Western Flora

WESTERN FLORA (already saw the fauna)

The picture above is a desert cactus in Sedona, Arizona.  There is a lot of this type of cactus growing along the hills at the Chapel of the Holy Cross.  It looks like the flowers are just beginning to bloom.   Prickly little fellows with unspoken warnings to keep your distance.

     Here we have some regular cattails, similar to what we'd see back east.  I especially like the way
     they show up against the red rock of the visitor center at Red Rock State Park in Sedona.  The
            center just seemed to blend right in with the surrounding red rocks.  Really nice!

    This gives us an overall view of a desert botanical garden in St. George, Utah.  Although the land
     is dry and rocky, a variety of hardy plants (like yucca) grow with a minimum of moisture.

     I think this cactus is called a prickly pear.  It's definitely prickly, with tiny needles you could
     almost use for weapons.  The red fruit/flower is pretty and I believe animals use them for food.

     This bright golden flower is called a Rubber Rabbitbrush flower. These were in Zion National
       Park. It's a common western shrub and we saw these cheerful blooms in a number of places.

     This fruit hangs from a tree in an orchard at Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.  It's kind of
        surprising to find fruit orchards in desert areas, but this valley is quite productive.

      Red leaves in Flagstaff, Arizona (on October 1), remind us that it's fall after all.  With
      Flagstaff's elevation of nearly 7,000 feet, autumn comes to that town earlier than it does
      back east. In fact, a few days later, it snowed in Flagstaff.  I'm glad we were safely
                                          in Sedona, at only 4,000 feet.

     I'm ending with these delicate, wispy pink flowers growing in black cinder volcanic soil at
     Sunset Crater Monument in Arizona.  It's a picture of fragile beauty surviving in hard,
     difficult conditions.  I'm reminded of our fragile lives surviving in often hard, difficult
     conditions.  In Isaiah 35:1, God says, "And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."

All the beauty of the flowers, leaves, cactus - can be considered as part of this verse in Luke 12:27:  "Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?"

 Thank you God for the beautiful flora and fauna - and for taking care of our every need!