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Rosemary Flowers with Dewdrops

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.

November 19, 2024 by Arizona Climate Flowers Home & Garden Photography 0

July Flowers

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.

July 3, 2024 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Another Cherry Red Flower Opened

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.

June 29, 2024 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Cholla Cactus Growth

A couple of years ago, a Cholla Cactus sprout appeared in the xeriscape on the west side of the house toward the front. At the time, we decided to let it grow where it sat. I took the first photo below about a year ago and posted a 3D picture of the little cactus then.

Cholla Cactus One Year Ago

Today, as I walked around the property, I took the next photo below of the growing cactus. It seems to be growing quite rapidly, and a closer inspection of the cactus shows more “branches” beginning to sprout.

The Cholla As It Looks Today

From the other blog:

Opuntia acanthocarpa – buckhorn cholla

The main trunk of this tree-like cactus is short and erect; branching open and low to ground. Branches are cylindrical; the joints light green.

Habit: native perennial shrub; succulent stems, in segments 4-20 in (10-50 cm) tall by 0.75-1.25 in (2-3 cm) diameter; new growth is gray-green to purple-green; old growth has rough, scaly, brownish black bark.

Flower: delicate, lemon yellow to copper to red to pink, 2-3 in (5-7.5 cm) wide.

May 15, 2024 by Arizona Home & Garden

Buckhorn Cholla Cactus Flower

Verna sent me up into the wash behind our house on the west side to fetch a plastic water bottle that had blown in or washed in from the construction up on the hill behind our house. I did as she said and retrieved the bottle but while I was up there, I saw this nice cactus flower. I used my Samsung Galaxy S23 phone camera to catch this photo of the flower.

The flower is blooming on a Buckhorn Cholla Cactus, which is growing in the wild in our back yard. There are a lot of these open today on the several Buckhorn Cacti, but this one seemed to be the prettiest.

Click on the image to enlarge in the image viewer.

May 4, 2024 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Avalon 1998

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