SAGUAROS ARE BLOOMING

Since moving here five years ago, I have wanted to take a day and go out to Saguaro National Park West to take pictures of the Saguaros in bloom.  We finally made it yesterday!  It is a more difficult job than you would think as the Saguaros are very tall and the blooms are usually on top.  But I did get some decent shots.

On the road to SNPW

There were some great cloud formations

The Palo Verde trees are in bloom

The Saguaro blossom is Arizona's state flower.

Each blossom opens after sunset and by the next afternoon the flower has wilted.  This spectacle repeats itself night after night for about four weeks until as many as 100 flowers have bloomed on each Saguaro.

Palo Verde trees help to shelter young cactus.  These trees are called nurse trees.

Even this old and decaying Saguaro has enough life to still send out blooms

This Cactus Wren seems to be waiting for the blossom  to open; our state bird with our state flower.

The flowers above come from an Agave plant. Below is a close up of the flowers.

 We went to the Desert Wildlife Museum while we were in the area.  The picture above and my favorite, a baby Hummingbird, were taken there.

 The weather was perfect - about 79 degrees and no wind.  Probably one of the last few days before the hot weather sets in.