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.
early this morning. Its blooms slowly march up the tall stem through the summer, reaching the apex as the first frost approaches. Looks like we have a while to go.
Fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium), also known as great willowherb north of the border.
from the summer heat, well, maybe that’s an exaggeration. The only splash of bright color in the high desert in early summer is provided by the vibrant broom snakeweed seen below.
Broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae).
topped with millions of anthers producing trillions of pollen particles in countless wildflowers during this season’s super bloom in the high desert is really hammering my allergies. It’s been quite miserable this year, especially if one likes to breathe freely.
Macro image of prickly pear cactus blossom showing the stigma (green bulb in center) surrounded by hundreds of stamens consisting of anthers at the tips of each filament. Amazing micro universe when one gets small.
in the blossoming cacti, and they sure are busy.
a bee emerges from a prickly pear cactus blossom in the rock garden. On to the next flower, a pollinator’s work is never done.
Prickly pear cactus (genus Opuntia).
NOTE: This image was shot with a handheld 400 mm telephoto lens from a standing position. Nearly as good as a tripod-mounted macro lens close to the subject.
in Castle Valley is attracting the tiny pollinating bees and I’m on the lookout for their ground-dwelling hives.
Globe mallow bee (Diadasia diminuta) on the common globemallow flower (Sphaeralcea coccinea).
UPDATE: Here’s a shot taken this evening as a bee settles in for a slumber as the blossom closes for the night.
in Castle Valley, Utah. Truly a spectacular spectacle of nature.
Nakedstem sunray (Enceliopsis nudicaulis).
Sego lily (Calochortus nuttallii).
takes its turn with the pollinators - in this case, hummingbirds - blossoming with vibrant scarlet flowers. Hands down my favorite of the spring bloom.
Claret cup cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus).
of a variety of wildflowers and shrubs following the very wet spring. It’s quite glorious.
Harriman’s yucca, also known as narrow-leaf yucca (Yucca harrimaniae).
Whipple’s fishhook cactus (Sclerocactus whipplei).
Yellow cryptanth (Cryptantha flava).
Cliffrose (Purshia mexicana), incredibly aromatic and sweet-smelling.
Anderson’s larkspur (Delphinium andersonii). Toxic!
is the lovely sego lily, now dominating the blooming wildflowers around Round Mountain.
Sego lily (Calochortus nuttallii).
where a rapidly moving cell dropped 0.35" of rain and slammed Castle Valley with 1/4"+ diameter hail in one hour’s time.
Nakedstem sunray (Enceliopsis nudicaulis).
involves this appropriately named - both common and scientific - poisonous beauty, now in full bloom in Castle Valley. In other words, don’t eat it.
Panicled death camas (Toxicoscordion paniculatum) among the blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima).
that collected a specimen on the 1859 exploration of the San Juan River drainage, this lovely early bloomer bears the name of Dr. John S. Newberry, the expedition’s doctor and naturalist.
Newberry’s twinpod (Physaria newberryi).
the brilliant Indian paintbrush is the dominant flash of color on the slow-to-awaken high desert this chilly and wet spring.
Vibrant Common Indian paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa) with the greening Round Mountain.
This spark of scarlet beauty is enhanced by the hemiparasitic nature of this perennial plant, robbing water and nutrients from nearby neighbors.
late next month to film the industrious globe mallow bee as it goes about its business pollinating the prolific globemallow flower. Documentary film producers caught my previous blog post with images (May 2021) showing their activities in Castle Valley and are sending a crew with a cinemagraphic camera to record their fascinating behaviors as a part of a series on the national parks. Very cool!
Here’s a nice article by local scribe Ron Drake who writes for the Moab Times-Independent that describes the upcoming project in Castle Valley.
The tiny mallow bee (Diadasia diminuta) specifically collects pollen from the desert globemallow plant (Sphaeralcea ambigua).
The mallow bee constructs hives underground, the entrances to which are tiny sedimentary towers, or turrets, only an inch (a couple centimeters) tall.
Mallow bee fully loaded with pollen entering hive through a turret.
More about the globe mallow bee from the US Forest Service.
in the slowly greening high desert. It’s the only wildflower in bloom on a very cold day.
Indian paintbrush (genus Castilleja) with big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata).
from southern Utah, coming on strong during the spring bloom.
Desert globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua).
Hopi blanketflower (Gaillardia pinnatifida).
late morning, just a few minutes drive from the house.
Pinhook cactus (Sclerocactus parviflorus).
Macro shot of pinhook cactus blossom.
Naked-stem sunray flowers (Enceliopsis nudicaulis) in bloom beneath Parriott Mesa.
in eastern Washington and provides an opportunity for get-down-on-your-knees macrophotography.
Flower of sagebrush buttercup (Ranunculus glaberrimus).