Flowers

The first of many flowers on our big saguaro cactus out front opened today. The tops of the cactus are twelve feet up in the air, so I got out the telephoto lens and took this photo from across the driveway. As you can see, there will be many more flowers soon. We hope to have flowers opening daily for the rest of spring and maybe into summer.

From 50 States dot com:

In 1901 the saguaro’s blossom was adopted as the official territorial flower, and later, in 1931, it was confirmed as the state flower. The saguaro cactus typically blooms in May and June. It is one of the most unique state flowers, and is characterized by having a waxy feel, but fragrant aroma. There may be hundreds of flowers on a saguaro cactus that bloom just several at a time over a period of more than a month. The saguaro flowers have a short life; they open at night and close permanently during the next day. Many of the blossoms will become pollinated and, later in the summer, the flowers become red-fleshed fruits that are enjoyed by the local bird population.

Any day now, the big saguaro cactus out front should have our state flowers opening up on it. This is the second spring season that the big guy has been in front since the collapse of the saguaro we originally had installed.

When the flowers open, I will try and get some close-up photos of some of them, It will be a challenge since the lowest buds are about eight feet off of the ground. Maybe I can get up on the ladder.

Click on the image to enlarge.

I brought this cactus from California just after we moved here over three years ago. I don’t know the name of this variety of cactus, but it has long arms that hang over the side of the pot. This is the first and only flower that opened up on this unusual cactus since it’s been here in Arizona. Click on the image to enlarge.

UPDATE: You can see more of this strange cactus here.

This quintet of flowers opened up today on my Bishop’s Cap cactus in the courtyard. This happy little barrel cactus just keeps on making pretty flowers most of the year. Even though five flowers seems to be a lot, this cactus has had as many as 20 flowers open at the same time. Click on the image to enlarge.

This is the first year since we have been here that the little paloverde tree on the road out front has had flowers growing in such profusion. Damsel pointed out that this tree’s flowers are slightly different than the ones she saw at the dog park. The latter are larger with a red spot in the center while these flowers are small with no spot.

I did some internet research on the topic and found there are actually four species and one hybrid that share the paloverde name. The one at the dog park is, apparently, a blue paloverde (Parkinsonia florida). The one out front (and elsewhere on our lot) is a foothill paloverde (Parkinsonia microphylla). Wikipedia describes the foothill paloverde as follows:

Parkinsonia microphylla, the yellow paloverde or foothill paloverde; syn. Cercidium microphyllum, is a species of palo verde.

Parkinsonia microphylla is a bristling, upright-branching tree. The species is slow-growing, sometimes living for several hundred years. It typically grows to heights of around 5 meters (16 ft), although rarely it can reach 6–7 meters (20–23 ft) tall.

The leaves are yellowish green, and during extensively dry and hot periods the tree will shed them. It has the characteristic of performing photosynthesis in its bark (hence the green color), and this is what allows it to survive leafless in hotter periods.

The flowers are found on the end of a branch, small, pale yellow and occur in late spring. The tree may not flower every year, depending on the amount rainfall. If there is enough rainfall, seeds will also appear in 4–8 cm long, soft pods which dip in between each seed. They ripen in July, and stick to the branches. Rodents will often carry and store the seeds underground, where some of them will germinate after a rainy season.

Click on Damsel’s image above to enlarge.