Friday flowers…white-bract blazing star

The white-bract blazing star hides behind several aliases: ku-u and sand blazing star. Although by any name they look as if they’d be more at home in rainier climates, they’re native to the Mojave and Sonoran deserts as well as other places in Nevada, Arizona, and Baja California. But they, along with all the other vegetation, looked quite happy about all the moisture they’d had in the weeks prior to my visit. In common with some people, they aren’t as flashy as those around them but up close have a delicate beauty, although all flowers here are anything but delicate.

“A flower blooming in the desert proves to the world that adversity, no matter how great, can be overcome.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

“Simplicity is the heart of everything. If you look at the desert, apparently the desert is very simple but it’s full of life, it’s full of hidden places and the beauty is that it looks simple but it’s complex in the way that it expresses the soul of the world or God.” – Paulo Coelho

Friday flowers…desert flowers

Life in Colour: orange

PastSquares: flowers

FOTD

That bloomin’ desert!

I promised you more of the Desert Botanical Gardens and I aim to keep that promise. If Jo’s walking today, this is my walk for her. Although the desert is mostly about cacti (the plural of cactus), and cacti have beautiful flowers, if there’s enough water and the temperature is right, you can get other flowers as well. Outback Steakhouse has their Bloomin’ Onion, but the bloomin’ desert is prettier and has way less calories!!

Although flowers can get up close and personal with cacti, I suggest you keep a respectful distance and always watch where you walk. Here you just have to stay on the path, but if you’re elsewhere, keep your eyes open. As it warms up, you always have to watch for rattlesnakes, not here probably but elsewhere. My husband’s seen several on the path along the canal where he rides his bike. I, fortunately, have yet to have that wonderful experience. I can wait.

We weren’t the only ones appreciating the flowers. The netting’s in place as protection from birds and critters of various kinds who might wish to express their appreciation for what they consider edible flowers and plants in a more destructive way.

It was wonderful to see all the color, but just all the green, whatever its source, was a joy as well. To have both was perfect.

Friday flowers…fairy duster

With a name like that, you’d expect something special…and you’d get it. I’m not sure if fairies use it for dusting or if you dust fairies with it, but either way I’d love to have a supply of them in my cleaning closet or in my garden.

Friday flowers…pretty in pink

Although quite poisonous, oleanders of various colors decorate the Arizona landscape everywhere. Presenting as bushes or trees, depending upon how you prune or don’t prune, they make perfect “walls” to protect homes from view, create a boundary, or just provide shade. But keep them away from children and animals (or vice versa) and don’t burn the wood. The fumes are also bad for you.

What makes oleanders attractive is a combination of beauty and hardiness. They stand up well to heat and dry conditions and as we know from only two months experience, that makes them super stars in the desert landscape!

Wordless Wednesday…Arizona beauties