More...

I'm finally getting around to the point of these last two posts... which was to classify the different flowers. Some of these pictures are from much earlier in the season, they're not all blooming right now. First we had the primrose come out. Then half the side yard turned purple with these bundles of little flowers I couldn't photograph well. Now it's primarily pink and purple thistles and big patches of the orange globemallow. Always with a few other random flowers tossed in. We didn't manage to have any Indian Paintbrush though... there were plenty of them growing in the empty lot down the street- but none of their bright red blooms in our yard.




Gaura coccinea
Scarlet Guara,
also called scarlet beeblossom, or butterflyweed
You can see our mailbox post on the right side. These grew in a sizable patch by the drainage ditch that separates up from the street (note the row of dark colored rocks that parallel the road), and were only in bloom for about a week... now they have little specks of rose that are the withered up blossoms still hanging on. They stand almost two feet tall.



These are the giant dandelions (three to four feet tall), which known they're in the desert, as they grew in this very shady spot next to the evergreen bushes- and would also close back up during the worse heat of the day, then open in the mornings and evenings.



Erigeron divergens
Spreading Fleabane
One of the hardest to pin down- and I'm not entirely certain it's not Eastern Fleabane (which took federalism to heart and is not located in almost every state). I eventually ditched my Field Guide to The Plants of Arizona and started through the USDA's Plant Database- which is super interesting, includes pictures, and should be visited by everyone.




Tragopogon dubius
Yellow Salsify,
also called moonflower, meadow salsify, or yellow goatsbeard
This one wins the odd name award for both it's common and scientific names... it's actually an early European immigrant who's made itself quite at home.



Sphaeralcea ambigue
Desert Globemallow,
also called sore-eye poppy, desert hollyhock, mal de ojo and plantas muy malas
The hairs on the stem are an eye irritant- which explains most of it's alternative names. We have bunches and bunches of these in the yard right now. I might take another picture later- as it's hard to appreciate the perfectly round little orange disks that are the blossoms. Most plants have blooms all the way up the stem, creating swaths of orange in the yard.