Flowers of Arroyo Salado in Anza Borrego

When we head to Borrego Springs our first stop is often Dudley’s in Santa Ysabel.

Frequent readers of the blog know why, their deli sandwiches make two meals, or in this case THREE!  The Baja panini on the left is chicken breast, with chipotle mayo, pepper cheese on jalapeno bread.  And their traditional turkey.


I was out for the dedication of the Borrego Springs Library last month with my younger brother.  This is Fran’s first visit to the library, oh yeah she was impressed!


We do not carry a satellite dish, but use a decent antenna and rent movies.  With 4 racks of movies to select from!, we checked out a couple.


Behind the library is a public park.  It’s huge!, and I think it's needed (more so than a new library IMHO).


Libraries are sources of information and education.  Looking for the North Star?  (hint: it’s not the brightest)
.

There’s an exercise area for the older kids.  Fran is testing the elliptical.


And a separate area for the younger kids, or those young at heart.


We only wanted one night in Borrego Springs, for a one-night-stand Peg Leg Smith is our go-to spot.  With the reduction of space at Clark Lake there are more folks staying longer here now, and it is the week after Quartzite, well it’s as busy as I’ve ever seen it. Still lots of room for another.




The quick stop in Borrego Springs is only for a wildflower walk. The rain patterns are so unprecedented this year, creating pockets of bloom.  I’m trying to learn to recognize the common flowers and my brother and I did a wildflower walk in December! December!

This year is the first time EVER the ABDF has offered a wildflower walk in January.  Only 5 other folks joined up with Kathy, our docent for the walk, in Arroyo Salado Campground.

Kathy


Kathy is showing us invasive mustard.  We're to uproot and remove the seed pods from this invasive plant

Random photo of Arroyo Salado, showing the variety of blooms.


The following pictures are from that walk. Please provide any corrections in the comments, I’m still learning!  You’ll notice I carry a magnifying glass in my day-pack. Really helps with viewing the flowers, some are kinda tiny or have tiny features.

Desert Lily


Sand Verbana


The leaves and stem are sticky, notice how the sand is sticking


Aster

Ocotillo


Sunflower


Notice the gray beard of the sunflower?


Brown Eyed Primrose (the center looks more red than brown IMHO)


Spanish Needles  (each blossom is a single flower)


Lupine (the white spot = un-pollinated; red spot = pollinated)


Native Mustard


Lavender



Creosote Bush (notice the leaves grow on the sun side of the bush)


Teddy Bear and Pencil Cholla


Cholla Leaves? Yup -the new growth is soft to the touch


Dandelion


If you’ve been to Borrego Springs I’m sure you’ve seen the sculptures of Golleta Meadows.  The valley floor used to be a meadow, covered in Golleta Grass.

Golleta Grass


Rock Daisy – it’s tiny! ... but cute


Dead Fingers


Mallow - Desert 5-spot ??? A couple weeks will tell, but Kathy says it is

Chicory


Desert Star


Spanish Needles


Mustard (Native Mustard as opposed to the invasive mustard,we're not to destroy these)


Golden Poppy


Please help with any corrections!

We’re heading over to Ocotillo Wells for their ‘Hot Stars and Heavenly Bodies’ next.

Certainly No Bad Days this trip!