Damsel

Early this year, we had our landscape crew come around to remove some vegetation in anticipation of construction of a new wall and RV drive. While they were here, I asked them to bring a little hedgehog cactus from the outback down to where we could see it in the rocks below the courtyard.

The first flower on the little hedgehog opened today. I took this close-up photo of the delicate flower that will likely be with us only one day. But, there will be more as can be seen in this photo of numerous Echinocereus Flower Buds on the transplanted cactus. Click on the image or the link to view the full-sized photos.

I sure hope you like flowers, ’cause I love them. Springtime, although not official yet, has come to our town. This is the first (of many) flowers to open on the beavertail cactus next to the RV drive. Click on the image to enlarge.

There are many other cacti spread around the landscaping in the yard and more up in the natural desert part of the lot on the hill and up in the wash, all of which will have flowers in the spring and summer months. As I said, I love flowers and will have many more photos of them as they open for the next few months.

This is one cluster of a couple of new flower clusters opening on the flowering plum tree that we recently had replaced. The old tree was destroyed by the monsoons last summer when its trunk snapped in a microburst.

The new tree, at our request, is a more substantial one than the little sapling that it replaced. The little trunk was two or three inches in diameter and the new tree is more like six or maybe seven inches. In addition to the new little flowers, purple leaves on the tree are appearing.

There will be some rain coming to town this weekend to nourish all the spring flowers that will be coming soon. I can’t wait for spring flowers everywhere. Click on the image to enlarge.

We were out along the side of the driveway this afternoon, trimming up some of the unwanted shrubbery and a cats paw tree. I always bring my camera so I can get a before and after photo of our work, which I did, but those will be for another time.

What attracted my attention was our first wild Desert Marigold of the spring has opened up the hill a few steps from where we were working. I walked up and took the above photo of the new flower. Even though it’s only the middle of February, we have seen this and other desert wildflowers in bloom.

Here’s an excerpt and a link to the Wikipedia article on this flower:

Baileya (the desert marigolds) is a genus of plants in the aster family Asteraceae. All are native to the southwestern United States and to Mexico.

They are typically annual, though B. multiradiata may be perennial. The leaves, which may range from being entire to deeply lobed, mostly occur in a basal cluster. From this arises several flower stems, up to 18 inches (50 cm) in height, usually carrying a single yellow radiate flower each, although B. pauciradiata may have 2-3 flowers on a stem.

Desert marigolds typically have their main bloom in the spring, extending through July. Summer thunderstorms may enable a second bloom in October and even into November.