Gopher Plant or Upright Myrtle Spurge (Euphorbia rigida) can be found blooming in gardens around Tucson right now.

This cultivated plant has numerous common names, with probably the most common being Gopher Plant. Its official common name is Upright Myrtle Spurge, but I have never heard anyone call it by this name.

Despite the odd appearance of the flowers, they are popular with insects like this unidentified wasp.

I'm not particularly fond of Euphorbia rigida, the plants are stiff-looking and I don't like the chartreuse color of the flowers. In fact, I think that the yellow and black wasp is much more attractive than the Euphorbia rigida flowers.

However, Euphorbia rigida is easy to grow and can actually look quite striking if planted against a backdrop of red-violet flowers or red-violet cacti like Santa Rita Pricklypear (Opuntia santa-rita). Chartreuse and red-violet are opposite each other on an artist's color wheel, so these colors complement each other and are pleasantly eye-dazzling when paired.