If you Goggle Scott Calhoun's blog, you'll find some wonderful pics under "Wildflowers Along Route 77" on March 18, '08.
Here are two of my new favorite plants.
Above: Ocotillo whose common names the poet in me appreciates: Candlewood/Slimwood/Coachwhip/Vine Cactus/Flamingsword/Jacob's staff.
Below: Cholla...in the same genus as Prickly Pear Cactus, the latter of which will actually grow for us here in our region: we planted some at a client's dune in Michigan...apparently the fruit (a staple in Native American diet up until recently) can make great Margaritas. There are some very intriguing studies about how this food helps to control blood sugar and how lack of its balance probably contributes to high rates of diabetes in the native population near Tucson.
One of the amazing folk correlating these correspondences is Gary Paul Nabhan who co-founded Native Seeds/SEARCH. Visiting the store in Tucson, after sampling brownies with heirloom chiles, I bought his book, Cross-Pollinations: The Meeting of Science and Poetry. Reading it on the return flight opened my eyes a little further, inspired & energized me for the spring season.
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