Fall Asteraceae Festivals

Fall is just a blast with all the late season blooming plants, so maybe instead of a festival for all the different species, we could consolidate and have one huge fall festival. It could go on for days and days. Yay!

But listen dry rocky slopes like the gentle slopes that stretch down from the mountains to the desert floor are always magical and full of interesting plants and animals. Yes, animals too, because in the cooler days of fall some critters that usually hide in the heat of the day are out and about and even some species of rattlesnakes go from nocturnal to diurnal. How cool is that? Very cool.

Melampodium leucanthum is a neat sounding botanical name and though Melampodium means blackfoot, I’m not sure what it refers to and one reference I found said it is “meaningless”.  Ouch. But leucanthum is easy to figure as white flower. And as I said the fragrance of this beautiful tough wildflower is to die for. AND, you can find blackfoot daisies in good native plant nurseries, but first maybe find a rocky limestone slope and see it in habitat. It’ll make you want to have a Blackfoot Daisy Festival. Yay, I’m there!

A couple notes: I took the photos on the west side of the Dragoon Mountains near Cochise Stronghold and the photo of the slope has blooming Parthenium, Zinnia, and of course, Melampodium to name a few. Oh, and it was a birthday traipse (mine) all over those hills with Ms. Mesquitey. A good day.