Tonight, we’re staying in the delightfully rustic and comfortable Sunnyvale Garden Suites near Joshua Tree National Park, in Twentynine Palms, in the Mojave Desert, California. We’re staying here for a couple of nights while we’re visiting the park.

The place is a collection of suites situated on a patch of property that is landscaped and decorated like one might find in a desert ghost town. There are many types of desert vegetation and cactus here. I took this 3D image while we were returning from an afternoon walkabout.

As usual, if you do not have your free pair of 3D glasses, you can see the 2D image here.

Today, we’re staying in a great little hotel in Twentynine Palms, CA. It’s called Sunnyvale Garden Suites and is located just to the north of the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. It’s great little hotel with lots of amenities. The rooms are all suites with condo-like living space including a living room, a separate bedroom, kitchen, bath and dining area. It’s very nice.

We drove through the park today on our way here and I took some photos of the trees and flowers. Below, you can see a Joshua tree, an ocotillo and a couple of the wildflowers currently in bloom. Click on the image to enlarge.

The Daddy hooman took me to get my summer trim today. I went this morning and came home this afternoon. I like when they do the trim, but the bath gets me wet and I don’t like getting wet.

I was getting pretty shaggy and the hoomins wanted me to be comfy when we go to hot places this summer. I like going in the SUV.

This is me before and after. Click it to make me big.

OK - I better take a nap now.

I took this snapshot of one of the epiphyllums growing in a back yard planter. The buds should mature in a couple of weeks and I will post photos of them on this site soon after they open.

I am not sure, but I think this one is “spring gold” which will produce yellow flowers. We are due to have white and red flowers later this spring.

According to a site originating in Connecticut:

Epiphyllums, sometimes called orchid cactus, are succulents with gorgeous flowers. The blossoms range in size from less than 3 inches to more than 9 inches. A common experience, once someone has seen an epiphyllum in bloom, is to want more. Although still hard to find in local nurseries, they do seem to be increasing in popularity, probably because of increased awareness as a result of an increasing number of web sites displaying these beautiful flowers. In addition to species epiphyllums, there are thousands of hybrids, available in every color except blue.

Go to the site above for many epiphyllum photos in dozens of colors. Click on the image above for full-size.

Devil’s Tongue (ferocactus latispinus) is fairly popular in cultivation because it blooms very early, many young plants will bloom when they reach 4 inches in diameter (10 cm). The Devil’s Tongue Barrel has pinkish purple or yellow flowers, 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter (2.5 to 3.5 cm). They come in late autumn to early winter, and need a fair amount of bright sunlight to form.

(Above information courtesy of Desert Tropicals.)

The spikes on this Devil’s Tongue barrel cactus certainly look formidable. I liked this close-up that Verna took of the one in our garden last week. Click on the image to enlarge.

Stay tuned to see some more desert flowers Verna is going to post next week.

I found a coral tree with low-hanging branches so I could get a close-up of one of the gorgeous fire-red flowers. The tree is in a cemetery in Westminster where we were visiting today. Click on the image to enlarge.

One of our charities is the USO. Today, their magazine On Patrol came in the mail. Inside, there was a nice article about how the Disney Studios created characters and films in support of the troops. The poster Mickey Salutes America was featured - I thought he was cute so I’m posting him here too.