Tag Archives: prickly pear cactus

The month of May marks a fantastic change in the plant life at Dead Horse Point State Park. Despite the dry winter, the plants are returning with brilliant color. This is an excellent month for photographers, artists or anyone interested in desert flowers to visit the park. The variety of colors found right at the trails’ edge is enough to entice anyone to hike a bit further. The deciduous trees and shrubs of the park have awakened from their winter slumber and are bringing lush green tones and lively zest to the red rock landscape. Hikers are sure to be pleased by the sweet fragrance drifting from flowering shrubs.

The blossoming of cacti is an event not to be missed. For a brief time of the year these spiny desert icons turn into splashes of color on the landscape. Be it a prickly pear, claret cup or fishhook, each cactus brings their own significant flower to the mix. The prickly pear, the most common cactus in the park, is known for large flowers of yellow, pink and orange. The claret cup grows in a clustered mound spotted with fiery red flowers that have a golden base. The… Read the rest