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.
What a fun discovery in the desert east of Douglas, Arizona. There is just something about these large spinescent shrubs in the buckthorn family,...
The kidneywood found in SE Arizona, SW New Mexico and down into Sonora is Eysenhardtia orthocarpa. It’s common in the Mule Mountains around Bisbee...
I grew up in Kentucky and the state flower of the state is goldenrod. The particular species that has that honor is Solidago gigantea....