The word “desert” tends to conjure different images for desert dwellers than it does for our friends from moister climes (points for me for using “moister climes” in a sentence!). You moisture lovers often think of the desert as nothing but sand, and refuse to believe there’s anything redeeming about Tucson’s nature. Though some deserts are admittedly nothing but sand, the vast majority aren’t.
Tucson is actually pretty green most of the year, including winter. It gets even greener in the spring and during monsoon season (my second-favorite time of year here). On top of the green, we get all sorts of vibrant colors in April and May, when most of our desert plants bloom in quick succession.
It’s true that most of our blooms don’t last long – the cacti in my neighborhood bloom for several days at most. But the blooms add a stunning array of color, and on some plants, like the agave, a definite pizazz (more points for me for using “pizazz”). In this post, I’ll share photos of some of my favorite desert flowers. I took most of these photos while jogging around my neighborhood in the Catalina Foothills. Some were also taken at Saguaro National Park (West), the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and my friends’ neighborhoods in Tucson.
Saguaro cactus
The iconic cactus of the American Southwest, the saguaro actually only grows in one desert: the Saguaro desert. This encompases parts of southern Arizona and northern Mexico.
Blooms starting to show at the top of the saguaro and each of its arms.
A closer look at some saguaro flowers.
Even baby arms bloom!
A saguaro cactus flower.
Prickly pear cactus
After the Saguaro, prickly pears are probably the cactus people think of most when they imagine a cactus (what – you don’t spend your time imagining cacti?). There are many types of prickly pear and hence, many different blooms.
Prickly pears in bloom outside my bedroom window.
A closer look at the flowers outside my window.
A prickly pear blooming in midtown Tucson.
Another prickly pear in my neighborhood.
More prickly pear flower colors.
Even more prickly pear colors.
This one was at Saguaro National Park.
Endless blooming prickly pears.
Cholla cactus
Those of you who aren’t from the desert might not be familiar with chollas. But those of us who live here know these cacti well because when you walk/run/bike/fall into a cactus and end up with spines all over you, it’s nearly always a cholla. They’re out to get us! But my goodness their blooms are stunning.
A cholla cactus covered in magnificent flowers.
I love the colors on this cholla’s flowers
Pink cholla flowers.
This color is always fun to find.
Bee!
Some less showy flowers.
A flower and fruit (the red things).
Hedgehog cactus
These little cacti are often overlooked. Low to the ground and on the small side, they’re definitely not ostentatious. Most of the year at least. Their blooms are sometimes bigger than the cactus!
Ostentatious hedgehog cactus flowers.
A more reasonably-sized hedgehog flower.
More hedgehogs. The shriveled flowers bloomed a couple days earlier.
Maude the cat makes an appearance! Photo taken while walking the cat 🙂
This type of hedgehog has tiny flowers.
Barrel cactus
I don’t want to overlook barrel cacti but unfortunately most bloom a bit earlier than other cacti, and I didn’t get many pictures. Here’s one blooming in my yard this week though 🙂
The only barrel cactus currently blooming in my yard.
Ocotillo
Don’t let the spines fool you – this is NOT a cactus! It is, however, my absolute favorite plant in the world. Fun fact: back in the day, ocotillos used to be used as living fences. It’s hard to see in these photos cause of the leaves, but these plants are actually covered in really sharp spines about a half inch long.
My favorite plant! The majestic ocotillo.
Look at all those flowers!
A close-up of the ocotillo flowers.
Agave and yucca
Agaves look very similar to their close relatives, yucca. One of the biggest differences is that yucca bloom every year, but agaves only bloom once. For years, they don’t bloom. Then, they use all their energy to shoot up a giant stalk of flowers. Then, they die. What a life. There are a bunch of different types of yucca and agave, but here are a few in bloom.
A floofy yucca bloom.
A really, really tall agave bloom.
Other plants – palo verdes and globemallows
Spring in Tucson means allergies, and the palo verde blooms usually take the blame. This is probably warranted, given the copious blooms on these trees. Just look at how yellow the row of trees lining this wash is! All of that yellow is flowers.
Palo verdes lining a wash. All of the yellow is flowers!
Close-up of palo verde flowers.
There are a lot of other desert plants with pretty blooms, but the last I’ll share is the beautiful globemallow. I love the orange!
Globemallow flowers.
Which ones are your favorites?
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