A Desert Blooming

The Sonoran Desert captured my heart and soul several years ago when we made our first trip to Tucson. In my uninspired mind, the desert was a place of sand and dust, tumbleweeds and scrub. MY, was I wrong!!!!

The Sonoran Desert is a lush beauty rich with growth. Abundant cacti of incredible varities like prickly pear,cholla, hedgehog, barrel and spoon cactus actually crowd the desert. And trees - yes trees grow here as well- can you imagine shade in the desert? Palo Verde with it's green bark and delicate feathery leaves is my favorite but the mesquite are beautiful as well. The Mexican Willow and Mexican oak are tall and graceful and in the raparian areas of Sabino Canyon, Cottonwoods drink from the river. And not to be forgotten are the Saguaro Forests that rise up unexpectedly their ancient structures as tall as an oak tree in Ohio

Our first spring here astonded us with its beauty. Wild flowers burst their blooms all over the place in a riot of color followed by blooming cactus. The stately Saguaro lost some of its grandeure as it wore red and white flowers atop its head like a silly spring hat. And the mountains were cloaked in a shawl of green as the grasses grew tall.

When the heat of summer came the wildflowers died out and the cactus flowers faded. The Mexican Bird of Paradise with its bright orange flowers endures the heat of summer keeping color in desert landscape. But thanks to the fabulous monsoon rains we are blooming in full once again - a surprise to us new desert dwellers. The mountains are green again, the desert floor rich with verdant growth and blooming cactus. And in our yard, bushes are bursting forth with purple blooms. The desert is rich and lush again.

There is something so surprising, sacred almost about rain falling in the desert. And comforting too. It restores and nourishes not just the landscape, but my heart and soul as well.