The Summer PlantsInto this desiccated landscape enters a new and diverse set of characters. The summer plants begin as tiny rosettes that hug the ground; soon the greens and grays of milkweed, mints, tarweeds, yampah, and others appear among the broken remains of spring forbs and grasses. Some, like tarweeds, defy the summer drought, growing boldly in full sun on the ridge top; others, like milkweed and mints, find refuge in moist swales. All of these plants are producers-organisms that capture energy directly from the sun, and use it to manufacture carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water. A portion of the captured energy is stored within chemical bonds in plant carbohydrate molecules, and is available to herbivoresS that consume and digest these plants.