I enjoy hearing friends talk about the plants that they’ve seen on walks or hikes and when we share our enthusiasm the jabbering is so sweet. The flowers on manzanitas look like small porcelain bells. These are on pointleaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos pungens) and the photo was taken when we went out to gather firewood in the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains. The small holes you see on the flowers are made by a few species of bees and wasps…nectar thieves. It’s fascinating and I intend to learn more about them. Stay tuned. 
The photo of the heart shaped prickly pear pad (stem!) was taken on a hike when Ms. Mesquitey had me photographing every heart shape pad we came across. Who knew there were so many heart shaped cactus pads out there in the hills to be photographed? 
Mala Mujer or Cnidoscolus angustidens is an interesting plant in Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family. It’s found in southeastern Arizona and south into Sonora on...
I’ve known barn owls since I was a kid in Kentucky and I always saw them in barns roosting or nesting up high in...
The villain in this show is the grass Enneapogon cenchroides or soft feather pappus grass. There are many invasive exotic grasses that have changed...
