Blooming Saguaros

As my trip winds down, I've stalled in the Arizona desert.  It's pretty this time of year, with fine weather and blooming cactus.  The Lizards got a treat when we visited my friend Kate in Tucson...they got to meet one of their heroes!

A real lizard, catching some rays.

Saguaros are at their blooming peak in May, after the wildflowers and many other cacti.  So they have the show mostly to themselves. 

But a few prickly pears are still producing fine flowers.

The mesquite bushes are blooming!

A dove hangin' out on top of a saguaro, while the insects work the flowers.

A clump of hedgehog cacti.  Their blooms are among the earliest cactus flowers, appearing mostly in March.  If you want to see a mixture of flowers, early to mid April is probably the best time to visit the Sonoran desert...in an average year.

A batch of teddy bear chollas.  At the lower right are a bunch of clumps that have fallen off the cacti.  These take root in the ground, resulting in new cactus plants.  As a result the teddy bears tend to grow in gardens, which can cover several acres.  And if you step on one of those clumps, it tends to, uh, stay with you.

Fishhook barrel blooms add to the natural symmetry of the plant.

A nice batch of saguaro blooms.  They are a bit hard to photograph since they grow mostly on the tips of upraised arms.  You need a good zoom lens or, you have to find an arm pointed downward close to the ground.