The Desert Botanical Garden is where I fell in love with the desert many years ago when I moved here. We’re winding down the best time of year to go if color is what you’re looking for. I took a field trip with the Nikon and captured some of the beauty of the desert plant life.
First, the prickly pear (which we have around the neighborhood also):
Then, some other cactus that I didn’t get the name of but was loving the flowers on, especially with the sun shining through them. Which do you like better?
And one other. I don’t know if it’s one cactus with a lot of arms or lots of cactus that all grow in a clump (which isn’t very cactus-like), but the flowers are beautiful.
Like the ones above, this was one cactus with a lot of pieces or many many small cactus. This was on the tops of many but not all. I’d like the shot to be a bit sharper, but it’s neat to look at, so I’m including it anyway.
The saguaros play host to many birds, both for perching and nesting. I’m rarely thrilled with my bird-on-cactus photos, and these toe that line. I mean, I like them, they’re not amazing, but birds on saguaros are cool.
Wildflowers! You’ve seen some shots of local wildflowers from my friend’s amazing yard, but the garden has more varieties. The gallery here crops them a bit. Click on any image to see the whole thing.
This is one of my favorite shots from the morning. It’s a fairy duster plant, and I only took a macro of it.
I didn’t realize that more than the century plants sprout a stalk, but they do, and sometimes, they look like this:
These plants are in the median on a busy road near where I live. I’ve thought for a while that I’d like to take a photo of them facing up, but it might not be the safest place, so I was delighted to see one in roughly the same stage of blooming at the garden, in a place where the bottom was accessible. (Not all of the plants are accessible from the trail.)
And finally, I enjoy the daytime moon.
What a lovely morning at the Desert Botanical Garden!
If you enjoy my photography work, check out HRK Photos, where Rocket Kid and I take photos of the same location, then compare notes. This link takes you to the public installment, and this one takes you directly to the sign-up page. The first subscriber-only installment—our trip to a local rose garden—is coming out soon!
