On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Here are some of the wildflowers we saw after we left the Colorado River. Most of these were tiny – less than one-inch in diameter.
Lyman Lake State Park, AZApril 27, 2020
Rose Heath. This picture and the others at Lyman Lake were taken on the short hike to the petroglyph site in the park.
Lyman Lake State Park, AZApril 27, 2020
Miniature Woollystar
Lyman Lake State Park, AZApril 27, 2020
Bluebowls
Salt River Canyon, AZApril 25, 2020
Indian Paintbrush
Salt River Canyon, AZApril 25, 2020
Coulter’s Globemallow
Salt River CanyonApril 25, 2020
Blue Dicks
Petroglyph National Monument, NMMay 1, 2020
Broom Dalea. Identifying this one was easy, the Park Service put a plaque next to it with the name!
Petroglyph National MonumentMay 1, 2020
Straight Bladderpod
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Thank you! The little flowers are so special.
Ohio Mom
Such great names.
Princess Leia
Exactly what my heart needed!
Benw
Them tiny flowers bursting out between rocks or peeking out of cracks under boulders say “we’re here to stay!”
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Beautiful pictures!
pb3550
I love the little bluebowl peeking out from under the rock. Thank you.
SiubhanDuinne
I have a friend in Newfoundland named Rose Heath. Would like your permission to copy the first picture and send it to her. I think she’d get a kick out of it.
You have a good eye for the exquisite small as well as for the majestic grand, as we have seen in earlier OTRs.
eclare
Love the names!
Yutsano
The little flowers tend to be the heartiest.
jame
No, that’s not broom dalea. It’s scorpion weed.
frosty
@Benw: @pb3550: I had a closeup shot of the bluebowls and decided the one that showed them under the rock was better. Glad you liked it!
frosty
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, go ahead and copy it. If it doesn’t turn out well, WG has my email address and I can send you the original.
Thanks for the compliment! This whole trip was an experiment in what I could do with a camera (Sony a6000) instead of a smartphone. It expanded the possibilities.
Richard
@jame: Yup, genus Phacelia. Scorpion Weed because the inforescense curves like a scorpion tail.
frosty
@eclare: Aren’t the names great??!! Blue Dicks? Bladderpod??? Who comes up with these?
frosty
@jame: “Dammit Jim, I’m an engineer, not a naturalist!!
frosty
@Richard: @jame: Oops, I took too long editing so here’s a followup.
I went back and checked the field guide. Scorpionweed is in there and looks like this plant. Broom Dalea isn’t. The Park Service plaque shows it and says: “Broom Dalea. Dalea Scoparia (sometimes called Purple Sage).
As another guy once stuck in a desert said “I was misinformed.”
jame
@frosty: Both broom dalea and scorpionweed are in my yard. The dalea is delightful, blooms in spring and fall, and smells wonderful. I tolerate the scorpionweed because it doesn’t have spines or thorns, it’s a small plant, and the shape is interesting.
I’d like to think the Park Service is more knowledgeable than this mislabeling makes it seem. Miseducation is not a good thing.