Flowers

This flower opened on our big saguaro cactus out front this morning. Most of the flowers had come and gone in June, but last week we noticed a new flower bud. When I say last of the summer, I mean for this cactus, as there are others in town that will likely have more flowers to come. Maybe even this one will have more, but I doubt it.

Since the cactus is very tall, in order to see inside the flower, I had to take this shot from across the driveway with the telephoto lens. Canon SL1 settings: F8.0, ISO 100, Shutter 1/500 sec., Focal Length 300mm.

We bought this “star” or “monk’s hood” cactus at a succulent show in California about eight years ago. It cost four dollars and was in a three-inch pot at that time. It has been transplanted to larger pots and is now in an eight inch pot sitting behind the patio adjacent to the RV drive.

Two flowers opened this morning and are the first ones to open since we have had the cactus. The flowers are about four inches in diameter. There are three more flower buds on the cactus that should also open.

Astrophytum Ornatum is native to Mexico, but seems to like it here in the Arizona desert. Click on the image to enlarge.

Intuition, or something, drove me to hike up the hill out back to see how the recovering Arizona Queen of the Night cactus (peniocereus greggii) was doing. When I arrived at the spot where the cactus lives, I was greeted by a flower stalk and a bud that looks as if it may have bloomed after dusk last night. I say that because of previous experience with another specimen that had flowers elsewhere on the lot two years ago. The image at the link shows two flowers opening and a third that was open the previous night.

It’s too bad that this cactus is located in a part of our desert lot that is marginally accessible, even in daylight. Naturally, there is no way either of us would think of trying to hike up there after dark, even to see something as spectacular as these flowers.

The good news is that the Queen Cactus (image) on the hill recovered from the microburst incident last summer where a limb from a palo verde tree fell on it. Click the link to see all the new growth on the cactus, some of which we plan to relocate/transplant to more accessible places in the lot.

Several of the cholla cacti around the house have flowers opening in early summer which is pretty late in the season for them according to our observations. However, cactus flowers are always enjoyable regardless of when they occur. Click on the image to enlarge.

Some of the compass barrel cacti in the neighborhood are opening and many of the saguaros in the area have more flowers even though our big guy’s flowers seem to have come and gone. There didn’t seem to be as many this year from big guy.

Now, we look forward to second spring which will be here in a couple of months. Meanwhile, high temperatures and monsoons and the resulting humidity are in the immediate future.

The third of our three Pride of Barbados (a.k.a. Red Bird of Paradise) shrubs in the courtyard now has flowers opening. It has been over three weeks since we saw the first flower and now all three have these wonderful colors that I love so much. Click on the image to enlarge.

The shrubs are still coming back from their winter hibernation and are getting taller every day. We cut the plants down to less than a foot for the winter and all of them are getting to be three feet tall now. I like it when I can see my beautiful flowers from the road below the front of the house when they are tall enough to see over the courtyard fence.