Yucca

For the benefit of anyone who hasn't spent much time in the West, the name of this plant is pronounced "yuck-a." (Some people tend to call it "you-ka").

I've shown another one of my recently-completed small paintings (10" x 8"/25cm x 20cm). Rising in the background is Mt. San Jacinto. The San Jacinto Mountains are a large part of why the land off to the left (including this spot) is desert while the area to the right is influenced by coastal weather patterns. The mountains form a "rain shadow" because their elevation is high enough to block most of the moisture-laden clouds that come from the ocean.

A scene like this is classic Palm Springs, CA. Spring flowers (the yellow-flowering shrubs are called brittlebush -- Encelia farinosa), yuccas in bloom and Mt. San Jacinto which lies immediately west of Palm Springs. If we get enough rain this winter, the desert will look like this next March and April.

Including that yucca!