As a flower lover, I found myself very disappointed a few times during our trip by missing the peak bloom season for wildflowers, such as the blue bonnets in Texas and poppies in California.
However, I was also caught off guard a few times by unexpected joys.
As it turns out, the peak bloom season for desert wildflowers in southern Arizona starts in mid-March,
and after the torrential downpours from yesterday, the Arizona-Sedona Desert Museum was alive with color!
In the desert, flowers pop whenever they get the chance, and this day was their BIG CHANCE!
Every direction and at every turn my eyes danced from garden to garden.
It reminded me of the potpourri of colors, shapes, and textures from my all-time favorite garden, Giverny (Monet’s estate outside Paris).
Each garden space was worthy of sitting for awhile.
Each setting spurred me on to meander more,
to see what else could be found.
I didn’t mention this last week in my post about Saguaro National Park, but the saguaros are the largest cacti in the U.S.
The largest saguaro on record was about 300 years old, 40 feet tall, had 45 arms, and weighed 3,000 pounds!
It was a perfect day for learning all about prickly stuff!
Prickly Hedgehog Cactus
Of course, we weren’t the only ones out looking for prickly pleasures that morning.
Butterflies were sipping nectar from the Mescal Bean Bushes.
Hummingbirds were humming among the purple penstemon.
Bees were busy on the Hairy-seed Bahia.
The Desert Bluebells were busy being beautiful.
And everywhere, flowers were basking in the sunshine!
The Arizona-Sedona Desert Museum also has a petting zoo . . . of sorts . . .
Red-crowned Amazonian Parrot
Really, this “museum” (mostly outdoors) has all sorts of exhibits in addition to their native gardens (which include some plants that can be naturalized).
Ruby-throated hummingbird resting in the Hummingbird Aviary
They have wildlife exhibits, where you can see many of the indigenous creatures that often can’t be found by causal hikers:
Mountain lion asleep in the sunshine.
Bobcat giving himself a morning bath
A (nocturnal) grey fox trying hard to get a good day’s sleep.
A coyote trying to decide if he should wake up or not . . .
A Mexican grey wolf, already thinking about what to catch for breakfast.
A lazy javelina snoozing under a shrub.
I think he was dreaming about breakfast coming to him . . .
For rock hounds (like me), the museum has excellent displays of native minerals.
Each specimen is displayed with name and information on where it can be found in Arizona.
Arizona’s state mineral: Wulfenite
Aragonite Crystals
Peridot Crystals and Necklaces
Calcium carbonate stalactites hanging in a cave
They also have a cave (of sorts) where you can see close up the delicate formations.
For those who long for water, there’s even a lovely aquarium . . . nothing native here now, but perhaps a reminder that at one time this area was under water!
Sea horses doing the tango
What a perfectly wonderful day marveling at all the bright and beautiful (and strange) things God has created!
“Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it: ‘I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness,
and will hold Your hand'” (Isaiah 42:5-6 NKJV).