Friday Flower Blogging

Orange wildflower Growing in a dry wash near the Rillito, Tucson, November 2006

I went for a walk by the dry river this afternoon, hoping for a bit of desert broom. What I'd forgotten, until I noticed the mud caked and cracked like crazy paving on the bank of the little tributary wash, was that the river had its once-in-a-decade floods last summer. Then a splash of orange caught my eye, and I scrambled down to investigate. I ended up spending more than an hour wandering back and forth, clambering down banks and slogging through the sandy riverbed to get at evening primroses big white blooms I thought were evening primroses, but now think are something else. I saw several kinds of wildflower I've never seen before, as well as the usual yellow daisies. The big white flowers (sacred datura?) fascinated me with their intricate furling, like miniature umbrellas.

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