At the end of spring 2011, the landscaper planted shrubs and a small tree in the courtyard. Now that spring 2012 is here, the courtyard is dominated with the blue blossoms on the three Cleveland sage bushes. The little pink blossoms on the plum tree are all but gone and soon the vivid red and yellow flowers on the red bird of paradise shrubs will dominate. Click on the image to enlarge.

I saw several prickly pear flowers on a cactus near the post office in town today. I just love springtime in the desert! Click on the image to enlarge.

We’re back in our Arizona home this evening after a week and a half on the road. We were in the California house for a few days and then headed back to the desert to relax and enjoy a nice visit with our friends who live on the Colorado River. One of the highlights during our visit was a cruise from Bluewater to Parker Dam and return on a pontoon boat. It was a great day and a wonderful river cruise.

This is the south side of Parker Dam as seen from the river. Just on the other side, is Lake Havasu whose water level is roughly at the lower side of the openings on the top of the dam. It’s kind of eerie seeing those openings and knowing that the dam is all that’s between us and the massive amount of water in the lake beyond. Click on the image to enlarge.

You may have noticed a lack of blogging over the past couple of days. There is a good reason for it. WE’RE ON VACATION! . . . and having too much fun with our friends on the Colorado River. Click on the image to enlarge.

Today was shopping day in the Valley (Surprise and Glendale, AZ). We were in the parking lot of a store in Glendale where the mesquite trees were flowering like crazy. We don’t get as many flowers until later in the spring at our higher elevation in Wickenburg. Click on the image to enlarge.

I spotted this pea hen on a neighbor’s roof. Their house is about eight-hundred feet down the road from our house. We have seen peafowl in the downtown area, but never this far out into our semi-rural area.

I looked at peafowl on the internet and think that this is a female Indian peafowl. She was just standing on the roof in the shade of a couple of eucalyptus trees. Click on the image to enlarge.

These are three flowers on a prickly pear cactus up the road from our house. New flowers are blooming every day, so expect more pictures of them. I love spring and the desert. Click on the image to enlarge.

Unfortunately, the aerial image of the property prior to excavation of the pad where a house could be built is missing from the archives. However, the aerial views of our property above represent three stages in the construction of our house; before, during and after.

Click on the images to advance the slideshow.

I was taking pictures of some of the beautiful spring cactus flowers in the neighborhood when this little guy dashed out from under one of the cacti. A quick scan through my “Desert Critters” reference book and couldn’t find a lizard exactly matching this one. A “zebra tail” was listed but had different markings elsewhere. Click on the image to enlarge.

At the end of rather inhospitable looking spikes on the canes (stems) of the ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) planted in front of the house, some flower buds are beginning to appear. Our ocotillo has been dormant, but now we’re hoping that the monsoons will bring it back to actively producing leaves and flowers.

Currently, three of the canes have flower buds. Two of them have bigger buds than this, but are too high for the camera without a step-ladder. I’ll have more pictures when the flowers become mature. Click on the image to enlarge.

Wikipedia says this about the Ocotillo:

For much of the year, the plant appears to be an arrangement of large spiny dead sticks, although closer examination reveals that the stems are partly green. With rainfall the plant quickly becomes lush with small (1-2 inch) ovate leaves, which may remain for weeks or even months.

Individual stems may reach a diameter of 2 inches at the base, and the plant may grow to a height of 30 feet. The plant branches very heavily at its base, but above that the branches are pole-like and only infrequently divide further, and specimens in cultivation may not exhibit any secondary branches. The leaf stalks harden into blunt spines, and new leaves sprout from the base of the spine.

The bright crimson flowers appear especially after rainfall in spring, summer, and occasionally fall. Flowers are clustered indeterminately at the tips of each mature stem. Individual flowers are mildly zygomorphic and are pollinated by hummingbirds and native carpenter bees.