around Castle Valley National Park with images taken on a nicely cool but blustery morning.
Broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae).
A gorgeous but poisonous southwestern plant...
that expresses enormous white blossoms larger than the palm of your hands, sacred datura is sometimes used as a narcotic and hallucinogen by Native Americans.
Sacred datura (Datura wrightii) in Lions Park.
Jimson Weed, oil on linen by Georgia O’Keeffe, 1936. Image courtesy Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Monarch butterflies rely exclusively on milkweed plants...
for laying their eggs and feeding their caterpillars as it is the only food source they can consume. Here’s one in the riparian zone of Castle Creek.
Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa).
Selenium is accumulated...
by a number of plants in sufficient amounts to be toxic, and the lemon-yellow spike-shaped blossoms of this desert beauty belie the dangerous concentration that it may contain.
Prince’s plume (Stanleya pinnata).
Big and bright and beautiful bunches...
of sunflowers are spotting the landscape in Castle Valley National Park, massive natural bouquets of gorgeousness dotting the rusty terrain.
Rough mule’s ears (Wyethia scabra).
A deep diving pollinator...
inside a prickly pear cactus blossom. Macro photography takes one into amazing micro worlds.
Prickly pear cactus (genus Opuntia).
Within 24 hours of pollination, the prickly pear blossom turns reddish-pink.
Busy bees harvesting pollen...
from opening globemallow blossoms. I’ll have to go prospecting for the entrances to their underground hives, given away by their tiny sedimentary turrets.
Desert globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua). The fully open blossoms are about 15 mm wide.
Fully loaded mallow bee with a large pollen pellet on its hind legs, weighing up to 30% of the bee’s weight.
A bouquet of cactus blossoms...
for Mother’s Day.
Whipple's fishhook cactus (Sclerocactus whipplei).
This massive sunflower...
tracks the movement of the Sun across the sky throughout the day, a response that occurs in some plants known as heliotropism, and here it is at about 2:00 pm MDT.
Rough mule’s ears (Wyethia scabra).
The state flower of Utah...
is blossoming right now and putting on a lovely show in the high desert.
Sego lily (Calochortus nuttallii).
Full on fuchsia...
on full display in the high desert by this blooming cactus.
Whipple’s fishhook cactus (Sclerocactus whipplei).
Peak pungency has been attained...
on the trails thanks to this blooming and beautiful member of the rose family. It’s like riding through a sweet perfume bath.
Cliffrose (Purshia mexicana).
Luminous cactus blossoms...
in soft and filtered light.
Claret cup cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus).
The greening of Castle Valley...
is occurring right now, with more wildflowers showing off their colors, despite the low soil moisture.
View northward from near Round Mountain. Click on image to expandify.
Utah penstemon (Penstemon utahensis).
Narrow leaf yucca (Yucca angustissima).
Exploring the steep slopes...
beneath the prow of Adobe Mesa, with the mesa top standing 1,600 feet (490 m) above my vantage point.
Yellow cryptanth (Cryptantha flava).
Bright scarlet blossoms on this claret cup cactus...
belie the extremely dry winter and early spring in the region. It’s the loveliest cactus in canyon country and you can’t change my mind.
Claret cup cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus).
Both lovely and toxic...
at the same time, do not consume the bulb of this tiny beauty with a threatening name. Blossoming right on time in mid-April at the Round Mountain annex to the Castle Valley Botanical Gardens.
Panicled death-camas (Toxicoscordion paniculatum).
Castle Valley Botanical Gardens awakens...
for spring with beacons of color appearing on the rusty landscape.
Narrow leaf yucca (Yucca angustissima) with emerging flower stalks.
Dwarf lupine (Lupinus pusillus).
The first blossoming wildflower...
of the season in the high desert environment of canyon country is this scarlet beauty. That’s Parriott Mesa standing tall in the distance.
Indian paintbrush (genus Castilleja) tucked beneath soon-to-awaken Mormon tea (Ephedra viridis).
There's a jungle of volunteer sunflowers...
brightening the high desert landscape, many as tall as a person. It’s quite the display in Castle Valley and elsewhere.
The sun flares in these images are a result of closing down the camera’s aperture to its smallest opening. I manually set it at f/22 and make sure I have a very clean lens and shoot directly into the Sun. Easy.