Vibrant Arizona spring colours

We've been back in our home town of Niagara Falls, Canada for two days now. We did the return journey of 34 driving hours in four days. Although yesterday was sunny and bright, today was not so pleasant. With a high of 12ºC (53ºF), the main topic of conversation I heard at stores was people grumbling about the cold weather. That's not something I had heard for quite some time!

Although I've seen some spring bulbs in Niagara, the trees are either bare of leaves or just in bud. I thought I'd bring you some cheery spring colour from Green Valley, Arizona, while we wait for Niagara to burst into flower.

This cactus was in our back yard, and stood about four feet high. The purple colour of this type of cactus can be quite intense at times.

Its blooms are a vibrant yellow colour.

A good photo of my feet in the background too. It's quite precarious to lean over some large cactus to take a photo. It's easy to get stabbed by one when your attention is on taking the photo.

This was another of our back yard cacti. Not the prettiest cactus, that's for sure.

I did like the contrast of colours and shapes though, with the green spiky body, yellowy lumpy offshoots, and purple buds with spiky ends. Very technical explanation, I know, but I don't profess to be knowledgeable on this topic :)

After the one rainy day, I was looking forward to seeing the blooms on that same cactus. I wasn't disappointed; it was a blaze of colour.

We saw this type of cactus at a few properties, but again it hadn't flowered up until our last week. Perhaps it was the rain that forced these to bloom, or just the time of year; I don't know.

The flowers were beautiful up close, but it's difficult to take a clear photo when the sun's always shining down on you. Oh, to have that problem today!

You'll see two flowering plants in this photo. I think the one in the background is a palo verde tree, the national tree of Arizona. It has dense bright yellow small blooms that just cover the tree. They're pretty up close too.

The one in the foreground has this nice mix of yellow blooms and red shoots coming out of the blooms. The greenery is also quite fern-like and feathery. Again, an interesting mix of colours and textures, I think.

This was in the front garden of a business, and looked more like something I'd see back in Niagara Falls, or in my home country of Wales. Certainly a contrast to the cacti and other succulents we'd see everywhere in Arizona.

OK, we'll leave Arizona now and come back to Niagara. So what's this?

I was grocery shopping today and saw this aloe leaf for sale in the fresh produce area. It was like a flashback to Arizona!

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Location: Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Weather: High 12ºC (53ºF) Low 6ºC (43ºF)

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As I'm writing this, it's raining in Niagara, so maybe spring will burst out here soon too!