Monday, March 26, 2018

Critters, Cacti & Color at the Desert Botanical Garden



Next week here on the blog is shaping up to be a review extravaganza because I wasn't careful in my choice of advance reading copies. SIX are due starting a week from today. That'll teach me to be more careful-- yikes! I've been trying to put my eyeballs on high speed with mixed results. We shall see what happens. In the meantime, I thought I'd share some photos from our latest visit to the Desert Botanical Garden, one of my favorite places here in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

If you'd like to see any of the following photos in their original size, just left click on one of them, and a new window will automatically open in order for you to do so. It was another gorgeous day at the Garden, so let's take a look!


These claret cup hedgehog cactus blossoms greeted us at the entrance.

The Texas Mountain Laurel is in bloom.

The prickly pear are LOADED with buds. Can't wait for those to bloom!

You may see a tree, but I see two waving arms and a wild head of hair! A possible relative of the whomping willow?

There's something so cheerful about the color yellow!

And yellow and purple together? Bliss!

Pink is obviously this Painted Lady butterfly's favorite color.

Purple and white are nothing to sneeze at either!

The pattern of the spines on this cactus makes me think of fancy embroidery stitches.

Mr. DeMille? I think this Desert Spiny Lizard is ready for his closeup.

Cactus Wren: "You're at the Patio Cafe. Where's your food?"

Gambel's Quail: "You're at the Patio Cafe. Where's your food?"

Ground Squirrel: "Patience is a virtue, hee hee hee!"

An agave bloom stalk starting to blossom. They're pretty impressive.

I'd never seen this variety of Desert Rose before. All the others have solid red blooms.

The crown on a Bishop's Cap cactus.

Strawberry hedgehog cactus blooms.

Little flowers that look as though they're sitting in beds of cotton.

More claret cups. They're hard to beat!

Between us, Denis and I took almost four hundred photos so keeping my selection here to under twenty was quite the undertaking. I hope you enjoyed this trip to the Garden. I know I always do!


 

7 comments:

  1. I like that eyeballs on high speed theory!!!!
    Love the images. I never thought cacti flowers could be looking so good.

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    1. Cactus flowers are gorgeous, Mystica. They more than make up for those nasty spines. I hope I can get back in time to photograph them when everything is in bloom.

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  2. Oh, those flowers are so beautiful, Cathy! Cactus flowers are just amazing, aren't they? You've done a wonderful job of capturing them, too.

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  3. Wow. I think our visit was 1 month too early. Next time we will wait a few weeks before coming to AZ in the spring. Thanks for sharing it here on your blog.

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    1. Yes, when the "normal" flowers and the cacti all bloom at the same time, it's wonderful.

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  4. As usual, you do a wonderful job sharing this great spot with us. And we are having wildflowers everywhere. The bluebonnet has arrived - big time. Of course, the places I'm seeing it mostly are on the roadside and one can't just stop in the Interstate and start taking pictures. Though people do. Ha! Looking forward to all your reviews coming up. Read faster, faster, faster...LOL!!

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    1. Now I certainly wouldn't mind seeing the bluebonnets in bloom in Texas-- although I'd find a different spot to photograph them than the interstate! LOL

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