(7 photos) This photo was taken nine days ago, when it was less hot, less dry, less crunchy than it is today. Today, right now, the temperature in my neighborhood is 107F (41C).
I pulled off the road when I saw the blooms on this cactus. I only had my cellphone to take pictures with. The flowers are the size of a small woman’s hand. As near as I can tell this is an organ pipe cactus. That is, it looks exactly as it should if it really is an organ pipe, but this location is north of its usual range. Climate change?
I returned three days later and the blossom was closed. According to Wikipedia, blossoms open at night and close in the morning.
On the same day the photo above was taken, our dog walk destination was just a few miles further up the road, further into the canyon, where the creek runs under a nice tree canopy.
MK pix 
That’s a beautiful bloom on the cactus. Hope you get a break from the heat soon!
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Thanks Sandy. Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter than today,and then it will be a “cooling trend” down to the high 90’s. Booooo.
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desert plants looking happy!
and fall is just a few
months away 🙂
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🙂 that’s a great way to think about it, David! I will look at my yard and think about all the fruit that I’ll see in November.
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Absolutely gorgeous images! Cactus flowers are amazing. I’m always surprised by how beautiful they are. Thanks for sharing these, MK!
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And I am always surprised that they even HAVE flowers! It just seems so unlikely.
Thanks Angela.
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Wow! So beautiful.
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That blossom just grabbed my eyes and pulled me off the road. So huge! And even more beautiful the closer I looked. Cactus seem to have a talent for blossoming, don’t they?!!!
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Sorry, I am so behind on my Reader!
Beautiful closeup on that cactus bloom. Cacti have such amazing blossoms, making up for their rather harsh environment, I guess.
107 sounds way beyond my comfort range, that’s for sure! I bet standing in that cool creek was a welcome break.
Just for contrast, today was in the mid-70s with 30% rH. Now THAT’S my kind of day. 😉 So when are you coming to visit?
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And I am behind in all of my blogging world!
Yes, cactus blossoms always seem so exceptionally beautiful. I wonder how much of that is objective beauty in comparison, and how much is my own surprise at seeing the bloom come from such a cranky looking plant part.
Mid-70s with low humidity sounds like a dream! I wish I were there right now.
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How close are you to the wildfires in the San Gabriel Mtns?
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I did a post on it yesterday! Close enough to share the smoke, not close enough to be in any danger. We drove “into town” today and went past them. We saw a line of fire trucks heading up into the mountains, and smoke & flames above the line of houses.
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Really spectacular! Lucky you have a cooling creek nearby 😊
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That blossom is quite the looker!
Yes Val, that stream is just the tonic for this heat, especially for the dogs. They look so enviable when they just plop right down in the cool water.
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Same here…dry, hot in the hundreds, and crunchy.
Hot things like the cactus are loving it!
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