When I bought this Golden Ball Cactus at the garden shop today, the flower buds were all closed. Just a little while after I got it home and on the patio, the flowers opened. Click on the image to enlarge.
Home & Garden
Bishops Cap Flowers – A New Record
We bought this Bishops cap barrel cactus over ten years ago in the Phoenix area. It lived with us at the California house for most of that time and had flowers most every summer. Since living here in Arizona, it has had many flowers – more and more often – than in the California patio. Today, eight flowers were open simultaneously – a record for this cactus. Click on the image to enlarge.
Duett Roses
Today was our grocery shopping day. I usually pick out some flowers to take home and today I picked a dozen of these pretty “Duett” roses. They are very showy with their pinkish orange color. The color is similar to that of salmon steaks or flamingo feathers. Click on the image to enlarge.
The First Red Bird Flower Opened Today
One of the three red bird of paradise shrubs in the courtyard has a flower stalk with several pods. This morning, I saw the first pod had opened and I snapped this image of the very colorful red bird flower. This shrub is also known as the “Pride of Barbados” but I think it’s the pride of Verna. Click on the image to enlarge.
My First Gazania This Year
Dormant for almost a year now, the first couple of gazania flowers are in bloom. I expect to have lots more as summer approaches. This gazania plant is behind the house where it doesn’t get the punishing high-noon Arizona sun. Perfect for producing lots of these pretty flowers. Click on the image to enlarge.
A Yellow Cholla Flower
Two years ago, when Bob and I were just buying the lot to build our retirement dream home, the wild cacti on the hill and in the wash behind the graded part of the lot were teeming with cacti flowers. That’s still true today. I walked up the hill a bit to get this image of a beautiful cholla flower. If I recall correctly, a reader and commenter on our other website says this is a buckhorn cholla, a.k.a jumping cholla or a dozen other names. Whatever it’s called, the flowers are gorgeous. Click on the image to enlarge.
