Wildflowers: Part I

Ghost Ranch 

In early May we had the inside of our house painted in colors to our liking. On the day the kitchen was painted, I packed breakfast which we ate in Lopez Park just up the street and lunch which we took with us to Ghost Ranch and ate at picnic table beneath a huge Siberian Elm. Upon arrival we checked our hiking trail options at the Visitors Center and chose the Chimney Rock hike.  

 

The views and wildflowers were stunning especially after the smoke from the "controlled burn" several days earlier in the Santo de Christo Mountains cleared midday.

With the unusually cool to cold Spring and even though the rainfall was plentiful, the wildflowers this season are rather stunted in statue. BEing a novice at identifying wildflowers here in the Pinon Pine/Juniper forest, while I enjoyed seeking names, I am unclear they are correct. Any of you reading this blog with superior expertise in this area feel free to correct name the below wildflowers.

Stiff Greenthread (Thelesperma filifoliumerma)

Groundsel (Senecio spp.)

Groundsel (Senecio spp.)

Trailing Fleabane (Eregeron flagellaris)

Common Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus)
I have planted two of these shrubs in our
front yard, so I fairly certain I have this identification correct.

Foothills Paintbrush (Castilleja integra)

King's Lupine (Lupinus kingii)

Sierra Blanca Bladderpod (Lesquerella pinetorum)

Scarlet Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus spp.)

Penstemon (Penstemon spp.)

Some plant identification allude me with the resources I have available to me presently.

I am including them in the post for your enjoyment. AND, of course, if anyone who views this post can identify any of the plants pictured, please contact me. Gratitude!

Notchleaf Groundsel or Fendler's Groundsel (Senecio fendleri)

Rushy Milkvetch (Astragalus lonchocarpus)

As I have spent much enjoyable time searching through my meager resources in our home library to identify these stunningly beautiful wildflowers, I did enjoy a frequent

Summer Solstice

Scarlet Gaura (Gaura coccinea)
blooming along the Santa Fe River trail

"June 21, 2019 is

the Summer Solstice arriving on Friday 

at 11:54 a.m. EDT. 

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, 

this marks the longest day of the year. 

It is the moment when the Sun reaches 

the Tropic of Cancer, 

its highest point."

The Farmer's Almanac

Cassins Kingbird
picture taken by Michael Stoyka
along the flowing Santa Fe River
near Frenchy's Field

Pleasant weather has finally arrived here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on the high desert. During the month of May there was hail, rain, snow and fierce winds plus freezing temperatures at night. June was ushered in with sunshine and intermittent thunderstorms which are not to Shasta's liking. But all of the plants are loving the moisture. This June is not nearly as hot as the first June we lived here.

New Mexico Locust (Robinia neomexicana)
in flower along the alley abutting the acequia.

With the abundant moisture this past Fall, Winter and Spring the New Mexico Locust trees are bursting with a plethora of pink blossoms which are lovely indeed. It is my favorite local tree. Where our house was begging for some shade, a one gallon pot of New Mexico Locust was planted last Fall. It is tiny compared to the full grown trees along the acequia but I am hopeful it will grow rapidly like my previous experience with locust trees.

As the longest day of the year approaches, may we be heartened by Starhawk's Summer Solstice message:  

"As we approach the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, and I approach my 68th birthday, I am thinking a lot about culmination, about fruition, about the cycle of life, and how for the fruit to set, the flower must wither and decay. I sometimes question whether the cycle itself can last, whether we have so damaged the processes of the natural world that decay and death will no longer bring renewal.

But the energies of Summer Solstice offer us renewed inspiration and tools for overcoming fear and despair; to recover our faith in the earth’s resiliency, and renew our commitment to ourselves as agents of regeneration."

At this Summer Solstice may we each commit ourselves to BE "agents of regeneration" and