small beauties: the delicate desert

[kellan_the_tabby]

[ A close view of long, narrow silver-green leaves, waving in the breeze, looking much like undersea fronds. The stems are paler and slightly more yellow. They greenery entirely fills the picture. ]

First small beauties post from the new land! There’s SO much here that’s beautiful, I can’t wait to post more.

This one’s pretty much plants. Desert plants are canonically tough, sturdy, deep-rooted, & spiny, & all of these are often true, but they can also be delicate, bright, intricate, & just plain beautiful.

[ Green stems are covered with short, spreading leaves, some of which look kinda sharp. ]

… the spiny, though. Definitely the spiny. That one there? That’s a Russian thistle. Otherwise known as tumbleweed. You hear a lot about them blowing through the empty desert, or sometimes stopping highway traffic. You don’t hear how spiny the lil bastards are.

They’re SPINY.

[ Long, thin red stems are covered in tiny green oval leaves. ]

These haven’t got spines. Just long stems & lil leaves in mats covering the ground for maybe a foot, foot anna half around. Not showy, but pretty.

& then, there’s the EYE PLANT.

[ Tall red stems are covered in tiny white-petalled flowers, each with a spot of red in the center. ]

Not too eye-like, you think? Well … I might’ve had eye plants on my mind, what with my friend Jank’s eye plant art, & maybe it’s a bit of a stretch, but, okay, look, let’s just go with it, okay?

[ A wider view of the same plant — it’s a couple feet tall, stems spreading from a single spot on the ground in all directions. Each red stem bears smaller stemlets, which are covered in the flowers. ]

I will never not love the desert.

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