Boyce Thompson Arboretum reports
Boyce Thompson Arboretum
Wildflowers are still scarce around the trails and 320 acres of gardens at Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Arizona this week; guided wildflower walks will be offered both days of the March 17-18 weekend at 1:00 pm. Trails should be should be more colorful by then with western dayflower, firecracker penstemon, wild cucumber, apricot globemallow and fetid marigold in bloom around different sections of the 1.5 mile long main trail. If you visit March 9-17, look for this showy Parry’s Penstemon between the Hummingbird-Butterfly Garden and the picnic area parking lot.
Parry’s Penstemon by Terry Stone
Early Goldpoppies and Manzanita Near Globe, AZ
Manzanita shrubs began blooming white, pink & fragrant this week, luring bees to hillside chaparral in foothills of the Pinal Mountains near Globe, AZ. The first highway 60 goldpoppies have started, too, as you drive from through Claypool (between Globe and Miami). These roadside poppies benefit from highway runoff water, also radiant warmth from the pavement – they always bloom early in this stretch of about a half-mile of Highway 60; reliable even in years when flowers are scarce in the desert.
Natural History Wanderings 
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