Isn’t it wonderful to live in a region where clouds and humidity and rain are so celebrated? You can tell the folks who originally came from elsewhere, but have been converted to borderlands residents when they say things like; “Did you see those clouds yesterday?” “I think the monsoon is on the way!” “I can’t wait to see my first turtle of the season”…things like that. Come to think of it, I’m one of those folks, especially when it comes to seeing the first box turtle of the season. (see photo of Terrapene ornata)
But hey, isn’t it cool when rain cleans the slate and you can find new tracks to identify and follow. It doesn’t take much to get my dogs interested in following tracks either. They’re so lucky with their amazing noses. They’re not looking at tracks, but following the scent. I think a good app for a smart phone would one that told you what your dog was smelling. Sign me up for that one. Hmm, some I think we can figure out…
There are around twelve species of Monarda found in North America and Mexico. Four species are found in Arizona…I suspect one of those is introduced…anyway, the one I brushed against in the creek bed is Monarda citriodora ssp. austromontana.
The photos are mine. That’s our first turtle of the season, shiny from the rainfall and then the bee balm in the creek bed. No flowers yet on the bee balm, but click on the link below for photos of flowers and then the link below that is to another show I did about Monarda. Yay! More than you ever wanted to know.
I am not that great at identifying native grasses, but I keep on trying . Thank goodness some are really quite easy to ID...
Unless you are a botanist and are comfortable keying out plants in a flora, the only way for the rest of us to identify...
I wrote this song about Lycium fremontii when I was managing the native plant nursery of Desert Survivors on West Starr Pass in Tucson....
