The purple sand verbena in the Palm Desert.

The purple sand verbena, also called the pink sand verbena or the beach sand verbena, is a plant native to Western North America and is found in arid, sandy regions such as the Palm Desert near Palm Springs, California.  It is an annual, meaning that it dies every year and is repopulated through seeds produced from the previous generation.  While out walking amongst the plants I found that many insects were visiting the vibrant purple flowers.  The seeds are small and have papery wings that facilitate dispersion through wind action.  You can see a photo of the plant itself below.

Purple Sand Verbena photographed in the Palm Desert.

It was amazing to stroll through the desert scrub and look for a scene that would photograph well.  I like to be out early when the sun is at a low angle, and the sand fences provided compelling shadows that added to view.  The mountainous background and sand rippled added to the shot; I especially liked using the fence and ripple directions to draw your eye into the photo.  I shot quite a number of pictures, but like this one the best.  I think it is the long shadows of the sand fence that both frame the shot and guide your eye both horizontally and vertically across the image.

We have had a good trip to Palm Springs.  We were really looking forward to visiting one of the Palm Desert's canyons (Thousand Palm Canyon), but it was closed because they were still cleaning up from the damage caused by hurricane Hillary a while back.  Maybe it will be open on our next visit.  We have also enjoyed seeing all the blooming flowers here; there has been a lot of humming bird activity.  I will write on that next day.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com