In the early 1990s when this story and song came about I was poking around the West Branch starting at Ajo Road and north almost to Starr Pass where I worked at Desert Survivors Nursery. It actually starts near Irvington Road and it meanders through a lot of private property, so you just can’t go wandering along it like a certain naive plant geek did back then. Yikes, I wish someone had told me! Anyway, I still love singing this song and thank you so much for listening.
There are some cool flora and fauna found on the west branch, so it might be fun for you to do a search on line for the West Branch of the Santa Cruz…recommended.
The plant Dichelostemma capitatum (synonym Dipterostemon capitatus) has at least two subspecies and is found all over the west. For me this lily-like plant...
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
Searching our pantry and chest freezer has been quite an adventure. We’ve even found some unlabeled items in the freezer. “What do you suppose...