Palo Verde Trees on Earth Day!

At the Desert Botanical Garden

The palo verde tree is native to the southwest and just happens to be the Arizona state tree.  There are probably just as many (if not more) palo verde trees as there are palm trees about the valley.  April is the time they bloom with pretty little yellow flowers.

People who have them in their yards and gardens probably get a bit annoyed at having to clean up those little yellow petals this time of year.  As you can see from these photos, there is a circle of yellow petals on the ground around them.

Along Camelback Avenue

At an office building

At a Medical Building

From the steps of the Phoenix Art Museum

These trees are everywhere in the city and they just seem to scream "spring is here" wherever I go.  I love seeing them as you can probably tell from the number of photos I've taken.   Happy Earth Day!

The Easter Jackrabbit

I hope everyone is having (or has had) a wonderful Easter.

When I visited Berridge Nurseries last weekend, I found a wonderful Easter display.  I even ran into Mr. Jackrabbit. This fellow has certainly outgrown the "bunny" status.

Mrs. Jackrabbit was also there.

This pair didn't want all those fuzzy, little floppy-eared critters to have all the holiday fun!

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  When it comes to beautiful landscapes, Tuscany can't be beat.

The Birds and the Bees

When I was at the Desert Botanical Garden last Sunday, I spotted a lesser goldfinch munching on the blooms on a tree.  I don't see that many of these so I was happy that I spotted this one.

These two doves were basking in the early morning sunshine.

And the bees were all gathered around to enjoy the blooms on the very tall Cardon cactus.

Nature's creatures rise early to enjoy the fruits of the garden.

Bottle Brush Tree

On this exact day one year ago, I posted some photos of the blooms on a bottle brush tree that I found by accident.  Many of you wanted to see the whole tree but, when I went back to photograph it, the blooms were all gone.  So, I waited until this spring and made several trips past waiting for it come into full bloom.

Here you are, the whole tree full of those wonderful, red, brush-like blooms.

I see these as small bushes quite often but last year was the first time I'd seen one in full tree size.

It really makes for a dramatic sight!

Giant Blooms

Last Sunday morning I got up early and headed to the Desert Botanical Garden for the 7:00 AM members only hour.  The woman who checked me in said be sure to go to the Argentinian Giant cactus patch first thing because they bloomed the night before.

As I rounded the corner in that direction, I could see a gaggle (is that the right word?) of photographers gathered around.  Luckily there was plenty of room to join the group and start snapping photos.  There were around 10 blooms in all and about twice that in buds to bloom the next night.

These huge blooms are certainly the stars of the cactus flower world!

Scenes Around the Nursery

The Design crew at Berridge Nursery do a fantastic job of displaying the merchandise for sale in their decorator shops.  I thought the black, white and red display above was especially eye catching.

And, this little corner with the white rabbit on the table was also interesting.  It looks like someones private back garden.

The father and son howling coyotes were cute additions among the potted plants.

Many of the cactus for sale had buds and blooms on them.

And, I couldn't leave without snapping a photo of this jumbo sized hibiscus bloom.  I love the color.

Art Among the Plants

Last Saturday, Berridge Nurseries had an art show event at their nursery.  I love going there just to take photos of all the pretty flowers so when I heard about the art show, I thought it was a perfect opportunity.  The art show wasn't very large but there were some interesting things to see.

T P McKee creates these 3D kind of art pieces.  They are very unique and both interesting and clever.  His card describes them as creative originals.  This floral piece to the left seemed perfect for an art show in a garden.

Leigh Hill paints gourds and she does a fabulous job of it.  They were all beautifully done.

But, this one was my favorite.  The detail is amazing.

Bomb Taco

Here is another mural by Lalo Cota who has quite a few murals in the Phoenix area.  This one is located in the alley behind Barrio Cafe, a very popular Mexican restaurant located in a part of Phoenix known as "the Barrio".   In case you can't read it, the license plate reads "Bomb Taco" and indeed, the vehicle is half car, half taco.

Here is a closer look at the area in the corner.  

You can find more murals from around the world on Colorful World.

The Return of Silly Goose

During the month of May last year, I posted about this goose that started hanging out in the parking lot of where I live.  As the weather got warmer, he finally left for the summer and now he's back.  At exactly the same time of year he was here before.

He just hangs out in the parking lot.  Most of the time he's all curled up in one of the parking spots.  Every now and then I hear him squawking rather loudly.  When I snapped these photos, he seemed to be admiring his reflection in that car's bumper.

One morning I saw him prancing across the top of the parking covers.  I asked our maintenance man if there was a nest somewhere near by and he said no, they've looked for one and can't find any.  No one really knows why he hangs out here.  As I said last year, less than one block away is a nice green golf course and a little lake where his friends hang out.  It's a mystery why he seems drawn to this place.

I have a new post today on Sharon's Sojourns.  I took a short drive to a ghost town.

Purple Flowers Under a Stormy Sky

I took these photos back in March when these pretty little blooms were spilling out of a tall planter at the Desert Botanical Garden.  The flowers are called Purple Coral Pea Vine.  That's quite a name for such tiny little flowers.

Those vines hang from this planter all year long but the blooms only appear in early spring and they last just two or three weeks.

Reimagining Objects

There is a very interesting art exhibit in the small gallery at the Desert Botanical Garden right now and it's called Reimagining Objects by artist Michelle Stizlein.

The description talks about how today garbage has formed patches the size of islands in our oceans.  The Great Garbage Patch, also known as the Trash Vortex spans the waters from the west coast of North America to Japan.  These art works made from discarded plastics and other objects draws attention to that issue.

Here is a closer view of the one above.

These pieces are meant to demonstrate the issue of the volumes of garbage we have set loose on the environment.  The artist considers these to be "new blooms" made from discarded materials.  

This photo might give you a perspective of the size of the pieces.

A closer look shows prescription bottles, vehicle reflectors along with buttons, bottle caps and plastic shards.  They were all molded together to form this bloom that the artist calls Petalled Lacanora.  

Those long white things around the edge are piano and organ keys.  

They really are quite beautiful when you look at them as a whole.

An Art Festival & Student Art

The Shemer Art Center had a one day art festival and sale on the lawn of the museum last Saturday.  I stopped by (before I went to brunch) to have a look.  There were a lot of pretty things to see and many of the artists also teach classes at the The Shemer from time to time.

There is a student art show on at the museum too.  It is a juried show with works from the Arizona Artists Guild scholarship recipients.  

The works were all very good but, I'll show you these two artists whose work stood out to me.  

First is this statue by  Min Kyu Kim who is a student at ASU.

It's called "Persona" and it's made of cast iron.  

This last one is by Lee Davenport who is also a student at ASU.  This one is called "Tranquility".  It does have a tranquil look to it, doesn't it?

There are some very talented new artists featured in this show.

The Wine Cellar Dining Room

I mentioned yesterday that we returned to the Hermosa Inn for Saturday brunch.  After we ate, Dave wanted to show us a room he had dined in a few years ago called the wine cellar room.  It really is in the cellar too.  We climbed down a narrow set of stone steps to get there.  It's a great room for a special event with 12 people.

Another feature I love at the Hermosa Inn is the old watering trough that is mounted in the garden area as a fountain.

I couldn't resist one more shot of those colorful flowers.

Back Again

Last Saturday I posted about my lunch at the Hermosa Inn the weekend before.  We enjoyed that lunch so much that we went back and this time with Julie and Dave with us for brunch on Saturday.

I didn't bring my camera this time but I still couldn't resist snapping a few iPhone photos.  They turned out just as good as the camera did.  But, how can you go wrong with all the glorious floral color?