When we first moved out to Cochise County we were so lucky to have a few springs with abundant Mexican poppy (Eschscholzia mexicana) displays. Distant hills and nearby fields glowed golden with a kazillion blooming poppies. Over the years, dry winters made those floriferous springs less common, but in 2020 there was an incredible wildflower display all around us. I remember standing out in some rolling hills at the base of the Pinaleño Mountains and shouting out plant names…well, at least the ones I could remember… it was that day we saw creamcups (or cream cups, your choice) in the wildflower mix. We even came across some pure stands of Platystemon californicus. Yay! 
Oh for goodness sake, I forgot to mention that creamcups’ flowers are white, but the photos show that! Now you know.
Anyway, here’s hoping we get a floriferous spring thanks to winter rain and snow.
The photos are mine.
Some spring time banter about the soaptree yuccas (Yucca elata) and pale wolfberry plants (Lycium pallidum) found in the scruffy grassland surrounding our home...
Petey explains how a tiny moth insures the soaptree yucca will have seed. Wow.
In 1881 botanists John and Sara Lemmon were collecting and botanizing in an area called Rucker Valley in the Chiricahua Mountains. And, they were...