THE GREENING OF ARIZONA

This is the 8th wettest monsoon in recorded Arizona history, and it's showing on the hillsides. Everything is green and there are more flowers in bloom than I've seen on any other trip (most of them are small and low to the ground, under the grass, but they're there). Even with all the rain we got on our July sampling trip, it's like night and day from then and now. There is so much green it's shocking!

The hummingbirds are out in force in our sample plots. Anywhere there is an agave blooming, there are at least 2 hummingbirds fighting over the nectar. I can't tell the species from my photo, but here is a female hummingbird pollinating a Palmer's agave. The only bad thing about all the new growth we're seeing is the pollen, and the resulting allergic reactions we're all having. I'm not allergic to ANYTHING, or so I thought... apparently, I am highly allergic to the invasive Lehmann lovegrass (from Africa). As we wade through our plots that have a high density of the lovegrass, we just watch as the pollen blows up into our faces (the many many many grasshoppers that are out now are not helping, every time they jump they knock more pollen into the air). Claritin seems to be helping a little. Our helpers from NAU have taken to wearing face masks to try and block some of the pollen...