Desert Snow and Prickly Pears

 

I spent most of my day yesterday doing a major clear-out.  My clear-out started as a minor search for something but it rapidly grew into a much bigger project.  Consequently, I didn't have anything new to post so I looked back at the photos I took when I visited the Desert Botanical Garden back in July.  Above is a plant called a Desert Snow bush. It does look like a patch of snow in amongst the greenery.

I also took this photo of a prickly pear cactus with lots of colorful fruit on it.  I framed it so that memorial wall was in the background.  I wrote about that wall back in 2019 and included both day and night photos of it.

Toothpick Cactus

 

There are several very large toothpick cacti growing at the Desert Botanical Garden.  They bloom all year longs so I can almost always find a bloom on one of them when I visit.  This one is right next to one of the trails and it has grown so much that at times it has arms reaching over the trail.

It has been trimmed several times to tame those overhanging branches.

Just like a tree, those cuts leave some scars on the cactus.

A Most Unusual Cactus

 

I took this photo when I visited the garden on the unusually pleasant day last month.  I've seen cacti that look like this one many times and I've never been able to identify them.  This time there was a sign.

I cropped the photo to get a better look at this very unusual looking cactus.  The sign says it's a crested whortleberry cactus.  The word "crested" indicates a cactus that grows with fan-like shape.  It is said to be caused by a rare growth mutation.  

I love it's rumply-bumply look.

The Skies Opened Up

 

We got our summer rain on Thursday night and when I woke up on Friday morning, it was only 76 degrees (24c) outside.  I drove to the Desert Botanical Garden and got in a two hour walk.  

I arrived around 6:45 AM and found the garden almost empty.  It was so refreshing to have the place almost to myself.  

There were lots of desert rose blooms to enjoy and I couldn't resist photographing many of them.  Here are three plants but only the center one has blooms on it.

I'll have some more photos to share next week.  I didn't see a lot of animals out but I did see lots of birds and bees and butterflies.  It was great to be enjoying the desert.

Garden Walks in July, Part 3

 

July of 2020 gave me another after-the-storm opportunity for a walk.  You can see the rain droplets on this desert rose bloom.

This barrel cactus was also soaking up the water.  It was also crowned with a circle of pretty blooms. 

In 2025, I also got a July walk at the garden.  That gives me a bit of hope that I might get one this year.  I photographed this agave plant with another plant growing up through its branches.

I also found some pretty blooms on the guayacan plant which surprised me.  I didn't expect to see these blooms in the July heat.

That's my round-up of Desert Botanical Garden July visits.  Hopefully all this effort to find photos from July will pay off with a nice, cooling monsoon storm in the next few weeks.

More Garden Lights

 

Here are a few more lights from the Desert Botancial Garden's light show.  To the left is a couple of yucca plants with a sort of pinkish glow from a light across the trail.

Some colorful lights shining on those very tall cardon cacti. 

This tangle of lights hangs just under the cover over the entrance to the garden.  

You can see a bit of that tangle of lights in the background of this photo of the Chihuly sculptures that are permanently on display at the entrance to the garden.

Positioning the Subject

 

I have two more photos from the "Favorites" file today.  This one was taken in May of 2014 when I spotted this cactus with an agave plant situated a few feet away.  I like the way they complimented each other.

Almost exactly a year later in May of 2015, I photographed the same cactus and this time it appeared centered with the agave plant.  The same two plants, just two different perspectives.  Which do you think works best?

Regal Cactus

 

I loved the look of all of these organ-pipe cactus plants lined up so evenly along this wall.

Then after snapping the above photo, I rounded a corner and caught sight of this rather regal looking saguaro cactus.

These might be rather prickly plants but, they do have a certain beauty about them.

When Did All This Screaming Start?

 

On Thursday evening, I joined friends to attend a performance by Jeremy Jordan at the Scottsdale Center For the Performing Arts.  Jordan is a Tony-nominated Broadway star with an incredible voice and excellent stage presence.  The show was excellent and beautifully staged.

The behavior of the audience is what troubled me.  The constant screaming caused me to cover my ears multiple times.  It seemed like every song he sang spurred many audience members to scream as though an alien creature had just grabbed them.

I'm used to enthusiastic applause and loud, exuberant  cheering but screaming at the top of your lungs seems a little much.

I've noticed this phenomenon probably over the past 4 years.  In fact, it's one of the reasons that I gave  up my season tickets to the Valley Broadway series.  I've had those 5th row/center tickets for over 20 years but lately I've been finding it hard to enjoy the performances when the audience pierces my ears with their constant screams.   

The photos of the plants above were taken near the Scottsdale Civic Center.

Busy Bees

 

When I was at the garden last Sunday, I was headed toward the hilltop viewing spot when I passed this huge toothpick cactus and noticed it had several blooms on it.  I decided to take a few photos of the blooms.

This was right before sunrise so the colors in these photos are quite muted.

When I zoomed in on the blooms I noticed that each one of them had lots of bees buzzing around.  Not just lots but literally hundreds of bees enjoying the flowers.

Obviously there is some very tasty pollen produced by these pretty blooms.  

Sunrise at the Garden

 

On Sunday I took another early morning walk at the Desert Botanical Garden.  I arrived before the sun was up and made my way up to the high point to watch it appear over the mountains to the east of Phoenix.  

I love how that early morning light makes the buttes around the garden glow a deep shade of red.

I also like how the sun was peeking through the arms of an organ-pipe cactus.   

It was a perfect morning for a long walk.  The temperature was around 74 and it felt good to be out doors.  

"Fruity"

 

The prickly pear cacti are simply overflowing with fruit right now.  Just look at all that ruby-red fruit on this plant.

Each of the nopals (pads) have about a dozen tunas (fruit bulbs) on them.  It looks like all that fruit might weigh those nopals down but it doesn't .

This type of prickly pear with its short, brown thorns is sometimes called a cowboy whiskers prickly pear.  

The fruit are used to make jams and syrups.  I've had both and they taste fruity and sweet.  Every gift shop in the desert southwest will have jars of prickly pear jelly for sale.  

A Few More Desert Blooms

 

These late spring days have cactus blooming all over town.  These saguaro on the hillside at the Desert Botanical Garden all have blooms on the tops of their many arms.

The Organ Pipe cactus above had some pretty blooms popping out on its "pipes".

To the right, this cactus also was sprouting some large blooms.

And, this is the yucca yesterday's hummingbird was heading toward. The yucca plants all over the city are crowned with these huge white clouds of blooms. 

More From the Garden

 

I love how at this time of year, the large agave plants capture the falling blooms from the palo verde trees.  Their big 'leaves' are perfect for capturing all kinds of things but I think those yellow petals are the prettiest.  

The yellow bells are blooming like crazy right now.  Those big clusters of blooms are hard for a photographer to resist.  

I also love finding a bloom on one of the many toothpick cacti around the garden.  That cactus blooms all year long so their pretty blooms can be enjoyed all year long.

The desert rose plants have once again been placed around the garden.  They are stored in a greenhouse over the winter months because they do not tolerate cold at all.  It's great to see their pretty blooms once again.

Theme Day: Very Small

 

The City Daily Photo bloggers theme for May 1st is "very small" and this photo came to mind when I started to think about what to post.  The photograph dates back to November of 2012 when I saw this "very small" butterfly perched on the top of one of the nopales of a prickly pear cactus.  I had never seen such a tiny little butterfly and I've never seen one since.  Its name is Hemiargus Ceraunus or a Ceraunus Blue.  The species does live in desert areas but it appears from what I've read that they are more prominent from Texas to Florida. It's such a pretty little thing.  I'd love to find another like it.

To see other "Very Small" themed posts, click here.

More Garden Observations

 

The desert spiny lizard in the top photo was a paparazzi favorite at the garden last Wednesday.  There was a crowd of 7 or 8 photographers pointing a variety of fancy lenses his way.  This fellow was loving the attention.  He was still posing there when I finally walked away.

At another location, these brilliant pomegranate blooms were looking especially attractive in full sun.  

 This prickly pear cactus was sporting an abundance of fruit. I snapped this photo using the telephoto on my camera.

Then I thought I'd try using that "portrait" mode on my iPhone that I learned about in the class I took a few weeks ago.  They give two different perspectives but I like them both.  

Silhouette

 

I took this photo when I was at the Desert Botanical Garden in the evening a couple of weeks ago.  I liked the look of those saguaros in silhouette against the evening sky.  The more I looked at this photo, the more I noticed.  Do you see that teeny-tiny white dot in the middle of the mountain?  That is actually a hole in the mountain.  It's a popular place for people to climb when visiting Papago Park which is just on the other side.  Looking up, I see bird perched on the top of one of the saguaro's arms.  And, all the way to the left and just above the horizon, I see an airplane on landing approach going into Sky Harbor International Airport.  There are lots of things to see in this simple photo.