Phoenix Blooming

I did a hike in the northern part of the city of Phoenix earlier this week.  There is still a lot of open space up there, about 15 miles north of downtown, and the city has created a lot of fine parkland, with hiking and biking trails through the desert.  Phoenix had a very warm March, so most of the wildflowers are done, but the cactus are ahead of schedule and are blooming beautifully.  These flowers are from a buckhorn cholla.

Hedgehog cacti produce a showy magenta bloom.

Buckhorn blooming profusely.

Don't know what these yellow blooms are.

Ocotillo in full color.

Indigo plant

Burgeoning blooms on a patch of teddy bear cholla.  Use caution when photographing these!

There were still a few poppies in shady areas.

Desert landscape.  

I hiked through an area where the rocks were almost a dark magenta color.

Blow this pic up and you'll see a family of owls in the saguaro.  There was Mama Owl, with three owlets.

A vast, flashy buckhorn cholla.

Paloverde in full bloom against the desert sky.

I believe this is called a desert marigold.

Verde crawling in the cholla.

Lizard was a bit heavy for the cholla...maybe he's been stealing some of my kettle chips!  He hung out in a fishhook barrel instead.

This patch of pincushion cactus will produce pretty blooms, mainly white, in a couple weeks.