There are three of these “Pride of Barbados” red bird of paradise shrubs in my courtyard . All of them have lots of these beautiful little flowers opening every day.
We have had some fairly heavy monsoon weather over the past week, but these little guys hold up very well in the wind and rain. Click on the image to enlarge.
This evening looks like a repeat of last evening. Afternoon cumulus followed by wind/dust storm and steady evening rain. We don’t need the dust, but the rain helps to settle it.
This is a cholla growing over the RV drive and a palo verde behind it with a cumulus stage thunderstorm building up in the distance. Click on the image to enlarge.
Yay! The little fishhook cactus has four new flowers today. I took this photo this afternoon after taking the dogs for a walk. I noticed the flowers and came back outside with the camera. These are so pretty! Click on the image to enlarge.
There was a free preview to DirecTV’s “Extra Innings” MLB access channels which we have been taking advantage of over the last few nights. The preview is over now, but we got to see some pretty good games.
Last evening, Damsel and I watched the baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Oakland A’s. The broadcast originated in Oakland, but the sportscasters were with the Yankee organization, so the broadcast and the commercials shown were intended for New York’s fans.
We watched several games, but never saw this TV spot until last night. We’re sure glad that we live in a place where this sort of spot never has to be televised.
It was thin overcast most of the day today with some breaks in the clouds. I took this image about a quarter mile north from our house this afternoon while we were on our way home from shopping. The presence of clouds makes it a bit cooler although the humidity goes up a bit. Click on the image to enlarge.
This is one of my “gnarly” sepia photos. The subject is the fencepost on the corner of our neighbor’s property where our little “river” originated the other day after a heavy monsoon shower. You can see the eroded area to the left of the boulder below the fence in the picture. The flow of the runoff carved little riverbanks all along our road down to the paved road where the flow joined the main Casandro wash. Click on the image to enlarge.
We brought one of our stapelia gigantea plants from California to the Arizona High Desert. I didn’t know if this south African succulent would like the climate here, but apparently it is OK. Damsel discovered the open flower this morning.
Last week we found that the stapelia had two flower pods. One pod fizzled but the other flower pod is now open.
From Dave’s Garden:
Stapelia gigantea — Interesting succulent, olive green and erect. Lots of branches. 4-sided spineless stems average up to 9 inches and about 1 inch thick. Cactus-like appearance.
Grown mostly for the starfish-shaped flower. Flowers are pale yellow with reddish stripes, covered with white hairs. Flower can average 8 to 12 inches across. It is said to look flesh-like, also reported to have a rotting meat odor, which attracts its main visitor, the fly, for pollinating
This plant which is usually grown in pots is known by several common names which include the following: starfish flower, Zulu-giant, carrion flower and giant toad. It is native to southern Africa and Mozambique.
By the way, Dave’s Garden is one valuable resource when trying to learn about plants and flowers.
