We hope everyone is having a nice Memorial Day. We are having a nice day and are thankful to those men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and our freedom. I took this photo of one of the multicolored roses we bought at the floral shop in the supermarket and dedicate it to those we remember on this day. Click on the image to enlarge.
For the past two days, there has been some activity on the lot immediately to our east. They are clearing a pad for potentially building a new home there. When I say “immediate” I mean the property boundary and not the site where the work is being done which is at least 150 feet east of our property line.
When crews completed their work for today (the second day of work), I went over to the area and made the panoramic image seen above. Click on the image to enlarge.
I also took a panoramic image of the access road to the pad. The road connects between the next street to our north and the pad in the image above. Their lot size is a little over two acres.
I spoke with the owner who says he is going to speculate on building and selling a 1900 square foot home (excluding an attached garage). He may be in luck since the housing market has started back toward the positive side in our area.
I may post progress updates as the work continues.
Neither male nor female of the species cardinalis cardinalis has a good camouflage scheme for the desert. This female cardinal was perched in a mesquite tree adjacent to Damsel’s bird feeders. As you can see, her camo isn’t exactly something that blends in well with the desert’s spring colors. Regardless, their repeated trips to the feeders out back, speak to their survivability in our part of the desert.
I was using my Canon SX40HS Power Shot camera with zoom set to near maximum in “AUTO” mode. Damsel gets most of the good shots we post here, but once in a while, I get lucky. Click on the image to enlarge.
A little over a week ago, I posted a picture of flower pods on one of my Pride of Barbados (a.k.a Red Bird of Paradise) shrubs in the courtyard in front of the house. Yesterday and today, the bottom pods opened up to reveal my favorite Arizona flowers.
This is the third year since we planted the one-gallon shrubs and this year is the earliest we have seen flowers open on them. Some other Red Birds around town were opening already, so I assume as the shrubs mature, they will open earlier in the spring. We shall see next year. Click on the image to enlarge.
I took photos yesterday of some flowers on display outside the little department store on the west side. The one depicted above is a drought-tolerant variety of daisy called “Arizona Sun” (Asteraceae Gaillardia). According to several on-line sources, this flower attracts butterflies and after the flower petals fall off, they attract goldfinches.
Dave’s Garden has this additional information about this colorful flower:
Sun Exposure:
Full SunBloom Color:
Red
Red-Orange
Bright YellowBloom Time:
Mid Summer
Late Summer/Early Fall
Mid Fall
Blooms repeatedlyFoliage:
HerbaceousOther details:
This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds
Average Water Needs; Water regularly; do not overwater
Self-sows freely; deadhead if you do not want volunteer seedlings next season
Click on the image to enlarge.
Not unsurprisingly, the Arizona Queen of the Night cactus on the west side of the lot has developed three flower buds. One is quite prominent at this time, with two smaller buds in the offing. To highlight the three buds, roll your mouse cursor over the image above.
Last year, we had three beautiful flowers open on this little cactus and now we are expecting three more. There is another Queen in our back yard up on the hill, but it is in a place where I would be unsure of myself hiking up there after dark to photograph the flowers. If the flowers last until morning light, we may be able to get photos of them as well.
Today was grocery shopping day. After getting home and putting the groceries away, we decided to take a little ride around town so I could get some photos of the desert spring flowers currently in abundance. This is a Spring flower slideshow. Click on the image to advance through the following flowers and things:
