Spring in the desert

Our desert here is EXPLODING with color right now.  It's been several years since I've seen this much color!  Fortunately, my allergies ARE NOT bothering me, but other folks are pretty miserable.

 Lots of cacti blossoms

 Pretty yellow flower

 Palo verde tree

desert verbena

Garden center

I drove up to our local garden center Sunday morning, since I hadn't been up there for over a month.  I wanted to buy some cosmos and zinnia seeds.  They didn't have any that I wanted.  Instead, they had some strange looking cosmos and NO zinnia seeds.  But, camera in hand, I wandered around and enjoyed seeing all their plants!  :-)

Why can't I grow roses like these?  I've given up on roses.