The Gay Pageant

The seasons comes the seasons go. Each season leaves its distinctive marks on the flowing landscape. A seeker after beauty in the arid Southwest will be repaid well for his efforts. Discovery follows discovery if one has the time and patience to search for hidden places and if one is willing to study with diligence Nature and her marvelous ways.Thick, learned volumes have been written on the flora of the area. Early day explorers, scientists and botanists discovered a veritable wonderland of plant life in the Southwest. They brought to the attention of the world for the first time many plants so characteristic of the land of little rain. Since Emory described the saguaro not much more than a century ago, introducing that desert giant to the field of scholarship, scholars have been continuing to this very day the fascinating study of a plant life so different and so varied. The study is a continuous one for the subject is endless.

The gay pageant of the seasons follows no set time schedule. Spring, for instance, can move into the sand dunes near Yuma, gorgeous in her fluff and finery, as early as mid-February. The verbenas there will spring magically from the sand, and, in response to spring's delicate touch, will change the bright, shining brown of the desert's floor to a carpet of purple, a vibrant carpet of shimmering color as millions of plants curtsy to the soft caress of a desert breeze. As the days pass and grow longer, spring then moves gracefully and slowly northward toward the foothills and the mountains and the high, windswept plateaus.Wherever she goes the world of living plants responds to her presence. In the desert areas where the saguaro rules so regally the transformation of the landscape is startling; so startling, in fact, spring in saguaroland is an attraction that draws more and more people each year. If there have been sufficient rains during winter and the early spring months, millions of flowers will cover the desert floor - truly a worthy place for the glad dance of angels. If, however, is such a little word with so much meaning. Often the The rains do not come in winter or early spring. The dormant seeds remain sleeping in the soil and do not respond to the season's salute. After all, they are in no hurry and if they do not add their festive touch to the land this year, there is always another year and another spring coming.

Hundreds of other plants, though, are not so temperamental. Many of the cactus plants will start displaying their showy bouquets in February and as summer approaches other members of the fantastic clan will follow, their floral tributes to the gay pageant depending upon species and elevation. The desert trees, too, are loyal to the season and are always dependable. The catsclaw, mesquite and palo verde, ordinarily drab, dress up merrily for the occasion. The palo verde, changing from a blue or a gray green to brightest yellow, becomes the gayest of trees in the spring parade. The smoke tree, found along the sandy washes in the desert country of western Arizona, almost unnoticeable in every day clothes, dons a diaphanous gown to mark the progress of spring in her journey to the north, a journey that is marked with floral brilliance.

That journey is one of leisure, as befits a traveler with such a wardrobe of stunning gowns. From the southern sand dunes of mid-February, spring may not reach the red cliffs of Sedona until early May and three weeks or a month will pass before she sets up housekeeping on the Kaibab, north of Grand Canyon; on the slopes of San Francisco Peaks; in the lower elevations of the White Mountains; among the canyons and the sand mounds in the Navajo country. Early June passes before the Joshua forest north of Kingman on the road to Pierce Ferry receives the gay visitor. Then the Joshua trees, which generally look so staid and grim, put forth white blossoms almost as big as pillows and when they are dressed up all in fluffy white their whole personality changes. They are just as giddy and debonaire as any taking part in the gay pageant.

To follow in spring's footsteps in this land of a thousand faces is high adventure, a revelation to the mind seeking beauty, an inspiration to all lovers of Nature and her miraculous ways. Between three and four thousand species of flowering plants, ferns, and fern allies have been identified within the boundaries of Arizona. They respond eloquently to the seasons as they come and as they go. Their study has occupied the attention of brilliant minds, prepared by years of schooling to explain their ways of life. And they have brought pleasure to countless others, perhaps not so well equipped as the learned scholar, but lacking no less in an appreciation for all the things that make the gay pageant the memorable spectacle that it is, a spectacle which brings so much pleasure to so many.