Lifestyle

It is occasionally necessary to stop, as we all know, and smell the roses. This famous saying was invented for more sedentary types. For those of us who run where roses do not normally grow, we do still ought to use our noses. Usually it's other flowers we're smelling.

Take, for example, the sand verbena at right (on which you can click for a larger image, as is the case with all the wildflowers below). This is a flower we're seeing this spring on the trails around Xantusia, the 13-acre compound on which I live (fellow triathletes Mark Montgomery and Claire McCarty live next door; Xantusia is frequented by visiting triathletes pro and age-group alike).

The Antelope Valley is known for its poppies, however we have none of these where we live. At 4200' above sea level I think we must be too high. We do, however, have the desert mariposa lily, which I think is even a bit prettier (poppies have 4 petals, "our" flower has 3, that's one way to know the difference).


BEAVERTAIL CACTUS	BLUE SAGE	CREAM CUPS	DESERT MARIPOSA LILY

We have about three or four dozen wildflowers I've so far differentiated, though not necessarily identified. I've snapped a few photos and present them here.


HERONS BEAK	PARISH LARKSPUR	PURPLE MAT	WILD ONION

All these grow within a half-mile of my house. Some grow all over the place, others, like cream cups, appear to be extremely rare around here. There's only one spot, over about 100 square feet (the size of a kitchen) that I've seen them. Yet they reappear in that same spot every year.

These flowers live with us in the high desert. I've got a similar batch of flowers I've photographed that live near the Southern California Coast. Wherever you live it's probably wildflower country, so you have no excuse for not having seen them, except that you've probably just run right by them. Use the legs and lungs that God gave you (and Slowtwitch helps you perfect) and go see your area's wildflowers.