along the highway

The season of gold has begun in the southern Rocky Mountains.  Snakeweed, sunflowers and other assorted members of the Asteraceae (sunflower) family dot the earth and fill the borrow ditches along highways.  Even in our land of little rain, it is always astonishing to see how big sunflowers become, courtesy of highway runoff.  In the University of Wyoming field guide Weeds of the West, the common sunflower is described as an annual, growing from one to ten feet tall.  I have seen some that are at least six feet tall.  Pretty decent for a short growing season and fairly dry conditions.  And there is nothing like that New Mexico gold against a brilliant summer sky.

The light and shadow on the interior of these sunflowers seems almost edible to me.

I will be keeping my eyes peeled along the highways.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image