I took pictures of these flowers over the past week. Most of them at or near our house. The flowers (in order) in this slide show are:
Click on the image to advance to the next picture.
Once you get past the inhospitable cactus spikes and look closely at their beautiful flowers, you can see just how delicate and beautiful these desert plants can be. This is a close-up of one of the three Argentine Giant Cactus (Echinopsis candicans) flowers that bloomed on Monday. I took this image on Tuesday morning before the flowers wilted. Click on the image to enlarge.
I saved one of the flowers in hopes of developing into a fruit from which I can extract seeds. That is, if the javelinas don’t eat it first!
Beautiful! My Argentine Giant (echinopsis candicans) cactus flowers have opened this evening. I took this photo at a little after six this evening. These flowers will still be open in the morning, but will fade soon after. This is our once-a-year blooming for this cactus we installed shortly after having the place landscaped in 2011. The three pods last evening were still unopened, but the flowers showed up late today. Click on the image to enlarge.
There is an agave flower stalk about four hundred feet east of our driveway. I don’t know the timing on agave flowers, but I imagine this will be sprouting flower pods in the near future. We have been watching the flower stalk grow over the past several weeks and today I estimate it to be about fifteen feet tall. I will be sure and get flower pictures when the agave finally starts producing them. Click on the image to enlarge.
The ocotillos all over town are in bloom. I finally found an ocotillo near our favorite Mexican restaurant with canes low enough for me to get a close-up of the little red flowers. Click on the image to enlarge.
We had the landscaper install an ocotillo a couple of years ago, but sadly it seems to have died. The plan is to get them to replace it this summer. Hopefully I can take this kind of picture next year in our yard.
I get these flowers for most of the year. It seems that the venerable little Bishop Cap cactus keeps on producing these after nearly seventeen years since we adopted it in a three-inch pot just before we got married.
The cactus had been transplanted three times and has lived with us in both California and Arizona and just keeps on giving us flowers. Click on the image to enlarge.
Our travels took us to Surprise, AZ today to do a little shopping and a doctor’s follow-up appointment. The landscape in the parking lot of the doctor had a succulent (a type of agave, we’ve been told) in bloom. Near the bottom of the photo in the center is a tiny hummingbird gathering nectar from the flowers. Click on the image to enlarge.
Ed – Thanks Crotalus for the correction on the flower type.
