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 I took the photo used here from http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/ and by Tom Van Devender. He is a botanist, ecologist, biologist and wonderful fellow. I thank him.
In birder lingo loggerhead shrikes are uncommon in southeastern Arizona. Some winters and springs it seems there is a shrike on every other fence...
I think it’s fascinating that there are several species of winter fat found in Eurasia and Europe. That’s where the genus was first described...
Petey encounters a black bear while on his annual hunt and gather in the Galiuro Mountains.
