Flowers

We were watching the last rays of the setting sun in the courtyard this evening when I noticed that there was a flower open on our flowering plum tree. The open flower surprised me since the tree is completely denuded of leaves after the recent freezing weather (well a few nights, at least).

The mature plum tree is a replacement for the original tree the landscapers planted in 2011. The old tree snapped off at the trunk (it was a smaller tree) during a 2014 microburst that took out a lot of the natural vegetation that summer.

Soon, this tree will be growing it’s new spring leaves, but not before we prune off a few of the very low branches and suckers to encourage the tree to grow vertically and not into the walkway or the courtyard wall. Click on the image to enlarge.

We have had some relief from the sub-freezing temperatures over the past couple of weeks. The really cold temperatures may be behind us, as attested by flowers opening in the desert.

In recent days, my Paperwhites (Narcissus papyraceus) have begun to bloom in the courtyard. We have had these perennial flowers come up every January since we planted the bulbs shortly after moving here, about five years ago.

Any resemblance to daffodils is not a coincidence according to Wikipedia:

Narcissus papyraceus (from papyrus and aceus; meaning paper-like), one of a few species known as paperwhite, is a perennial bulbous plant native to the western Mediterranean region, from Greece to Portugal plus Morocco and Algeria. The species is considered naturalized in the Azores, Corsica, Texas, California and Louisiana. The white flowers are borne in bunches and are strongly fragrant. It is frequently grown as a house plant, often forced to flower at Christmas.

Paperwhites are part of the Narcissus genus which includes plants known as daffodils.

In addition to the places listed above where these are considered “naturalized,” I submit Arizona should be added to the list. Click on the image to enlarge.

When we went shopping for our New Year’s Weekend, I bought a small bouquet of lovely yellow and orange colored tulips. Since Wednesday, when we shopped, the tulips have opened up a bit. I was at the dinner table this afternoon and noticed that I could see into the tulip’s interior enough to image the stigma encircled by the stamens of the flower. When I looked at the image I had taken, it reminded me of looking through a Kaleidoscope. Click on the image to enlarge.

We postponed our usual Thursday trip to shop for groceries until today because we were out in Palm Desert to visit our little grandson again. We got back home last night and shopped this morning. With the snowbirds back in force, the supermarket has taken on the aisle-clogged snow-zombie effect that we experience every fall and winter and it seemed to be worse on Friday.

The good news is that the flower concession had these beautiful “Sky Fire” roses. I bought a dozen plus some pine limbs and arranged our centerpiece for the weekend. I took this photo of the arrangement this afternoon. Click on the image to enlarge.

We just about have all of our Christmas decorations in place and only a few more items to get for gifts which we hope will be complete in the coming week. Then it will be packing and shipping.

Today was a busy day for us. Actually, the whole week has been an entire disruption to our peaceful little retirement routine. Monday, I went to the dentist for my regular cleaning and check-up and the exam showed I had a broken molar that should be crowned. Wasting no time, I went back in on Tuesday to get that work done. Wednesday, we took a trip down to the northwest Phoenix metro area to do some shopping and what not. All the while under stormy skies. I think this might be a record-setting October for rainfall in recent years.

Back to today – we went grocery shopping for our coming weekend meal preparation (the whole week, actually) and afterward, we both had appointments with the dermatologist. The “derm” eradicated several skin lesions on each of us with oversized Q-tips dipped in liquid nitrogen. He did not find anything that could be considered a health risk like skin cancer, but he did say to come back every six months or so for a check-up. Too many years in the desert sun without sunscreen (not available in our youth) takes its toll.

The stormy weather cleared up today and we got considerable sunshine as we went about our business. The yellow roses in the flower concession were beautiful and I now have a dozen in the vase on the sofa table. Click on the image to enlarge.

While most of the northern hemisphere marks the beginning of fall, we, here in the Arizona Desert celebrate the beginning of “Second Spring.” The summer monsoons are gone and the flowers are opening again.

Here are three open flowers on my Devil’s Tongue Barrel Cactus with several more flower pods set to open:

This Star Cactus flower was open when we got home from California:

Finally, a lone flower blossomed atop one of the Buckhorn Cholla in the west cactus garden:

Click on any image to enlarge.