In the summer of 2015, I was the crew leader for the "Coco Weeds Crew" with the Arizona Conservation Corps. We walked miles and miles on all the roads and trails in various sections of the Coconino National Forest around Flagstaff, GPS and clipboard in hand, collecting information about the numbers of invasive and native plants. The Flagstaff Beardtongue (Penstemon) was a rare plant to find and we were excited to see it. For those of you familiar with Northern Arizona, we counted the most in the Marshall Lake area off Lake Mary Road. It's the most wonderful lavender/pink color, with an almost succulent-looking rosette (the base of the plant). That was one of the best summer jobs I've ever had! My crew of 5 camped four days a week, drove on all kinds of back roads, became experts at interpreting cryptic maps, and I got really used to going to bed at 730pm ;D.
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Needless to say, this sweet, almost secret penstemon has inspired this latest in the Big Beauty line of jewelry. I'm loving exploring how layers and curves and playing with dimension in the silver can capture the essence of an utterly ephemeral object: a flower. Here's the actual Flagstaff Beardtongue, from iNaturalist:
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Find the necklace in all her glory here.
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