Summer Wildflowers
—Some Like it Hot!
June in Tucson, with temperatures over 100° F. and humidity in the single digits, is challenging for flora and fauna alike (including humans). Every day in June 2024, the temperature in our yard exceeded 100° F., with the exception of one day (June 29) which hit a high of “only” 99.9° F.! Three days in June exceeded 111° F. as well. 😐
Despite this heat, some plants thrive and even flower this time of year! So today’s post celebrates a couple of these amazing desert denizens!
Hubby & I planted some Sunflower seeds in early April, and by mid-June they were blooming, brightening up our subdued June landscape.
Another yellow flower we see in our yard this time of year is Desert Senna. We noticed that our Desert Senna kicked it up a notch, growth-wise, as the temps snuck up towards triple digits. Desert Senna (at least ours) seems to enjoy hot weather, and it’s been pretty continuously blooming since late May.
We especially like Desert Senna because it attracts Sulphur Butterflies & their larva, as I chronicled in my very first 🥳 Perpetual Journal entry (on 9/28/22) of a Cloudless Sulphur larva on our Desert Senna and my PJ two weeks later of that same Cloudless Sulphur emerging as a butterfly from its chrysalis!
Regarding my 2023 Perpetual Journal art for the week of May 21-27, we haven’t seen a Gila Monster in our yard yet in 2024…but we usually get to see one or more every year. Gila Monsters are soooo beautiful (that’s a fact, not an opinion, of course 😉) so we’re keeping our eyes peeled!
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