Naturalist in Flip Flops Ignites Fascination with Brittlebush

A word to the wise: next chance you get to go on a little nature ramble with Taylor Parker...grab it with both hands.
As we ambled down the sidewalk that threads its way from the Anza-Borrego Visitors Center to the Campground, looking for the Borrego Palm Canyon trailhead, Taylor introduced us to various blooms that bedecked the harsh terrain; Chuparosa (blossoms taste a bit like cucumber), Brittlebush showing off scores of yellow flowers, Barrel Cactus, Apricot Mallow with its incredbly delicate eponymously colored blossoms, among many others. Each identification came enriched with tidbits of delightful lore, Latin taxonomy available upon request.
Never pedantic, Taylor neverthless teaches while he delights and helps others to delight in the Spring spectacle. A self-proclaimed minimalist, he strides along tirelessly on stork-like legs, equipped with a pint of water and a small, seldom-employed camera, thinking, musing, enjoying, sharing his pleasure, like some latter-day secular incarnation of Gerard Manley Hopkins.
What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth's sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden.-Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid's child, thy choice and worthy the winning.
G.M.H., written in Spring of 1877