Winter turning to Spring

Juniper Hairstreak

Thelocactus macdowellii

Thelocactus macdowellii

Late Winter flowers from Aloe maculata, Euphorbia rigida, Drummond Creeping Phlox and Sedum palmeri.

Rough-leaf Dogwood (Cornus drummondii)

Rough-leaf Dogwood (Cornus drummondii)

Although the Rough-leaf Dogwood isn't as stately and stunningly beautiful as it's East Texas cousin the Flowering Dogwood, it makes up for it with its unique ability to attract butterflies and other interesting insects, to a broad landing pad that's the perfect spot for viewing the airborne visitors.

The Eight-spotted Forester, Alypia octomaculata, besides being markedly handsome, is said to be one of the most important pollinators of the Texas Madrone 

Missing a hindwing?  No problem.

Cotinis nitida, commonly known as the Green June beetle.  I would say this one is more of a Blue Green June beetle, a striking jewel of a bug (if that is a thing).

This fuzzy little rust colored hairstreak is hard for me to identify.  I guess it must be a Juniper Hairstreak but it lacks many of the defining characteristics that I typically see.

Here is another Green June beetle sporting more typical hues.

Green Hairstreak

Juniper Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus)

Although this picture is blurry, it shows my strategy for anchoring a bare root Ocotillo to the ground, the problem was that in order to form roots the Ocotillo needed to not move back forth with a breeze (that would break any new roots or worse uproot the entire plant as there was almost nothing underground).  So to counter balance the extremely top heavy canes I drove four stakes into the bed and then tied the top of each stake to cross beams in an "x" pattern that essential put downward pressure on the crown of the plant keeping it quite still no matter how strong the breeze.



One of the best native Texan plants I have found for desert landscaping, Four-nerve Daisy (Tetraneuris scaposa). 



Mammillaria heyderi  - these are the best tasting fruits of the many native cactus fruits I have tried.  Sweet and tart like strawberries, where most other cactus fruits are too bland for my taste.



Mammillaria heyderi -Grows from I-35 West into East Arizona where it forms nearly flat discs in mostly rocky soil.  Fruits can be red or purple, flowers can be white, cream and apparently sometimes yellow (which I have only seen in photographs).