Spreading Phlox (Phlox diffusa) bloom earlier, have less prickly foliage, are more mat-like, less branched, and less funnel-shaped, than their similar looking relative Granite Gilia (Leptodactylon pungens)
Spreading Phlox (Phlox diffusa) turn purple to signal to their pollinators which blooms haven’t been pollinated yet.
These sticks settled into patterns in a puddle of standing water. I find the emergent order in the chaos comforting.