The cemetery wildflower crop

My apologies to the Yavapai Cemetery Association. I've borne a grudge all these years, it seems unnecessarily. To back up many years: when we first moved to Prescott, the Citizens Cemetery grounds as seen from Sheldon Street were brilliant with red paintbrush every spring. Not only that, but the cemetery harbored one of the few stands of mariposa lilies within the city limits. Admittedly, the grounds were not very kempt, but for my money, the wildflowers were well worth putting up with those straggly weeds and the general air of disrepair.

Then in the late 80s, I believe it was, a group was formed to rescue the historic old cemetery from its gradual decline. One of the first things they did was mow the grounds. No more brilliant paintbrush in spring. I was devastated -- not to mention pissed off to the point of writing a letter of complaint to the editor of The Courier. Now, thanks to an article in Friday's paper, I find that I jumped to conclusions. It seems that the group had in essence tidied the parlor but left the back yard on its own. Reporter Joanna Dodder wrote of all the wild flowers our wet May had brought to the grounds at the far end, away from the streetside. Among them the paintbrush you see here.

Friend Patty and I spent an early afternoon today admiring and photographing not only the flowers but also many of the tombstones and monuments. And yes, there were lovely little mariposa lilies scattered about in the midst of dry grass.

These wild desert lilies are among my favorite wildflowers. In addition to the white/pale lavender blossoms of the local variety, mariposas in the greater Prescott area also grow in buttery yellow (north toward Chino Valley) and vivid orange-red (slightly lower elevations to the south and west). Note how different the flowers are in these two pictures taken a few feet apart.

Another spring beauty you seldom see in the city is wild phlox. Plenty of them at the cemetery. I've tried to swipe a plant or two for my hillside, but discovered that the phlox, like the mariposas, have roots reaching down toward the center of the earth. That's the arid country for you. No nursery sells the plant nor have I been able to locate seed from sellers of wildflower seed.

One disappointment from today's excursion. Dodder's feature mentioned that there were also blue delphiniums on the cemetery grounds. Tho we looked, nary a blue blossom. The nearest to blue was the purple alfalfa. All in all, I have to admit that the compromise between tidy and wild struck by the cemetery association appears to be working well. (Yes, I'll soon post pictures from the cemetery proper.)

Linkage: The Verde Independent is running a series of articles on the Big Chino water controversy by Steve Ayres. Part 1, Part 2, and Part3 had been published as of this writing. For more info about Yavapai County Cemeteries, this page is a good starting point.

The desert in bloom

There! I've pulled together the wildflower shots from Sunday's expedition to the desert next the Santa Maria River (elevation, roughly 1800 ft.). A few disappointments: none of the chia pix worked, my assorted field guides (the kind with pretty pictures) didn't help ID in too many cases, there were a lot of bad, throw-away images, and that lovely pale blue delphinium was nowhere in evidence.

Just to prove that this lush landscape is really desert, a scene-setting view that includes a saguaro cactus in the background (the straight-up fellow in the middle.) The poppies were in full bloom, perhaps edging toward the end of their reign. California poppies or Mexican gold poppies? Currently, there's a debate, with the wildflower folk leaning toward a broad category -- all California poppies.

The poppies are varied, some pure gold, many with a center that is more orangish. Over in California, the poppies are a definite orange.

The poppy growth pattern was somewhat spotty along the Santa Maria Road on the east side of the river; however, my experience has been that if you opt for the paved road on the west side of the river, you won't see many wildflowers. Probably a major soil difference -- on the east, the soil is mostly volcanic and on the west, it's more granitic and alluvial. BTW, tho the lower elevation desert is famous for fields of California poppies, they grow quite nicely up here in Prescott, with the added advantage of being perennial.

Here is one of several mystery plants; it might be a member of the waterleaf family. Pretty even without a name.

Another nameless yellow. I was inclined toward the caltrop family (did you ever step on one of those awful bullheads in your bare feet down in the Valley?) But this flower is bigger, maybe 3/4 to 1 inch across, and the center doesn't look right.

A bladderpod for sure. Those little spherical seed pods will pop if you squeeze them.

I guess the desert marigold is a later blooming plant. We only saw a handful. There are great stands of this un-marigold along SR 69 as you head toward Mayer, courtesy of the highway department, so I hunch it might be a plant of slightly higher elevations. I've seen them even at about 5000 ft. on the West Spruce trail.

Tiny yellow flowers adorn the fiddleneck.

If you look carefully at the clear yellow flower to the top right , you'll realize that it is quite different from all those poppies. We saw just one small stand of these yellow evening primroses.

Enough of the yellows. Lupines (the two tallish purple stalks) are a major desert wildflower although we saw many more alongside the highway in road cuts than down at river level. The little lavenders? Mysteries. You tell me!

The third of the big-three of Arizona desert wildflowers -- owl clover. Again, only a few specimens at this location.

The lavender blossom on the right is a phacelia; there are many varieties of phacelia here in Arizona.

Along the Orme Road as it nears I-17, you'll see clouds of this pretty pink flower. It might be a gilia. Again, the field guides didn't help me.

Another pair of smallish lavender mystery blossoms (above and below.) Both covered a swath of ground. The lower guy might be a phacelia.

Nama? Whatever. As you can see, the plant forms a mat, with little pinkish-purple flowers.

We may have a Mojave desert star (above); the lower picture is of tackstem, which tended to grow in the shade of the palo verde trees or any other spot protected from the sun's heat.

The only tree trees blooming were willows in a stand at the rivers edge. We'll have to wait for the mesquite and the palo verde to blossom as well as the cactus. If you are planning a similar trip out the Bagdad Road for the wildflowers, I'd suggest you do it this weekend or perhaps next week. Unless we get a rain. Things are beginning to dry out.

An eagle pair & a green desert floor

The world is coming alive down in the desert. A neighbor, doing field work in the Ft. McDowell area, sent the pictures posted here. First, a bald eagle at attention and another, perhaps a mate, hunkered down in a humongous nest. No, I didn't get a look at the eagle nest over at Lynx Lake last week -- I had my camera, but not my binoculars.

More important for most of us, who aren't likely to come across any eagles, is his other message: the desert looks like a golf course.

Now is time to start planning wildflower trips. My AzPlants mailing list sent this message Friday: At Boyce Thompson Arboretum we have had just under an inch (0.86) of rain from the current system. Have had some little guys blooming at Picketpost trail head including Draba cuneifolia, Calandrinia, Lotus tomentellus, Jojoba, some little Gilia, and some little borage. Noticed yesterday that the Fairy Duster is blooming on the west side of Gonzales Pass along Hwy. 60, along with some brittlebush at Florence Junction. For the record, my favorite wildflower drive to catch the desert in bloom is the county road on the east side of the Santa Maria River. The Orme Road off SR169 is good for several drives as it drops from 5000+ elevation down to about 2500-3000 ft., with a wonderful mix of desert and higher elevation plants flowering at different times during our early spring.

Water Note: Remember that elephant sitting in on all those meetings about water? Well, the Sunday Courier is reporting that the SRP has written a letter stating that Prescott has NO rights to Big Chino water. Oops.

My Spring Wildflowers

As I 've explained previously, I do two kinds of gardening on my Prescott hillside. For bright, colorful annuals and a few perennials that want Real Soil, it's pots. For plantings in the ground, local wildflowers, many of which are quite spectacular.

For example, the most prolific Indian paint brush I've ever seen! Pictured above, the plant on April 18, just beginning to flower. This is the end of May; it is still adding more blossoms, and this without a host plant (paint brush are semi-parasites.) I'm sure the secret to my wonderous paint brush is that it gets regular watering.

The bright reds of this plant are not actual blossoms, but, rather, modified leaves surrounding the working parts.

Pink. Fuschia. Red. Purple. Almost blue. And, I've heard, an occasional yellow. Those are the colors of upland Arizona penstemons. I've counted eight species that grow in the greater Prescott area, but perhaps the most outstanding is Palmer's penstemon. In a good year (meaning early spring rains), this pink beauty grows flower stalks up to 6 feet tall. Do peer into the throat of a blossom. See the guide lines for insects and that cool yellow beard?

The leaves give evidence that this is a plant for arid country. Not only are they somewhat waxy, but they are arranged down the stem to deliver what little water falls directly to the roots. Look for Palmer's penstemon out the Iron Springs Road, beside the road to Granite Basin or along the White Spar through the Prietas.

This penstemon is a spectabilis, I believe. Not a Prescott plant, but found higher up in the mountains. Doubtless a purchase from Flagstaff Native Plant/Seed.

The last of my earliest penstemon -- psuedospectabilis or Arizona penstemon, another plant for arid country. The best local site for this plant is way out the Dosie Pit Road. These samples surely explain why British plant breeders adapted the penstemon into a really smashing cultivated garden favorite here and abroad!

Too bad that the desert four o'clock opens so late in the day, as it is another very attractive plant. I came in close on the flowers to show the bracts from which a daily blossom emerges. Only one seed per flower, but many blossoms -- and, given enough water, most of the seeds will sprout. This plant was grown from a neighborhood seed, BTW.

Coral bells were a perennial staple of my gardens back in Chicago; it turns out that they are also Arizona mountain natives! Though I paid good money to Watters for this plant, I did discover a small clump of white coral bells in a shaded rock outcropping along Mint Wash below the Granite Basin dam.

This is one of my own New Mexico locusts. Pretty flowers, but nasty thorns. New shrubs keep coming up from very long underground runners. However, I have a problem with a myriad of nasty juice-sucking critters that attach to the stems and kill them. Maybe the city is simply the wrong location for this locust!

Pretty little claret cup cactuses are mountain plants, adapted to elevations as high as 7000 ft. This means that, unlike most cactus, they are tough little guys who can survive winter snows, as can prickly pears.

Here is my great disappointment. A fine specimen of bear grass -- but instead of a proper, tall flower stalk, my plant grew a crooked stem that hugged the ground. I've no idea why this is so!

And another admission of incompetence: I am totally unable to grow a sacred datura from seed. I have tried in pots. I have tried in the ground. Up the hill. Down by the road. No success. Bought this seedling at, you guessed it, Flagstaff Native Plants. Should have bought several. More garden wildflowers later, as they bloom.

Meditation Garden on Summit

Head to the entrance of the United Methodist Church, then take a look over the wall for a pretty sight. I believe this pleasant fountain is a new addition to the small meditation garden, as is the circular seating below.

There are also new plantings -- much sparser than in previous versions of the garden. Hope they include vines, to soften the formality; obviously, vines need time to achieve the desired end.

Tucked in between the comparatively new sanctuary and a smaller classroom building, the garden faces out onto Summit Street. I was at the upper level when taking the pictures.

One of the two large conifer trees that have established themselves in the little plot. It is located, by the way, at a point where the USGS topo shows a small spring. I've even seen water trickling in the street in wet years (which recent years have not been.)

While I was over at the Gurley and Summit Street site, I spied four gorgeous trees in bloom next the sanctuary. They sure look like New Mexico locusts, except for three things -- the pink color is much deeper, the trees are a lot taller and the ferocious thorns are missing. Perhaps a cultivated version. FYI, there are excellent locust thickets on that rough road just before the top of Big Bug Mesa and at the last major in-bend on 89-A heading to the top of Mingus. They may still be in bloom -- mine are almost spent.