Spring has arrived in the Valley and the flowers have blossomed at the Deer Valley Rock Art Center.
A Desert Flowers Tour offered by the center, managed by ASU’s School of Evolution and Social Change, takes visitors on an hour-long nature hike through the Sonoran Desert Preserve to admire and learn about Arizona’s native spring flowers and plants.
Visitors learn how to identify different plants, their potential uses and how Native Americans historically used the desert foliage in their daily lives, said Casandra Hernandez, education and program manager at the Deer Valley Rock Art Center.
“The tour’s purpose is to educate visitors about the desert around us,” Hernandez said. “It’s a good opportunity to view the flora native to the Phoenix area and learn interesting facts about them.”
This is the Desert Flowers Tour’s third year presented by the center. Visitors learn how to identify native Arizona plants such as the buckhorn cholla, the creosote bush and the globe mallow.
The Deer Valley Rock Art Center’s mission is to preserve and provide public access to the Hedgpeth Hills petroglyph site.
Volunteer Elizabeth Alexander learned about the plants and petroglyphs through her own visits to the center and now leads visitors through the Sonoran Desert Preserve during the tour, which runs until April 18 from 11 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays.
“Right now is a beautiful time to be outside in Arizona,” she said. “Visitors learn how native plants can be used for medicinal purposes, in cooking recipes, and how these plants survive in the desert.”
Phoenix is the largest city in the Sonoran Desert and has the largest variety of desert plants. The Desert Flowers Tour highlights the Sonoran scenery while explaining the archaeological site, Alexander said.
“The tour includes explanations of the prominent petroglyphs at the desert preserve,” she said. “I provide visitors with a historical look on how Native Americans may have used the plants in the area.”
Plants that bloom during the spring in the Sonoran Desert Preserve varies depending on the amount of rainfall produced during the winter, Alexander said.
“The flowers that bloom during the spring at the Deer Valley Rock Art Center is completely up to Mother Nature,” she said. “Each year is a surprise.”
Anthropology sophomore Megan McNally, an education intern at the Deer Valley Rock Art Center, said out-of-state students especially should take the Desert Flowers Tour and see the plant life unique to a desert biome.
“This is something you usually don’t see in Tempe,” she said. “This is a good opportunity to see what Arizona has to offer in a natural habitat.”
Alexander said there are a variety of edible, medicinal and beautiful wild flowers native to Arizona to celebrate.
“This is a great way to gather facts and historical information while enjoying a beautiful desert landscape,” Alexander said.
Reach the reporter at gqolson@asu.edu
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