The Desert Smells Like Rain

 Rain.

The shock of humid air and the smell of the first wet after weeks of summer heat are among the most exhilarating and dramatic sensations in the Sonoran Desert.

We've had three-digit highs and clear skies for weeks. Wednesday night it rained enough that everything smelled heavily moist on Thursday morning. More clouds gathered in the afternoon and the desert got a decent drenching.

It's like a blessing. It's like an incredible act of kindness.

I've been on a weekly schedule of watering plants and trees. I feel responsible for anything I've planted or transplanted, and it's taken some time for me to realize that the bigger agaves, palo verdes, acacias, and even eucalyptus need occasional water to thrive. "There's not a plant in the desert that doesn't like water once a week," said the nurseryman down the street who has a gardening talk show on the radio.

It's one thing to try to flood the roots of a plant with a garden hose. It's another when Nature floods the landscape.

It's an amazing display of generosity. Rain falling everywhere — on ornamentals and weeds alike; petunias, sage, creosote, and saguaro.