I returned here a few days after taking this photo, at about the same time of the day, and the backlight on the smoke bush was again spectacular.
A man was standing where I had been, clutching a large drawing pad and furiously sketching the scene before it shifted. His concentration was such that I felt a little bad even saying hello, and apologizing for walking into the scene briefly to ID the yellow flowers in the foreground. “Oh I can work around you..”
Turns out they’re coreopsis, surrounded by milkweed and white columbine.