Three Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) flowers opened today on the little cactus by the mailbox. These have been reliably opening on various of the native cacti around the property ever since we arrived at our retirement paradise nearly fifteen years ago. Click on the image above to view enlarged.
It’s not a big deal in the Arizona Desert to see Saguaro Cacti with flower buds in the springtime, but this is a first for our transplanted Saguaro in the front yard; the local cactus farm planted this cactus in our yard thirteen years ago when the cactus was only about four feet tall. Now, it is thirteen feet tall and currently sporting, for the first time, numerous buds which will bring forth the gorgeous Saguaro blossoms in a few weeks.
We had one other cactus planted at the same time across the driveway to the west that has had a few buds over the last couple of years, but nowhere as numerous as this cactus, as can be seen in the image above. We will update the website with photos of the flowers when they become available. Click on the image to enlarge.
Here we are in the middle of November and the little Rosemary shrubs behind the RV drive (which goes around the house) are getting their little blue flowers. In this image (click to enlarge), the dew drops gather at the bottom of the petals to form little prisms/lenses.
The “dew drops” may actually be residual water droplets from the irrigation system that runs for ½ hour at 4AM to water the landscape flora.
We never have to shop for rosemary in the supermarket, since it is abundant and available year-round on our shrubs all around the rear of the house. Just look at the beautiful sprig in the photo. Image is from Bob’s Samsung S23 Phone Camera.
We’re still in “second spring” with day temperatures still in the high 70’s to low 80’s, but that will soon give way to our usual winter weather over the next few weeks.
July has always been a good month for desert cactus flowers opening. After only three days, this month gas been no disappointment. All the flowers shown below have opened on or since July first.
This first photo is of a peniocereusgreggii “Queen of the Night” flower, two of which opened up last night (July 2). They are short-lived like many cacti flowers and were mostly gone this morning. We were lucky to spot them last evening to get this photo.
These next beauties also opened overnight. They are “Cherry Red” (trichocereus) cactus flowers and look almost hot pink in the morning sun.
Our old reliable “Bishop’s Cap” cactus produces flowers many times during the year. We bought this cactus over 25 years ago in a three-inch plastic pot. These were open on the first of July.
The “Star Cactus” (Astrophytum) is also one of those that produce flowers several times a year. This flower also opened on July first.
Lastly, is our showy “Red Bird of Paradise” or “Pride of Barbados” shrub which will produce these brightly colored flowers from April through September. We have three shrubs in the courtyard.
That’s all for now. Click on any image above to view enlarged in a new window or tab.
These are so beautiful – Trichocereus Grandiflorus a.k.a. “Cherry Red” cactus opened up this morning in the courtyard. There are more buds on this and other cacti in the yard and we may be getting more of these striking blooms over the next few weeks. Click on the image to view larger.
Two Cherry Red (Trichocereus Grandiflorus) flowers opened up this morning. These are the first of this season and we are expecting more as spring goes on. Click on the image to enlarge.
