The Surprises of the Giant Dagger Yucca in Big Bend




Peter kept telling me that we needed to go to "Dagger Flats' in Big Bend and so we did.  The winding narrow gravel/dirt road required going slowly as we watched for snakes and birds and rabbits. We even met one car on the single lane road.  The further along the road we went the more Giant Dagger Yuccas we saw until we were surrounded and looking at large vistas of them.

Before the bud
 
Hundreds of flowers on each stalk

See all those white dots in the photo?  Those are blooming yuccas!


I was fascinated by the tall stalks laden with white blooms and really started to look at the way the flowers open from one large bud into hundreds of smaller blossoms.  I took pictures of all the stages - lots of pictures - and selected these to show you the life of the blooming stalks.
The surprise - seeing a bright yellow and black hooded oriole singing his heart out among the white flowers.  Awesome!

Hooded Oriole





Buds and opening


The end of the bloom

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Location: Big Bend National Park, 1 Panther Dr, Big Bend National Park, TX 79834, USA

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