Color in the desert

I've always thought of deserts as being without color at all, just sand and bland.  But I was wrong.

The colors are bright and spectacular when they appear and with the neutral tones all around them they seem even more vibrant.  I guess it's all about comparison.

When we first arrived I enjoyed the purple leaves on the bushes next door to us.  Little did I realize that they bloomed during part of the day and then disappear again later on.  The bright pink colors are the perfect contrast to the purple leaves.  Here's a close up so you can see what I mean.  The photo doesn't do it justice, but I was too lazy to drag out my macro lens and tripod.

And just when I was feeling bad about missing the fall colors up north, the neighbor's hedge is turning so I can enjoy the reddish hue of autumn.

Yeah, yeah...I know.  It's not the same as the mass of color provided by the maple trees, but you gotta take it where you can find it.

Long Live the Queen of Desert Color