WILD(flower) Ideas in Tucson

The African Daisy

Dear Sexy Tucson,
                  " I love you most this time of year as things get warmed up.  I love your display of wildflowers before our spring season gets started.  Your natural firework display is THE BEST!  And every year, you get me excited with your razzle dazzle display of colors. Truly yours.  Rohrerbot"

This photo shoot was taken in February around the second week.   A neighbor took their front yard and made magic happen.  They spread wildflower seed all around and as you can see in the photos, it is something special for the human eye.  As we get further into wildflower season, I'll be taking you to some hot spots around the city and state in search of the best display.

The best time to see wildflowers here in southeastern Arizona is either during the spring wildflower season (March through early May) or during the summer wildflower season (late July through early September). Autumn wildflowers will begin blooming here in October as the weather cools a bit, and they will continue blooming until the hard frosts of late November. Scattered wildflowers can be observed here in lower elevation desert areas almost all year-round.

Today's feature flower is the African Daisy. (OR Dimorphotheca aurantiaca)

 CULTURAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Exposure: full sun
• Water: water flowering plants every week; fall-sown seeds need weekly watering if winter rains are sparse
• Soil: any well drained
• Propagation: annually from seed; self-sows
• Maintenance: none; leave dried seed heads on to encourage self-sowing

                                                            LANDSCAPE VALUE:

Wonderful early spring color.  Annual color in landscape. And a great example of a wildflower garden!

So where will I be next?  Stay tuned for more adventures.  You never know where I'll show up, but if it's worth a picture and some helpful info...I'm there!  For now, I hope you enjoy the light show of sun and dazzling color.  I'm pumped for this season!  More tomorrow....