Some wildflowers, like some people, are just bound to blossom. No matter what might stand in the way.
One example: a lovely lone larkspur holding forth in deep-blue beauty just as it has for many years - even though a severe winter drought left its hillside spot barren of any other blooms.
We've observed the specific larkspur - a perennial plant also known as delphinium - in bloom along a hiking trail northeast of Tucson every spring for about the past decade. Come rain or drought, come hot or cold.
In good wet years, the little larkspur has been joined on the hillside by thousands of other wildflowers in bloom - from poppies and penstemons to fairy dusters and phacelia.
This year - knowing full well the larkspur would almost certainly be a no-show - we trekked up the trail anyway. Just on a whim, on a faint hope.
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Approaching the plant's longtime site, it was clear that the entire hillside was brown and bare of anything resembling a bloom.
Almost bare - but not quite.
Around a bend, past an outcrop of rock and there it was: the amazingly hardy larkspur in brilliant bloom. The only wildflower in sight.
It's not, of course, the only wild bloom around Tucson this spring. Hikers have found a few other colorful survivors in this canyon or that patch of desert.
Some things are just bound to blossom - no matter what.
Contact reporter Doug Kreutz at dkreutz@azstarnet.com or at 573-4192.
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