Cactus Plants

• Prickly pear blossoms orange or red flowers in the spring and summer.prickly pear cactus flowers image by Kathy Burns from Fotolia.com
  
  Various types of desert plants such as cactus need very little water to grow and thrive. All types of cactus such as saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea,) prickly pear (Genus Opuntia) and Teddy Bear (Cylindropuntia bigelovii) cactus retain water through the succulent spores found on the plant. The inside of the cactus gradually collects water from rain storms throughout the year. This enables the plants to survive long hot summers. Cactus plants have a greenish-gray appearance with spikes throughout the barrel, sides and pads on the plant.
  
  

Desert Flowers

• Go hunting for Arizona poppies and other wildflowers as spring begins in the desert.Arizona Spring Bloom Poppies image by Richard Haworth from Fotolia.com
  
  Desert flowers such as the desert paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa,) desert dandelion (Malacothrix glabrata) and desert chicory (Rafinesquia neomexicana) all thrive with very little water. These plants survive on annual rainfall just like cactus and other desert plants. However, unlike cactus, desert flowers die in the fall and winter months and return in the spring and summer. The desert paintbrush displays shades of bright red and orange flowers from April until August. The desert dandelion blooms yellow flowers growing 6 to 14 inches tall from March until June. Many of these plants are found in the Sonoran, Mojave and great basin deserts of Arizona, California and parts of Mexico.
  
  

Shrubs

• The Mormon tea shrub thrives with little water in the desert. There are several species of Mormon tea such as E. torreyana, E. californica and E. viridis. Most types grow up to 4 feet tall and produce green scaly leaves. Small yellow flowers bloom from late winter to early spring. Mormon tea shrubs are found throughout deserts in California and Arizona.
  
  

Trees

• The smoke tree (Dalea spinosa) and Palo Verde (Cercidium floridum) can also survive with little water. Smoke trees live in Northern Nevada, Western Arizona, Southeastern California and parts of Mexico. Smoke trees need a little more water than some other desert plants, so these trees are usually found at the bottom of washes or flat areas where water collects. The tree has dry, hairy brown stems and leaves and it produces purple flowers in spring and summer. Palo Verde produces bluish-green bark. The trunk grows upwards with windy branches that grow in all directions. The trees can reach heights of up to 40 feet tall and the leaves are large and dark green. Palo Verde trees are found throughout Arizona, California and Mexico.