Typically, Cholla Cactus are the bane of any pasture or trail. The thorns can grab your clothes, skin, and if a horse backs into one, can cause painful thorns to lodge into their hide. Not good.
But every summer after a few rains, the Cholla Cactus, try to defend their usefulness by showing off branches covered in beautiful fuchsia colored blooms.
(Taken with my Canon PowerShot SX110 IS)
Go check out Macro Monday at Sunday Stills if you’d like to see more macro photos, or if you’d like to participate in Macro Monday.
From the Tower of,
24 comments :
oh wow they look seriously nasty but ulterly beautiful at the same time!
Very cool! The flowers are lovely but I don't think I would want to tangle with that cactus.
WOW that is a cool shot thanks for sharing.
Nice! And something we in the east have never seen!
Beautiful! But very, very fierce!
Beautiful but painful!
Beautiful!!!!
Wow! Those are beautiful photos!
Awww, beautiful fuchsia coloring on the cactus flowers! Second shot is gorgeous, Baby Dolls spotted hide in the cactus flowers, nice! :-)
~Jane and Gilly~
The cactus flowers are beautiful! We have some pickly pear cactus here that has the prettiest yellow flowers in late spring. They are not fun to step on though. Ouch!!
Beautiful photos.
Have a great day.
Pam
I guess I didn't even think about chollas blooming, but they are cactus. They've always looked like prickly churros to me. :)
Beautiful, beautiful flowers!
Very cool! Very nice colour..:-)
Beautiful cacti! It's a little too wet in my part of Oregon for those. Sure are pretty, though.
preety blloms ! Tood bad they are on those darn cacti !
How's hubby's job search?
I never realized that they had such gorgeous flowers. Do the animals munch on them at all?
Sublime! Reminds me of a time when I was a little boy, I was staring up at the sky and walked and fell into a rose bush haha Though I bet these cacti would make me into mince meat!
Thanks for all the wonderfully generous comments.
I've enjoyed seeing everyone's Macro Monday photos today, too.
Colleen,
I've never seen any animals munching those blooms, but insects and hummingbirds do seem to enjoy the nectar and pollen.
~Lisa
Oh my..& with your horse in the background! Woe..what color..it just beams out at you! Nice job-
What a beautiful color, the one with the paint is stunning.
Chollas can give you a real pain. I tried handling one with my leather work gloves inside of heavy rubber gloves and I still got stuck through all that.
Great pictures.
Dan
These are great pics. My second favorite cactus blooms. Ocotillo are my favorite, I just posted one today. We didn't get any cholla blooms this year because the rain came so late.
What a pretty cactus! I have some Cholla cactus skeletons for decoration. :) Really nice shots.
That is one cool flower! I love that you showed off the entire plant also..stunning is a very prickly sort of way..you also got a great horse photo! :)
I love that shot with Baby Doll in the background...it's absolutely beautiful!!
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