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.
I have a small vegetable garden in pots in the courtyard. I have tomatoes, sugar snap peas, peppers, squash and onions. The flower stalks of the onions are now about two and a half feet tall and the tiny flowers are all opening. I took this photo of the three-inch cluster of onion flowers this morning. Click on the image to enlarge.
I took pictures of these flowers over the past week. Most of them at or near our house. The flowers (in order) in this slide show are:
Click on the image to advance to the next picture.
Once you get past the inhospitable cactus spikes and look closely at their beautiful flowers, you can see just how delicate and beautiful these desert plants can be. This is a close-up of one of the three Argentine Giant Cactus (Echinopsis candicans) flowers that bloomed on Monday. I took this image on Tuesday morning before the flowers wilted. Click on the image to enlarge.
I saved one of the flowers in hopes of developing into a fruit from which I can extract seeds. That is, if the javelinas don’t eat it first!
