Ladee's Travels

I walked DBG today to see what was in bloom.    The agave is very pretty and in bloom as well as some cactus and other wild flowers. This is my report...no specific names given today.  Just enjoy the colors.

I walked through the Desert Botanical Garden this morning. The focused mission was "cactus blooms".  I realized once I was half way through that I did not get the names, so just enjoy the beauty and diversity.  I took the lens that allowed me to get close because I have a new gadget coming that will allow me to get even closer.  I wanted this as a base set of photographs. I have tried to tone the reds down a bit because they are very overwhelming on the screen.  This is an succulent flower.  These are very tiny flowers.  And I didn't notice the stripes on the cactus until I brought the photographs home to view on a larger screen.  I couldn't find any of these "open and in bloom", so maybe this is the full bloom stage.  One of the staff members stopped me as I walked to leave and asked if I had seen the "Stapella Gigantea" in bloom (Giant Starfish).  These are from Zambia to South Africa.  T...

The Peralta Trail is located on the southwest edge of the Superstition Wilderness in Gold Canyon east of the Phoenix metropolitan area.  The colors were better than expected. A fellow photographer is shown in the bottom right corner working on lighting the cactus for his photo. I had the camera packed up and put away.  I turned around to look back up the trail and the view was so beautiful.  You can see the starburst light on other photographers returning to the meet up area.

The Boyce Thompson Arboretum is about an hour drive east of Phoenix.  It has been on my "to visit" list for many years and I took advantage of a trip to Globe this weekend to stop here and see what this was all about.  I was very pleased.  I was there for about two hours and did not get to see everything but here are photos about the visual delights that I was able to see.  Many plants were expected, but there were a few surprises.  A rocky background was in view from many spots.  Many spring flowers were in bloom, with bees buzzing about.  I saw a lot of very old trees with magnificent bark.  This wash winds its way through the park.  This is a VERY tall and VERY unusual tree.  Cactus gardens from around the world.  Beautiful flowers.  And the usual suspects for spiny and mean looking defense pikes.  Desert wildflowers were in abundance.  More unusual bark.  Thi...