Last year, I wrote about the color of the Sonoran Desert Spring being yellow. Spring had been yellow for many years. However, this year, the color of spring was pink!
The Palette of Spring 2024
This year, the desert landscape was festooned with the yellow flowers of the palo verde trees as usual, but the abundant pink flowers of the desert ironwood tree dominated. The ironwood, Olneya tesoto, is a keystone species found primarily in the Sonoran Desert. Ironwoods serve as nurse plants, providing shade and protection to many other plants and animals. Their lifespan is estimated to be 800 years. They are called ironwood because they grow slowly. Their wood is so dense that it sinks in water (not suitable for making boats, but that’s not a problem in the desert). The wood is so dense that dead trees can take 1,600 years to rot! I am not sure how people know that.
Ironwood trees do bloom every year, but widespread blooming occurs only occasionally. That’s why yellow-colored flowers dominate most spring seasons. The conditions that induce the mass of ironwood flowering are not known. Perhaps the abundant winter rain encouraged this year’s flower production.
The flowers only last 10-18 days and are pollinated by one generalist and two solitary bees. Solitary bees live alone, not in a hive. Arizona has 1043 different native bee species. (These bees are the subject of a book I’m working on.)
My landscape photos don’t do the scenery justice, but hopefully, you’ll get the idea. Notice the other plants near the ironwoods, such as the cholla and saguaro.
I’ve always enjoyed ironwood flowers, even when they were sparse. This year, I was thrilled with my pink desert world.
For more information about ironwood trees, I recommend this website: https://www.desertmuseum.org/programs/ifnm_ironwoodtree.php
If you enjoy learning about plants as much as I do, take a look at some of our plant books!
