Because I haven’t been around the lower elevations in central Arizona near the Sonoran Desert beyond the end of April I’m seeing a lot of blooming desert for the first time. Flowers in the yard, natures’ wildflowers, and best of all the saguaro cactus. They seem prolific to me yet I have no other years to compare to.
I began seeing the buds and blooms in photos from folks around Tucson several weeks ago. Summer temperatures work their way northward and soon those around Phoenix were showing off.
No saguaros grow where I am at almost 5,000 feet so I drove to Wickenburg about 30 miles south of Yarnell and 2000 feet lower where I found lots of buds and some flowers along Vulture Mine Road.
These tall sentinels seem to march up the hillside. Buds and blooms show up at the ends of the arms mostly. And with these beautiful saguaros being at least 30 feet tall I’d need a ladder or to hover like a bee to clearly see or photograph close up to the flowers.
Opuntia cactus were also flowering and much easier to see and look down on.
Yarnell’s high chaparral ecosystem lies in transition between lower Sonoran Desert and Juniper/Pinyon. The vegetation is rather a mix of lower and higher elevation species but mostly Arizona Oak, cypress, and cottonwood plus of course people have landscaped with non-native species. Berta has a green thumb so plants some lovely green and flowering plants around the yard that I’m trying to keep watered. Most are located in clusters for easier watering and often ringed with red bark chips separated by rather dull desert-beige crumbled rock and interspersed with interesting yard art.
The Desert Willow was planted after so many trees were lost to the Yarnell fire and I was shocked to see how heavily laden it became with deep-red long-tubed flowers suitable for bugs, bees, and hummingbirds. Although not blooming flowers, the Dusty Miller has taken over except for the also deep-red Idon’tknowwhatthey’recalled flowers.
After seeing more photos by friends taken along the road to Bagdad I took a 45-minuet drive looking for saguaro blooming. Unfortunately I didn’t start early and was there mid-day under intense Arizona blue sky and temperatures pushing past 85°F.
As I surveyed the landscape I spotted two nearby saguaros that seemed to call my name.
I carefully wound my way around the low brush and potentially snaggy vegetation keeping a vigilant eye out for snakes.
The perfect Sonoran Desert bridal bouquet and matching boutonniere
Getting up close to saguaro flowers is a difficult and dangerous activity. But I did manage to find some adjacent boulders to carefully climb and actually got almost face to face with the blooms, and the bees.
As summer progresses the blooms die and the delicious sweet fruit eventually ripens. Maybe I’ll get a chance to harvest some of that, carefully.
