Desert In Bloom

[azskyman]

Most of you gardeners think of springtime as the time when crocus and daffodils pop up...and planting of garden flowers gets serious right about now.

Here in the desert, we share the desert floor with cacti of all kinds, and this year seems to be a good one for them to show their excitement about the upcoming triple-digit heat!

Here's a young cactus just planted in my back yard a few weeks ago. It seems to be saying "Nice to be here! Look but don't touch!"

Since moving from Illinois, I have come to appreciate the wonderful differences between the regions.

This is one of them.

[azsnowman]

I LOVE spring in the desert but come THIS week, you WILL NOT see this OL' SNOWMAN down there, temps forecast to hit 100°+ this week.......NO THANKS!

Dennis

[O Town]

Beautiful bloom there. I have a few catus in my yard too, they all bloom a little different, I have one that looks like yours but its white. It must look wonderful to see a whole bunch blooming at the same time.

[Pburgh]

How beautiful!!! How tall is it??

[azskyman]

Karan...this particular young cactus is only about 16", but the blooms are about 6-8" around!

[Aslkahuna]

The Ocotillo is blooming as well. There are two flowers here that are difficult to see and one is when the Saguaro bloom in June just before the rains start and the other is the night blooming Cereus which blooms on one night out of the year (around June 6-8). Tha Saguaro are hard to see because they bloom when the heat in the Desert is most unfriendly (the Native Americans pick the fruit of the Saguaro and make preserves out them much like they do with Prickly Pears.

Steve

[breeze]

All flowers in nature are beautiful! Thanks for sharing that info, you AZ folks!
Poppysky, we've got a neighbor who has a very tall cactus in the front lawn,
here - I don't know what kind it is, but, I'm amazed that it has lived in TN - AND
flourishing! I've yet to see it bloom, though - I'm keeping an eye on that.

~Annette~