Cholla Cactus - Anza-Borrego Desert

This very sculptural-looking cactus is alluringly beautiful and drops the ends of its branches onto the ground like little balls. But woe to anyone or anything that merely brushes even gently against it as its thorns are incredibly sharp and barbed. A gentle touch with the tip of the rubber toe on my shoe and the spines were a half-inch into the rubber and impossible to pull back out! Beware of these beauties if you visit Anza-Borrego desert.

This cactus plant is actually a Cholla Cactus. There are several varieties, but this one is Cylindropuntia bigelovii or the "Teddy Bear Cholla", so named because of it's fuzzy appearance. That cute fuzziness, however, is the mass of spines covering the plant. One of my friends knows this cactus as "the widowmaker"! You can read about this and other Cholla cacti at Wikipedia: Teddy-Bear Cholla. Or additionally at this Living Desert posting which describes clearly the perils of encountering this deceptively-looking teddy-bear.

Full-sized photos of this cactus can be seen in the Plants Photo Gallery (Dial-up Plants Photo Gallery)

Blooming Cactus in Anza-Borrego Desert

Last weekend I went with a friend to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in Southern California to see the spring blooming of wildflowers. The park has had about 4" of rain this past rainy season which is a good average for that region so there was a pretty good display of desert flowers this spring.

We spent most of our time in Plum Canyon and were well rewarded for our efforts as there were many flowers blooming and the start of some cactus blooms too.

This is a photo of one of the cactus blooms. This cactus seems to tend to grow along the ground rather than upright, and the entire crown of the cactus is covered with a circle of flowers. So beautiful!

You can see this and other desert flowers in my desert flower photo gallery. For visitors with slower internet access, you may prefer to visit this dial-up optimized desert flower photo gallery.

Agave and Cacti at the Huntington

This photo of a long agave flower stalk (actually known as an "inflorescence") was taken at the desert garden at the Huntington Library gardens in San Marino, CA. The image is an HDR photo composed of three exposures at 2 EV shifts. 100ISO.

I like how this turned out quite moody. The overcast in the sky created a nice gray background that the greens stand out well on. And of course the aloe and cacti make for great interest.