Arizona

We were in the Northwest Phoenix Metro Valley yesterday. A lot of the Red Bird of Paradise shrubs were in bloom. We stopped at a little landscape plot where there were several of these growing, so I took this photo o my favorite desert shrub flower. Click on the image to enlarge.

The valley gets their flowers about a month before we do in Wickenburg due to the elevation and temperature difference, I guess. My three shrubs in the courtyard have already started their spring comeback with sprouts from six inches to a foot. They grow really fast, so it won’t be long before we have a lot of these beautiful flowers in our courtyard.

For the third or fourth time since early spring, my Bishop’s Cap cactus in the courtyard is blooming again. I just love springtime in the desert! Click on the image to enlarge.

The first of many yellow flowers is now open on the native compass cactus up on the hill in our back yard. I will post close-ups as the crown of flowers opens up. Click on the image to enlarge.

I found these two flowers growing side by side on a prickly pear cactus down at the end of the road. They appear to be growing on the same paddle which makes me believe that the cactus makes two different colored flowers. Maybe I’ll get a paddle and transplant it to our garden after spring is over. Click on the image to enlarge.

Verna has been taking photos of cactus flowers around and near our home. I put together a slideshow featuring her photos of orange and yellow prickly pear flowers, a pink cholla flower and an Argentine giant.

I have been growing some onions in the courtyard this spring. This is one of the flower pods now sprouting from the 30 inch stalks. Click on the image to enlarge.