Unfolding
Night-blooming cereus, in the midst of blooming. Each plant blooms one night a year. In normal times, most plants in Tucson bloom on the same night, by some mysterious signaling process that communicates over long distances, and synchronizes the bloom. This year everything is out of whack; different areas, and different plants, are way out of sync. Maybe the signal has been disrupted by smoke from the Bighorn Fire in the Santa Catalinas, north of Tucson. To be sure, everything is out of whack this year! But when the bloom occurs it's awesomely beautiful, as seen here.
Unfolding
Night-blooming cereus, in the midst of blooming. Each plant blooms one night a year. In normal times, most plants in Tucson bloom on the same night, by some mysterious signaling process that communicates over long distances, and synchronizes the bloom. This year everything is out of whack; different areas, and different plants, are way out of sync. Maybe the signal has been disrupted by smoke from the Bighorn Fire in the Santa Catalinas, north of Tucson. To be sure, everything is out of whack this year! But when the bloom occurs it's awesomely beautiful, as seen here.