Color Me Desert
Some great color combinations are growing right next to each other, right up the hill. I like taking pictures of the Barrel Cactus (below), and the Indigo Bush (above). So I says to myself ‘Why not take a picture of both?’, and voila!
Make new friends…
We’re not really sure which is a silver or gold cholla. This might be one of them…?
Barrel Cactus, up the hill.
So we went crazy today, all the way to the top of shadow mountain! Wow, does the flora change with the altitude. No ocotillos yet though. Everything blooming is getting ready to go! Blooming! Hopefully the rain coming in the next few days won’t damage too much. On that note, the wind today coming down the mountain was a little scary… These flowers are a lot tougher than they look.
I’m hooked on this contrast between the flowers and the needles (no pun intended). The needles have such a design-y quality, with their ridges, and muted colors. A very fitting contrast to the super-saturation of the flowers.
It would be nice to be able to keep up with all the taxonomy, but where to begin? Hmm… How’s about, Barrel Cactus, Ferocactus cylindraceus?
Cactus Flowers
A singularly spectacular sight!
Below are three cactuses (cacti) in bloom. Some of the beavertails that we came across have TONS of buds. We’ll see if they are in bloom during the Wildflower Festival on Saturday, March 5.
The native Californian barrel cactus (the spikes are reddish unlike their Mexican counterpart with yellow spikes) develops a crown of buds. So far, we’ve only seen two of the buds flower.
Lastly is the nipple cactus (Mammillaria), which is, IMHO, a slightly unfortunate name… But the flowers are ADORABLE!
More to come as we continue our treks with our new macro lens!
Beavertail cactus in bloom
California barrel cactus in bloom
Mammillaria (Nipple) cactus in bloom