Thursday, July 14, 2011

Back to blooms

Do you recognize this flower?
If you live out East or in other colder, moister climes, you probably don't see these much. It's a cactus flower, on a specimen we just planted a couple of weeks ago.
Our friend Bob gave it to us in trade for a bristlecone pine we ordered by mistake from High Country Gardens. We thought we'd ordered a dwarf tree, but the tag on what we got (Pinus aristata "Blue Bear") said it reaches 30 feet! Happily, Bob said he had a couple dwarf conifers he'd trade for it, and he threw in a couple of agaves and this cactus as well. I didn't dream that it would bloom so soon!
It has some pretty serious spikes, but it's the teeny barbed ones under the larger ones that will really getcha. (We both were "got" a little.)
We planted it in a rocky area near the street, where it gets plenty of sun but is well away from where anyone might step on it. The agaves and conifers are planted in the yard.

Thanks, Bob!

3 comments:

  1. So beautiful! I know that prickly pear cactuses do well here in the mid-Atlantic area but I don't think they have those gorgeous flowers. I'll check it out however.

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  2. The agave will survive your snowy winters? I had no idea!

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  3. I'm not sure what variety it is; I should ask Bob. But many of the prickly pears/opuntia have lovely flowers, more usually red or yellow, I think.

    Marina, yes, they do quite well here. Many people are reporting that theirs are flowering this year, too, probably because of all the rain. Check out this one in Boulder.

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