Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 29, 2009. Blue Fiesta Flowers on Red Car Property near Adelbert. (Click on photo to enlarge.)In nearly twenty years of hiking the neighborhood, I noticed the native Blue Fiesta Flowers (Pholistoma auritum) only seemed to grow in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract; not on the Red Car Property. Last weekend, I noticed a small patch of the distinctive blue-purple flower near the foot-path cut up to Adelbert from the Red Car Property.
The Adelbert end of the Red Car Property is damp and shady for half the year, similar to areas in the Semi Tropic Tract where Blue Fiesta Flowers thrive. perhaps those Velcro-like seeds hitched a ride on a coyote from the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract and gained a foothold near Adelbert.
Photo: Diane Edwardson March 21, 2009. Not a Blue Fiesta Flower, near Adelbert on the Red Car Property. (Click on photo to enlarge.) Blue Fiesta Flowers should not be confused with the above purple pinwheel-shaped flower growing all over the Adelbert end of the Red Car Property. This is a groundcover, non-native plant you can buy at any nursery. It is a likely escapee from a nearby yard that enjoys the same shady, damp conditions the Blue Fiesta Flower prefers.
