I wrote this song about Lycium fremontii when I was managing the native plant nursery of Desert Survivors on West Starr Pass in Tucson. The nursery is located right beside the Santa Cruz River at the base of A Mountain (Sentinel Peak). I used to perform the song whenever I did slide show talks and a version of it ended up on The Best of Growing Native Volume III. This is yet another version. I love the chorus and have always envisioned the song being part of a musical about Tucson or the Sonoran Desert that surrounds it. I’m looking for investors…I’m kidding.
I have so many 35 mm slides of this shrub and its flowers and fruit, but no digital photos, so the photo used here is by Tom Van Devender. He is a botanist, ecologist, biologist and a wonderful fellow. I thank him.
I use the common name wild cotton, but here are some other common names: Thurber’s cotton, desert cotton, and algodoncillo. Your choice, but if...
There is only one species Mandevilla in Arizona, but there are over 100 species found (maybe as many as 200 spp.?) if you start...
Petey waxes poetic about the plants and animals found around his little homestead and finally focuses on a plant called Mentzelia pumila. Let’s listen.