a few weeks later, we have not... so the wildflower season locally will be very short! I am trying to hike South Mountain multiple times per week to capture the fleeting show. This week temperatures will get into the high 80's... these tiny fragile blooms will be gone soon. There are more blooms to come, particularly the cactus, but here are those that are peaking now, many so tiny they go un-noticed by those who don't take the time to look closely. I am including the names of all the ones I can identify, am happy to have discovered some flowers this year, which I've never seen before.
My next post will be of flowers found in the flats, today (the 13th). And then, hopefully a post getting back to the colored pencil birds class. :)
These first photos (click on a photo to enlarge) were all taken on the11th, most from on the 'hillside' area of the preserve, where the terrain looks like this...
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| The desert 'highland'. Estrella mountains in the distance. |
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| Fiddle neck |
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| Creosote (Most just beginning to open) |
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| The tiny bits of red caught my eye, and I learned this is... |
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| Devil's Spineflower (Chorizanthe rigida) |
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| Coulter's Lupine (few to be found this year) |
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| Phacelia, also known as... |
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| Scorpion weed. The bee helps to show size. |
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| Emory Rock Daisy (Perityle emoryi)
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| California Suncup (Camissonia californica) |
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| This one fascinated me... |
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| Another newly learned one for me; Desert Indianwheat (Plantago ovata) |
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| It is also a small specimen! |
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| Fiddle neck framing notch leafed phacelia (scorpionweed) | | | | | | | | | |
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