Southwestern Splendor

What’s a western story without a picturesque field blooming with fiery Red Indian paintbrushes? Combine this flower with the Texas bluebell and the contrast of color, shape, and texture will bring your tale to life. I love to picture fields or pastures thriving with flowers, weeds, and grasses I push aside as I walk through them in my mind. The sage grass waves like wheat while I’m careful to avoid the prickly thistles and their attractive purple flowers. Indian paintbrushes beckon to be examined, while a wild turkey calls somewhere in the background.

Add to that the Indian usage of many flowers and trees for medicine and your story now has depth. The flowers of the Indian paintbrush were boiled into tea and consumed to ease the symptoms of menstruation. An early day form of Midol? The flowers of the Ocotillo plant were dried and made into herbal tea. Yum!

So the next time one of your story characters tries to influence you in a visit to the southwest, let him or her go. Allow them to walk through a meadow of wildflowers and let your imagination paint the picture.

Prompt of the week: John glanced from the burnt orange sunset to the blush of the Indian paintbrush in the meadow below before his gaze settled on…

Flowers of the Southwest

Ocotillo

Texas bluebonnets

Scarlet four o’clock

Winding Mariposa lily

Prickly pear

Wind flower

Mexican tulip poppy

Barrel cactus

Indian paintbrush

Texas bluebell

Sacred Datura

Ghost Flower

Southwestern flowering vines and parasitic plants

Rambling Milkweed

Dutchman’s pipe

Cardinal creeper

Fingerleaf gourd

Lilac vine

Trees/Fruit

Papaya

Lemon

Lime

Mandarin

Orange

Grapefruit

Apple

Pear

Cornelian cherry

Mango

Banana

Apricot

Peach

Pomegranate

Southwestern trees
Pinon Pine
Mesquite