There are few things I enjoy more than finding beauty in unexpected places. This bright, strong, desert flower delights, surrounded by rocks in varying shades of beige and spied while on a sandy hike in Zion. I’m always amazed at what can grow and flourish in the most inhospitable of environments like the high desert. If you dig frigid nights and days of blistering sun with no shade in sight, punctuated by tortuous downfalls of rain, the desert may be a place for you, as it was for this unassuming flower. 

Interestingly, we opine that this environment is inhospitable, especially when compared to the lushness of the Pacific Northwest or milder seasons of the Mid-Atlantic. But, it’s only when we compare that we can even assign a value judgement. Rock and sand and precious little water is all this flower knows, so it therefore makes no judgment of its own circumstances. 

Maybe it really is true that everything is relative, even if it feels black and white to us.

Find this and more from Zion National Park.