Met this little dude on a hike near Coulee City, WA. There's a surprising amount of green out there in the PNW desert, I'm always impressed with the number of spikes that dry weather plants have. I'm very pro-spike.

Unfortunately, this spikey beauty is invasive. White Knapweed (Centaurea diffusa) is originally from southeastern Europe, but out here in the western USA, it can cause fires after it dries up and becomes everyone's favorite desert resident: a tumbleweed. It's not great for cattle foraging, it increases soil erosion... it's just a general pain in the butt for everyone from farmers to environmentalists.

Well, everyone except for us photographers. The greens in eastern Washington are so different than the coastal evergreen forests I grew up in. Despite the arid environment, there are tons of beautiful greens speckled about. Unlike the saturated forests full of fir and maple trees, these rugged plants are muted, cool-toned greens and against the fiery, red desert floor, they look comfortably out of place.