These flowers came as a surprise to us when we went outside the courtyard yesterday. Today, the one-day wonders are gone. Click on the image to enlarge.
Flowers
A Cactus Fruit Wreath
Today, we went to recycle our glass and plastic. On the way back, we stopped to check the PO box. While I waited in the truck, I noticed a barrel cactus with a complete circle of ripening fruit that forms a wreath around the top of the cactus. A few weeks ago there was a circle of bright red flowers. Click on the image to enlarge.
Mature Red Birds
We took Cabela to the vet today to have her immunizations updated. She got the trifecta – Parvo, Kennel Cough and Rabies. Poor thing.
Anyhow, just outside of the vet’s office, there are several mature Red Bird of Paradise shrubs. I am hoping that next summer my courtyard will have as prolific an array of the colorful flowers.
Easter in July
Another Easter Lily cactus flower opened up overnight. I took this photo this morning before the one-day bloom wilted. Click on the image to enlarge.
Pride of the Courtyard
This brightly colored flower grows on three shrubs in our courtyard. The shrub, red bird of paradise, a.k.a. pride of Barbados, will produce these pretty flowers all summer long. Come November, we will prune these back to just a foot or so while they go dormant until next spring when they will bounce back with twice as many flowers.
Anyone who has read our blog for a while will know that these flowers are my favorites. Click on the image to enlarge.
Happy Fishhook Cactus
A single flower opened on this little cactus last week. Today, it has five beautiful pink flowers. Click on the image to enlarge.
I found this reference to the little cacti that dot the hill behind our house at BirdandHike.com:
Common Fishhook Cactus (Mammillaria tetrancistra) is a small, mound-shaped cactus with short, thin white spines that nearly cover the plant plus longer, darker, fish-hook shaped spines that stand out from the body of the plant. In early summer, red to lavender flowers emerge from the side of the stem that are nearly as large as the entire plant.
