Flowers

After a couple of days having monsoon weather and showers, I noticed that one of my little cacti had developed a couple of flower stalks. That made me think of the “Queen of the night” cereus cactus on the hill above the little wash. Upon inspecting the cactus today, we noticed a great deal of growth on the flower stalks. A while back, we feared that they might have gone dormant, but thought that the monsoons might have something to offer for flower growth. Now, it looks like we might have been right. We will be checking after dark every night from now until they open up.

Image above: Composite view of the three flower stalks today. Click on the image to enlarge.

It was another beautiful summer day in the desert today! I went out to the courtyard this morning and noticed that the Bishop’s Cap Barrel cactus was literally crowned with uncountable flower buds. This afternoon, I took this photo of them mostly open. I think this cactus likes its native Arizona. Click on the image to enlarge.

We have had this gymnocalycium friedrichii cactus since before we retired in 2009. We brought it from California and, as far as I know, it has had flowers every summer since we brought it here. As I watered our plants today, I was greeted by this lovely flower. Click on the image to enlarge.