here is a foggy meadow in southwest colorado with grazing horses, an overflowing irrigation ditch, and along the banks, the iris is in bloom. wild iris thrives in areas that are flooded in spring. the foreground is dominated by a group of gambel oak trees. these trees cover a certain niche in the ecosystem: the valleys and low ridges. here however, being ranch land, the oak has been largely removed to provide pasture, yet here and there these groups of trees are left --which i find very picturesque.