My morning ditties are not nearly as amazing as the song of a curved bill thrasher, but they help me begin the day. If I start thinking about the groundwater pumping in the the Sulphur Springs Valley of Cochise County, Arizona, I’ll want to sing dirges, so singing to the flora and fauna around our little homestead is a good thing.
In the foothills and mountains around you and me, white flowering honeysuckle (Lonicera albiflora) can be found from 3,500 ft to 6,000 ft. I find it along streams or very nearby. The plant in our yard, where I sometimes wander by singing, is a large shrub (6’ X 6”), but on occasion in the wild I’ve seen it as a vine and twining up into oaks. Make up your mind Lonicera albiflora!
The photos are mine. The flowers and the fruit are beautiful!
The photos are mine of Verbesina encelioides. Although it’s quite pretty, “a common weed of roadsides and waste places.”* *Kearney and Peebles, Arizona Flora
Petey reveals the results of eating a little too much ground flax seed. Maybe a little too much information, Petey. I just love the...
The better common name for Terrapene ornata luteola is the ornate box turtle. The name desert box turtle is old like me….not Miocene old…maybe...