Flower Medley in Querétaro, México
It is a long road to Xilitla from San Miguel de Allende in México; six hours of driving without stopping. Stops are however necessary, not only for enjoying the plants along the way at the height of wildflower season, but also for the calls of nature. Sometimes the two are combined.
At one spot along the highway, distant from any public facilities, are two roadside vendor shacks perched at the top of an embankment with just the right distance between them to afford some comfortable privacy. Looking down from the top of the embankment, as one must, one observes floral displays such as these.
I count six species in bloom, three each from the mint and aster families. The mints are the tall blue-flowered plants in the back (almost certainly a species of Salvia), the small, light blue-flowered plants in the bottom right (perhaps a Salvia sp.), and the prominent orange-red flowered Leonotis nepetifolia in the lower middle of the frame. The latter species is an introduced escapee from tropical Africa and southern India.
In the bottom left corner of the photograph are two asteraceous species I’ve yet to identify–perhaps the yellow-ray flowered one is a species of Bidens (I won’t guess for the white-ray flowered species). The third species in the family, primarily in the bottom right corner but also much of the out-of-focus background, is a species of Tagetes or Mexican marigold. It is almost certainly Tagetes lunulata, collected frequently along the roadside in the area (see Tagetes lunulata in Flora Del Bajío y de Regiones Adyacentes (Fascículo 113): Familia Compositae: Tribu Tageteae (PDF)).
Lovely photo and a place close to my heart!
You are so fortunate to be educated to know the species. Lovely picture. 🙂
Excuse me if I’ve missed, what time of year was the photo taken?
My apologies Karl, I should have mentioned that. This was mid-October of last year, a couple weeks later than usual for this to happen in this area.
I have Tagetes all over my garden and love their cheerful blooms. The reseed themselves and manage to thrive in our ongoing drought!
Delightful! Thank you.
Gorgeous colour! Just what’s needed in the middle of a Manitoba winter! Thank you and I look forward to seeing more of the Mexican flora.
Thank you, Daniel, what a colourful post to brighten a chilly, Vancouver day. I am often amused by how a call of nature affords a closer view and time for reflection upon botanical specimens; though still recall, when I was very young, planting myself at dusk too close to a patch of stinging nettles – never a problem again with their ID.
What a happy place for pollinators!
Daniel, I can always spot one of your images before I read the attribution. I open the page and say, “Wow, what a wonderful photo!” And it is yours. Thank you for a wonderfully bright collection of blooms. I am so glad you took advantage of the opportunity.
beautiful picture
Nature responds when nature calls. If only humans could showcase their diversity in such harmony as do these flowers.
Cheerful sight on a snowy day in Portland, Oregon. Winter is NOT over here, alas. Thanks.
Great photo! I appreciate the nod, in this post, to ornamental horticulture.
With a different set of plants, our urban gardens in the NE US often emulate a similar medley for a late summer to fall show using (for example) purple asters with helianthoides/rudbeckia, and echinacea. This medley would not be out of character on the “High Line”
Wow Daniel, you must have been in heaven – I would be! I had no idea when I first opened the email that this was taken on a roadside. One reads that these species grow in Mexico, one sees them in gardens here in the states, but this! All by themselves! Thank you.
On a day like this [Feb21/2018] several inches of snow in “The Tropic of Ladner, BC!!!! Super-wonderful-delicious. Great info also. Thanks Daniel. ~ Moya