Cactus blooms — like wildflowers earlier this year — are showing up well ahead of their usual schedule, botanists say.
Species that don’t normally bloom until late April are flashing flowers now, and palo verde trees and ocotillos also are showing their colors earlier than normal.
Warm late-winter weather and possible changes in climate could be causing the early blooms.
Among cacti species that are flowering now in some areas are hedgehog, prickly pear and cholla.
“I used to expect to find hedgehogs blooming in the first half of April, so they’re early this year,” said Mark Dimmitt, an expert on native desert plants and retired director of natural history at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
“Chollas (often bloom) in late April, so they’re quite early,” Dimmitt said. “Palo verde trees seem a couple of weeks early, too.”
He noted that most ocotillos bloom throughout April in the Tucson area, “but some plants always pop several weeks earlier.”
The somewhat early cactus bloom apparently isn’t limited to the Tucson area.
The website DesertUSA.com includes photos and mention of cactus blooms by observers in the Phoenix area, California deserts and elsewhere.
Places where you might spot cactus flowers, blooming palo verde trees and ocotillos in bloom near Tucson include Tucson Mountain Park west of the city and Saguaro National Park. Be aware that cactus flowers are scattered now, but will become more plentiful in the coming weeks.
