Cactus

Trip Into the Desert

This is a tree, a juniper, that I like to take photos of because of the where branches have been broke of it and cows have rubbed for so many years they have polished the wood.

 Different views of the high mesa desert that I live on in New Mexico. This is a few miles from my home.

 Our truck where we stopped while going down one of the arroyos (a ditch made by nature) that are filled with sand. If you stop in the wrong place you will be there until you can find someone to pull you out. 4-wheel-drive is a must.

 Taken out the windshield as we make a quick drive to get out of the arroyo.

 Chola cactus with the Sandia Mountains behind it. The cactus should be starting to bloom about now but looks as if it is dieing from the drought.

Mammillaria Cactus

 I have had this little cactus about 10 years and last month it decided to bloom. Blossoms are tiny, less than a quarter of an inch across. But such a beautiful color. There have been 18 of them in a circle around the top of the cactus. You can get an idea of size comparred to our cat, Twinkie. On looking it up I found it is in the mammillaria family.

This is another suculant plant that blooms frequently. It is almost an inch across. There are several succulants in this pot. The flower is on the plant that has long, thin but fleashy pieces not the one with the short thin tringles as it looks like, You can see the piece of plant on the left side of photo. Don't know it's name.

Succulent Blossom

One of my houseplants, a succulent has been blooming some this summer. Here are some of the buds and an open blossom.

Desert View

From this side of the tree you can look west across the desert. You can see several cholla cactus through the tree fork. The other side of the tree looks at the dirt road that goes by the tree and the houses that are in the developement that started about five years ago. It makes me wonder just how long this tree looked upon desert and distant mountains until progress now makes it look at houses.

spring on the desert

Spring has come to the desert as well as to my yard. We drove out a few miles the other day and found these tiny clumps of yellow flowers growing everywhere. I don't know what they are called. There are some cactus growing near these that will blooming in a few weeks.