Rains

The monsoon rains arrived early this year, and the desert is again in bloom.  For those who have depended on the desert for survival over the centuries, the rainy season has always brought abundance.  The desert adorns itself in green--a green that seems to appear out of nowhere.  Plants that looked dead spring back to life.  Drought evaders rise up out of the rocky soil.  The cacti swell and take on more rounded forms.  Overnight, the ocotillos that had looked like dead sticks adorn themselves in tiny leaves.  Birds, reptiles, and mammals take advantage of the tender new growth, the grasses and ripening fruits.

These barrel cacti are crowned with fiery orange buds and blossoms,

and this cluster of nipple beehive cacti are also in bloom,

as is this solitary specimen.

The southern goldenbush (which I recently misidentified as rabbitbrush) has bright flowers that attract bees and other insects, including some type of longhorn beetle.

The Apache plume makes white flowers and pastel-pink plumes that are actually long, hair-like, seed-carrying appendages, which develop from the style of the flower and are attached to a tiny fruit (achene).

And even this cactus in a pot at home (Echinopsis x [?]) has joined in the celebration of the rains.