Southern Arizona Flora

Before I ever visited Tucson, I thought Arizona was in the desert so it would be hot, dry, dusty, barren, have very little plant life, and have absolutely no flowers. I was so wrong. The plants here are certainly a different shade of green than the greenery of the East Coast. However, there are flowers everywhere here, and mostly all through the year. During the desert spring, there are wild flowers everywhere, in the mountains, in the parks, even on the roadsides and median strips. And what surprising shades: yellow, pink, orange, red, lilac, purple, white, and mixes too. Once the spring flowers begin to fade, the the various types of cacti start to bloom. That was about a month ago. There are also types of sweet-smelling flowering trees and brightly-colored shrubs. Now the Saguaro is starting to bloom. Saguaro is the Arizona State Flower.



When we first arrived here, Barry liked to plant all kinds of cacti in our yard. They are very nice and have fascinating shapes, but their thorns and spikes would get on our clothes, and even pierce our leather gardening gloves. The smaller burrs are very hard to get rid of; they're more irritating than painful. You learn quickly how many plants are sharp and prickly. So now we have a different variety of plants, fruits, flowers, and herbs in our yard, not so many cacti, and not where people would walk. We have eight rose bushes, two orange trees, two camellias, two mesquites, one sweet acacia tree, a grapefruit tree, a pomelo, and a fig tree. We've also planted geraniums, petunias, chrysanthemums, oleander, periwinkle, birds of paradise, tomatoes, and some herbs. Last year we really enjoyed eating the figs. This year so far has been great for our roses. And we've been cooking with the herbs. So this hot, barren desert that I imagined before I came to Southern Arizona is actually very colorful and alive throughout the year.

From February to April, we've been eating lots of grapefruits, oranges, kumquats, and lemons. Even if we don't grow them ourselves, our friends always give us their surplus; we could have lemons and kumquats up the gazoo if we wanted. Now our tomato plants are beginning to bear cute cherry tomatoes. I am beginning to see baby figs and little oranges on our trees now too. One thing that we have to make sure of is to keep our plants fenced away from the reach of the javelinas. They will eat everything they can reach overnight while you sleep! In contrast to the East Coast, our geraniums and petunias are not annuals; they come up faithfully each year because our winters are so mild. I can hardly imagine living through the cold, dreary eastern winter now. I definitely feel more cheerful here because it is so nice and sunny nearly every day. It is wonderful here simply to walk around just after a rain; everything smells so fresh and clean and seems reborn. If you are a gardener or just enjoy being outdoors, you will love it here.