December in a Tucson Garden

Saguaro stands over the place I call my desert garden 

(I live on stolen land, it really isn't mine at all)

A Dragonfly landed on my arm to eat the fly it caught.

Baby Parry's Agave growing in the rocks.  This land is full of beautiful rocks.  Every time I dig I look forward to seeing the rocks uncovered and carefully replaced on the soil when I am finished.

Baby Fire Barrel with extra long thorns.

Pineleaf Milkweed in the late morning light and by it's side is a small Princess Agave with a flower stalk.

Pipevine with fresh new growth after the Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars ate all the old leaves in October (eating shown below)

Hibiscus denudatus - Desert Hibiscus

The Hibiscus of the Desert Late summer hillsides full of pink flowers opening with the morning sun.  Plants hidden from view at other times (to the eye of the average human) offer flowers in the heat of the desert monsoon.

















This year, the summer of 2008, is a good year for Desert Hibiscus in the Tucson Mountains. These photos were taken on September 12, 2008. There were hundreds of flowers in every direction.


denutatus = naked/bare or to make naked
Following the example of the Desert Hibiscus, we should become naked and expose our inner self to the sunshine, sharing our beauty for all the world to see. On the other hand, make naked our daily world, or in other words reveal truths, step aside from our masks. See the world and our selves for what they are and not what we have been taught to see.


My favorite related links :

http://www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/pinks/pink16.html

http://cabezaprieta.org/plant_page.php?id=1094s1963

http://www.calflora.net/bloomingplants/rockhibiscus.html