Our local hospital has an enclosed garden and visiting area for patients, staff and visitors to enjoy. One of the features is a Koi pond in which there are water lilies. That’s not something you see everyday in Arizona.
I was at the Wickenburg Hospital today collecting a report from a recent test I had and took the walk out into the courtyard to take some photos of their Koi pond. Click on the image to enlarge.
Many of the cholla cacti around the area are in bloom for the second time this season. Some of them did this last year and many of them are at it again.
This cactus flower (click on the image to enlarge) is one of several that opened today on the cholla immediately outside of our courtyard. This is the same cactus where the Curve Billed Thrasher chicks were recently fledged from their nest here.
This is the Devil’s Tongue Barrel Cactus that we bought in California a long time ago. We had it in a pot out there and transplanted it into the rock and cactus garden shortly after bringing it to Arizona.
It had two flowers open today, which is nice, since the local desert critters think the flower buds are tasty and tend to eat them (see the bud between the two flowers) before they can open. The cactus has natural defenses with all the sharp spikes and rigid “tongues” that abound, but the critters get to the buds, somehow.
I have the same problem with the golden barrel that is planted nearby. We recently took the chicken wire fences away, since the cacti were getting pretty big. We will just have to deal with not having as many flowers, but, as you can see, some of them make it and are pollinated anyway.
Even though the lemon tree in our “orchard” has dozens of lemons on it already this season, there is a whole second wave of lemon blossoms opening in the late spring months. Last fall, we had way too many lemons and I guess that this fall we will again have a bumper crop.
I was out by the RV drive next to the lemon tree and got this photo of a honey bee collecting nectar from the blossoms on the tree. Click on the image to enlarge.
This year, rather than destroying the lemons we are going to use for Limoncello, we will squeeze the lemons and save the juice in ice trays in the freezer to be used later in recipes and for lemonade. We also will donate lots of lemons to the local senior center for lemon pies and lemonade.
The first raceme (see below) on one of our red bird of paradise is rapidly having flowers open. This is the first several flowers opening in the courtyard this season. We will have more, of course, as summer progresses and the shrubs open up to their full potential.
More information on these beautiful flowers from Wikipedia:
Caesalpinia pulcherrima is a species of flowering plant in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to the tropics and subtropics of the Americas. It could be native to the West Indies, but its exact origin is unknown due to widespread cultivation. Common names for this species include Poinciana, Peacock Flower, Red Bird of Paradise, Mexican Bird of Paradise, Dwarf Poinciana, Pride of Barbados, and flamboyant-de-jardin.
It is a shrub growing to 3 m tall. The leaves are bipinnate, 20–40 cm long,bearing 3-10 pairs of pinnae, each with 6-10 pairs of leaflets 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm broad. The flowers are borne in racemes up to 20 cm long, each flower with five yellow, orange or red petals. The fruit is a pod 6–12 cm long.
Many of the saguaros in the area are flowering. This one, a couple hundred yards up the road, had its crown low enough that I could get my camera up close and get a couple of shots of the flowers.
Camera information: Canon EOS REBEL T3, 1/800 sec, F6.3, ISO 100, Focal length 55mm. Click on the image to enlarge.
