Barrel Flowers

Sometimes barrel cacti have nice rings of flowers and other times they have two or three.

Here's a half circle:

 Here's just a couple:

 And one - somewhat close up:

Blooming Barrels

Two of my barrel cacti are blooming nicely.

Here they are together in the front yard.

Here's the 5 together

(with a little cactus bee in the lowest one).

Four more buds opened the next day.

And the other barrel.

Some Interesting Cactus Pictures

I thought this was interesting as cacti don't really need supplemental watering. These healthy looking specimens are flowering nicely at Tovrea Castle.  I doubt the spigot is ever turned on for them, it just looks as though it might be the cause of their robustness.

This is way (WAY) north Phoenix in Deem Hills looking south.

This barrel was flowering nicely just this morning.

Barrels can look weird when stressed.  I don't think they have the same support structure as saguaros, but they can get to be 7 feet tall.

This little fishhook pincushion was blooming probably only a day or two after a summer monsoon rain.  Note the resurrection fern all greened up below it.

This dead saguaro frames a cholla and another young saguaro.

This large saguaro from Deem Hills is up the slope a bit and away from all the new developments - except the new trail that goes right past it.

But new or old, it seems that devlopment and saguaros are not good mixes.

The holes are very likely from gun shots long before the area below was even  graded for development.  This is also along the new trail, but we found out that the new trail followed an old foot path up the hill, so it is not so surprising to find this kind of damage. Not pleasant, either.

Golden Barrel

You generally see the golden barrels about 6" across. It takes them quite some time to get about knee-high, but then they start to flower.

Here's a look at the growth center. Flowers come up in a spiral around the center, though I don't think I've ever seen a complete ring of flowers on one of these.

And the close up shot. Really a nice flower that is often lost amidst all the yellow/gold of the spines.

More Cactus Flowers

Can't hardly go to the gardens without a few cactus & flower pictures. Today was no exception. Enjoy...

Barrel Cactus Flowers

This is the typical barrel cactus in our desert, the Sonoran desert. Maybe the full ring in bloom at once isn't typical but the yellow is.

This is a different kind of barrel with a red flower. It isn't large enough yet to have a ring at the top - more of a cluster.

Barrel Cactus

Our wildflowers tend to bloom early out here, then the hedgehog is usually the first cactus to bloom. Now the Saguaros are starting to bloom as well as others. This is a barrel cactus (barrel-shaped until it gets really, really tall (maybe at 3-400 years it will be 6 feet). Don't worry, I'll be getting a LOT of saguaro pictures.