
Cacti are blooming all over Hollerdom.

Prickly plants yielding fragile flowers.

Like gilded lilies,

in rainbow hues,

seeking sun,

through lethal thorns.

An Easter parade,

in a desert scape,

beauty triumphs in the harshest places.

Cheers & Happy Easter to you~
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I love cactus. Our won’t bloom until June or July.
By then ours will be long gone. I should head up your way in June!
Wow!!!
Thank you, cactus flowers are just wow!
I’m not a big cactus fan, but these blooms are beautifully colorful and as always your photos are great! Happy Easter, Cindy. 🙂 <3
Happiest Easter Natalie! <3
Same to you sweet Cindy! ❤️😘
Great work! They occasionally look beautiful, and a good photographer waits.
Reblogged this on necltr and commented:
Go ahead, hug a cactus!
Laughing,…….Amazing that such delicate flowers come from such tough and well defended plants.
Spectacular!
Awwww, Happy Easter my friend~ <3
So love these…magical!!! One week and to Joshua Tree!!!
Oh Joshua Tree in the spring is truly spectacular. Eagerly anticipating your photos Gary!
Very colorful and just right for this Easter weekend.
So pleased you enjoyed and Happy Easter! <3
I’m lovin’ this Easter Parade Cindy! What a treat! I also can’t help but notice, as I view the colors and structural formations about how much these plants remind me of flora and fauna in the wettest places on earth – under the sea. Some of these remind me of sea anemones.
By the way, have you visited Lotusland in Montecito, CA here: http://www.lotusland.org/explore-garden/gardens/ ? This place was my first introduction to all manner of gigantic, exotic cacti! 🙂
~Lynn
Oh my God! It is truly amazing how alike our brains think! I was trying to edit some of the paler flowers like the yellows and peaches and I told Jim, “these flowers are harder to photograph than anenomes and they look so similar.”
It is eerie. We have brain synergy. Lotusland looks incredible and I love Montecito, so I just have to go back! 😉
Ah, me Cactus Rose, Y’ve out done yerself wi’ these pics. I especially was interested in the “rainbow” one, Cuz. Is that natural? ….and the last pic looks like a “bridge cactus. Happy Easter ! 🙂
It’s a reflection of a stained glass piece in the garden. This was at San Diego Botanical Garden. I was kinda entranced by it. Looks like I went after the cactus with colored chalk which would hurt! Ouch! Happy Easter cuz~
Is beautiful…❇❇❇❇❇♥
Awww, so pleased you enjoyed!
Thanks , excellent photographs , Greetings
Seeing these creatures up close and personal, my mind wanders….to the pre-historic….or maybe to outer space… or to someone who’s gotten a gorgeous new hat or outfit, but doesn’t know how to carry it off…..
Laughing…..Yes indeed, just more than a little odd and off kilter aren’t they! Plus they remind me of people, prickly and defended, but capable of amazing tenderness and beauty.
Magnificent are they for real!
They are indeed, the more exotic ones grow in local parks and gardens, but most grow all over Hollerdon wild~
The cactus in the fourth from the bottom picture (“an Easter parade”) looks like the genus Opuntia which produce sweet edible fruits ranging in color when ripe from green, yellow, orange, red, purple, to even brown. In the picture, the fruits are the oval shaped growths beneath the reddish flowers. Each are encased in a thick prickly (i.e. barbed) skin which is easy to remove with a knife and a set of work gloves. The fruits have a similar taste and texture as watermelon. They grow wild and are quite common throughout Mexico and the western U.S., and have been introduced to many regions outside their native habitat. Each region and locale seems to have a unique name for these fruits. My family, of Sicilian ancestry, called them “ficcudini.”
Yes, we call them Prickly Pear cactus and they are sold de-prickled at our local grocery store which is Hispanic owned. It is used alot in Mexican cooking and grows all over The Holler. I have eaten it in Mexican restaurants, but have never cooked it. I should try it. How interesting that it is eaten in Sicily too. It is a very small world!
Beautiful colors! Happy Easter dear Friend and to yours! 🙂
Visa versa 2UX2 Fae. You must be getting ready for another trip about now. I know I am! 😉
Beautiful contrast of colors.
Merci beaucoup!
Bienvenu
Welcome to Spring at the Holler! Awesome pictures Cindy!
Thank you and The Holler is definitely springing!
Great pictures.
Mille grazie~
Wow!!! Simply stunning!! With such raging colors.. indisputable proof that sometimes the most beautiful things come with “a few” thorns…😉😳🙀🙄😸👍🏽
Yes indeed, people included! <3
Most definitely people!!
Yep. We are on the same page, paragraph, sentence and period on this one! Be well talented one~ <3
Amazing, excellent captured
– cacti (and roses) are my absolutly favorites among flowers… 🙂
There is something so unique about cactus flowers. I suppose it relates to growing in such a hostile environment, and being so delicate and fragile, amidst such formidable thorns.
Brilliant photographs Cindy, the cacti look glorious.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
Hugs & Happy Spring David!
And Happy Easter to you and your family also!😌
Thank you my friend and cheers to you! <3
What a colorful post, Cindy!
They are awesome 🙂
Happy Easter!
I hope the Easter bunny is good to you this year my friend~ <3
I hope, too, Cindy 🙂
But I have to wait till May 1st to find out. Because I celebrate Easter on that day.
Thanks for your beautiful greetings in advance
<3
Herzliche stachelige Ostergrüsse an dich Cindy und ein frohes Fest wünscht Ernst
Frohe Ostern mein lieber Freund Ernst! <3
Perfect cheers from nature for Easter 😀 Happy Easter Cindy XX
She puts on her Easter Bonnet even in the midst of the desert! <3
Beautiful pictures with apt captions. Happy Easter to you, too
Back 2UX2!
Thank you for the awesome photos, Cindy. 🙂
Thank you Ranu and Happy Sunday!
So gorgeous! Thanks Cindy xxx
Cheers & Happy Spring Liz~
What beauty to be found in the desert.
Happy Easter or Joyeux Paques as they say here.
Joyeux Paques et merci beaucoup mon ami!
Beautiful blog, wonderful photos.
Easter gives hope for tomorrow,
As after the winter comes Spring.
Our hearts can be filled with gladness
As hearts rejoice and sing.
Happy Easter
So beautifully expressed! Thank you and Happy Easter~
Happy Easter to You
https://liska11.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/osterveilchen-bei-lis.png
Vielen danke und Frohe Ostern Lis! <3
Danke auch <3
The cactus is wicked beauty! Would not want to land on one! tee hee! I love the flowers on them! Happy Easter at the Holler Cindy! Hugz Lisa and Bear
Happiest Easter to you guys and kiss Bear for me! <3
Who would have thought? Those are marvelous, Cindy. Happy Easter to you and yours. 🙂 — Suzanne
Happy Easter back to you and your family Suzanne~ <3
These are beautiful! Happy Easter.
Very pleased you enjoyed and enjoy your Sunday~
The rainbow one looks like a psychedelic space alien. Love it. <3 Happy Easter.
I think it is a psychedelic space alien hiding in plain sight in a cactus garden~ 😀
Bellissima immagine !!!!
Mille grazie!
Blimey it’s as if they’ve been painted. I especially like the gay pride one.
I do too. He was quite a reflective fellow~ 😎
I have not seen the flowers from cacti before. They are interesting and beautiful.
I am happy I got to introduce you my friend & cheers to you~
I love cacti and these are so beautiful Cindy. Happy Easter. 🙂
Glad you do and Happy Easter too!
Lovely, it must be quite the sight to see.
The key is timing the photographs to peak bloom periods which I have never managed to do!
Are those hues in the fourth photo real or a reflection? Awesome shots Cindy!
It is clever of you to suspect reflection, which is what it is!
Amazing how nature will adapt and make he best of anything. Nicely caught and a Happy Easter. 😀
Happy Easter Graham and I hope the Easter Bunny is good to you today!
Lovely and wonderful blooms. You have a beautiful collection of cacti.
Thank you and so pleased you enjoyed them Arlene~
The wonders of nature (and your camera)…:) My aloe is blooming with glorious yellow spikes.
So is mine, but he spikes are orange. Love the aloes!
Oh – orange would be exciting. Mine has grown from a inch spike sent in the post to a monster, feet across.
Such beauty from such…well… you know…cacti! Wishing you and yours a glorious Easter! 🙂
Laughing, yes I do know, and Happy Easter to you and yours Linda, including the cats in the catio! <3
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
Spoken like a true friend! Thank you John~
Those were my exact thoughts, John!
(Great minds think alike.) 😉
People like you two are why I love blogging! <3
Hi Cindy,
Living in The Holler’ is like living in a biological laboratory. Something new and beautiful every day. As I have said before, envy is one of the “Thou Shalt Nots”, but I think He may overlook just this one little bout of envy. Great pictures. Thanks again for an armchair visit to The Holler.
Ahhhh, but remember cacti have thorns and The Holler has drought. I have no problem with envy, except that it is usally not valid. You after all have all of Upstate for a playground and all those lakes and streams! Happiest Easter Wally to you and your family. <3
Happy Easter to you and yours also Cindy.
<3
Gorgeous desert blooms. I have never seen the rainbow cacti before! We were in Phoenix last year at this time and we were stunned at the variety of the desert flowers and their beauty. What a brilliant show of color!
It is a very fortunate thing if one can time a visit to peak bloom. I have not yet timed it perfectly, but I am still trying!
It was spectacular. I hope you can see it too. 🙂
I always wanted a cactus in my yard, hard to find here in Columbus. Your pictures just made me remember my wish. Great, great pictures.
Happy Easter my friend.
Oh I hope you get some. You can also grow them inside in a sunny window and they will bloom for you in spring.
The seeking sun is my fave this week. Thanks for another super and colourful post Cindy 🙂
Ahhhh, you are so welcome. Friends like you make it all worthwhile!
Nice one Cindy. Hope your week got off to a good start 🙂
Beautiful!
Danke schoen!
You captured the beauty of this special blooms, Cindy. The colors are so rich and gorgeous!
I haven’t seen any yet here in Texas.
I would love to see the Texas bloom and all of Lady Bird’s wildflowers!
I just came back from a short driving for the wildflower sites, people were taking photos everywhere. And, I was thinking how visionary Mrs. Johnson was.
She was wasn’t she, and I wish I could have goine along on your ride! <3
You’d see me in tears. and I do so often, also thinking her audacity for advocating Civil Rights…
This year bluebonnets came out in the early March, a few weeks early, then cold front came a week ago, it did some damage.
You know something, I almost feel like she is here with both of us now in this conversation. Being driven to tears by a woman wise enough to cull wildflowers all over the state of Texas means to me you know a measure of goodness. And yes, her ethical and humanitarian self was mind boggling and she ran so under the radar, There is a reason why we like each other Amy and I suppose this sort of mysterious connection is it. Happy Easter my friend.
Gorgeous pics for this gorgeous Easter morning. 🙂
Hey Carrie, wonderful to hear from you and Happy Sunday my friend~ <3
Dear Cindy, wishing you a happy easter! Wonderful pictures! Mother Nature is so complex!
Hugs! Veraiconica
She is complex, strong and fragile all at the same time. Just like humans! Happy Easter Veraiconica~
So vibrant & colorful..nature is simply amazing! Happy Easter! 🐰🌷
Nature rocks and so do you! Happy Easter~
These are awesome photos, I love cactus flowers.
Well thank you and I am so glad you do!
What a fabulous rainbow of floral treats, lucky you.
I am in the midst of planting more cacti, seeking different colors blooms! So pleased you enjoyed & cheers~
I generally do not like cactii…at least not in my windows. but, when you put it like this….Wonderful captures!
Laughing, so pleased! <3 The beauty of cacti is most easly seen in the flowers.
Wow, gorgeous cacti blooms! I hear that Death Valley is experiencing a once in a decade bloom – are you going? Looks like you have enough of a show at your door!
A super bloom, yes! I wish I was. I find Death Valley fascinating at anytime, but the super bloom would be phenomonal. I think either Curt or Timothy are going though so we will be able to see their photos.
Exquisite timing! I just had a poem published today titled “Coral Cacti” — I’m going to have to share this link in the comment for it on Facebook. 🙂
Oh, please do and I shall find your poem. This is a synchronistic situation! 😎
Gorgeous cacti. I love when they’re in bloom. Happy Easter!
They are fascinating plants aren’t they, but the bloom makes them unusually beautiful~
Happy Easter ! 🙂
Paste Fericit !!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
https://youtu.be/8ASNriauChY
Regards,
Aliosa.
Paste fericit prietenul meu si va multumesc Aliosa!
Cactus blooms are spectacular and you make them even more so! Happy Easter to you, Cindy!
Awwww, so sweet, thank you Teresa~ <3
Glorious!
Merci beaucoup mon ami Bette~ <3
a dream..fantastic pictures ..thanks for sharing <3
Thank you more for the kind appreciation!
Cindy, it wasn’t until I moved to Southern California that I discovered the flowering of cacti plants. Such beauty is a delight to behold!
Your photos cause me to wonder: Those thorny individuals in our lives must have much inner beauty that we fail to see and appreciate.
A Happy Easter to you and your loved ones <3
Yes, cacti are emblematic for me of people. The presence of discouraging thorns often hides inner beauty just waiting to be recognized. We all have thorns after all, and the vast majority of us have inner beauty too. Sometimes it even balances out! 😉
Marvelous Cindy! in the Peruvian highlands we have similar cacti, but they are not the same so it’s like see another, but familiar, world.
Oh I would so love to see your cacti in the Peruvian highlands! It is on my list. Be well my friend~ <3
Here is one https://www.flickr.com/photos/12149353@N03/16583790961/in/album-72157650858164656/lightbox/ n_n I’d love to travel to see yours : )
Oh my God! It looks so much the same. How incredible is this? No matter where we live on this planet, our similarities are so much greater than our differences. I could never have imagined this growing in the Peruvian highlands. Thank you so much for showing me!
Your pictures are always so beautiful, Cindy. You have a good eye.
Awwww, very kind and most appreciated Michele~ <3
These are gorgeous, Cindy! I’ve never seen the desert in full bloom — thank you for showing me a bit of it. Who knew there were so many lovely Easter dresses on thorny plants?!? Happy Easter!
Even a thorny cactus dresses up for Easter! Happy Easter Debbie~ <3
Happy Easter,Cindy, to you and your loved ones. Huge hugs. These are all so beautiful!
Hugs and all the best to you Belinda!
Reblogged this on penpowersong.
Happy Easter my friend & cheers too~
I liked the juxtaposition of cacti with pretty flowers to Christ’s death and gift He gave us of forgiveness. Hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend, Cindy. <3
Spending time with Mom for Easter, oldest daughter here Good Friday all thru Sat. We played Yahtzee and Rummy with my 2 brothers while Mom held her dog on her lap.
Youngest daughter arrived on Easter Sunday and we sat in the sun at Mom's senior living apt. Mom loves watching ducks and geese along the man made lakes here. 🙂
Yes, even the thorns were emblematic to me. It sounds like a wonderful Easter Robin and important time for you and your mom and family. I love the image of your mom in the sun with her family and dog in lap, watching the ducks. <3 <3
Thank you for “joining” us for a few moments in the sunshine, Cindy. 🙂
It was such a happy pleasure. <3
Blooming beautiful! :star: Looking forward to part II!
Hope you’re having the best Easter!
The Easter Bunny better have brought you a basket of treats Resa or I’ll have words with him! 😉
What amazing plants!! Just beautiful!! Happy Easter to you too Cindy, and thanks for sharing these. I really enjoyed this post. ~Rita
I am so glad and grateful that you did, and thank you~
How incredible! Just amazing and something I never see. thank you for this. <3
You deserve the best of anything I can possibly come up with, and you know this is true. <3
How beautiful! You captured the essence of cacti
Ahhh, for you to say this is such an honor. Because it would take you to see “the essence of cacti.” I am so lucky to know people like you and this is God’s honest truth.
The prickly exterior can blossom forth with such vibrant and yet delicate beauty
Just iike us. Happiest Easter to and Jack, Pauline. My heart to both of you~ <3 <3
Oh I don’t think you are ever prickly Cindy!!! Hope you enjoyed Easter we had a lovely family get together in our garden. This is what Jack said about it. https://jacksjottings.wordpress.com/2016/03/28/easter-holiday-is-a-holy-day/
Reblogged this on Art, animals, and the earth.
Gratitude for your thoughtfulness Sharon and cheers to you my friend~
Wunderschöne Kalten ich wünsche dir einen schönen Ostermontag lieber Gruß und Umarmung Gislinde
Vielen dank mein lieber Freund Gislinde und Frohlichen Fruhling! <3 <3
Reblogged this on Spiritual challenges .
So appreciative of your thoughtfulness & cheers to you~
alles Gute für dich und noch einen schönen Ostermontag
Sie sind sehr freundlich und Frohlichen Fruhling fur Sie! <3
My California relatives have been telling me about the fabulous wildflower season this year, after the winter rains.
Oscar
Yes, Death Valley is having a super-bloom which I would seriously love to see! SoCal got less precipitation, but it got a bit and it is bringing out the blooms!
The blooming cactus are spectacular, aren’t they? Great photos.
So pleased you enjoyed, and yes blooming cacti are uniquely wonderful!
Wonderful variety of colors and blossoms. More hidden beauty. The one with the purple and green on the stem is amazing. Are those the colors of the main stem or a lighting trick?
It is actually reflection off a stained glass yard ornament, someone referred to it as a psychedelic plant from Mars! 😉
Well, it’s a great effect!
Interesting huh! 😉
Wow, Cindy. These are so — I can’t quite find the right word. Marvelous.
They are unusual aren’t they! My grandfather came from Eastern Europe and was so enraptured by cactus flowers that he planted an amazing garden full of them that won a bunch of awards. I guess a bit of his passion rubbed off on me. 😉
I’d say it did. What a collection. I’ve never seen most of these. Do you live in the desert, Cindy?
We live in a semi-desert region which means we have a bit more water and lots of plant variety, but tons of cacti too~
Pretty to look at, but wouldn’t want to touch them.
Cacti do not invite flower plucking for putting in a vase! Ouch! Smart cacti! 😉
They are beautiful. Those rainbow ones remind me of the Holi festival of colors. 🙂
I had to google that to see what it was. It does look thecacti dusted in pastel chalk doesn’t it, just the people at the festival, but they are really just reflecting some pieces of cut glass,
It looks like the Holler is ready for a party. 🙂
Well the orioles and grosbeaks arrived today and I played mating calls for them, so the party is ON! This is as partied out as we want to get! Laughing….
A beautiful tribute to this special season of rebirth…
Hope you have a wonderful spring Rebecca~ <3
So beautiful!
It’s a different sort of beauty and I am pleased you appreciate it Kendall~ <3
Welcome!
So vibrant– the unexpected side of cactus!! Thanks for posting it!
Thank you more for appreciating them Rhonda & cheers!
What an amazing array and how very beautifu!
The blooms are super beautiful, as if to make up for their rather ho-hum parents!
What beauties you have captured, Cindy! Wow!
Not everyone appreciated cactus blooms, so I am pleased you do!
These are absolutely stunning!
Awww, so thoughtful and so appreciated! Cheers to you~
eine gute Woche wünsche ich
Frohe Woche mein Freund!
wünsche eine gute Restwoche
Just too beautiful for words:)
Awww, so kind and so apprecieated! Thank you~
Beautiful, Cindy. I love how these strange thorny plants bloom. Amazing.
They are strange and amazing! So glad you appreciate this~
Hope you had a lovely Easter too Cindy…beautiful cactus bloom photos…oh how I miss the cactus 🙂
Yes they have a tendency to stick with you! 😉 😉
Now there’s a pun 🙂
<3
I am in awe that such prickly plants produce such beauty!! And the rainbow of color on that one is incredible! Thank you for sharing ❤️
It is a lovely dichotomy isn’t it, both fierce and fragile at the same time~
Splendid! 🙂
<3
Wow!
🙂
Wow Cindy! These are amazing! Such a wild and wonderful variety of cacti! 🙂
Thanks and it’s what you get in the wild, wooly west! Hope all is well with you~
It’s pretty wild and wooly here too! Storms and wild winds one minute and bright sunshine and blue skies the next!
Spring takes it time where you are, but when it comes, it is soooo worth it!
Beautiful! Yay for spring!
I second that motion!
Wow… gorgeous photos of such
amazingly harsh + delicate plants! 🙂 ♥ <3
They are a dichotomy aren’t they and I love this about them! Very pleased you enjoyed them~
What a gorgeous collection, Cindy! When I see a cactus in bloom, I feel so delighted for the prickly and wooly creature 🙂
Yes! It’s like they are saying, so you think I’m plain huh?????? I’ll show you! 🙂
🙂
Spring is here! I hope you had a wonderful Easter <3
We did thank you and now the orioles have arrived! I am jazzed~
Wonderful!
<3
Definitely an Easter Parade … Are these also in The Holler?
Some were at The Holler, some at The San Diego Botanical Garden and others at The San Diego Safari Park~
Liebe Cindy wunderschöne Fotos hab einen schönen Freitag und 1 April Klaus in Freundschaft
Glucklich April Klaus und danke mein Freund!
Such beautiful flowers, quite a variety. Do they bloom in such profusion every spring?
Sometimes when we have more rain the bloom is much better. We are still water depleted in SoCal although better than last season.
Wow! Fabulous, Cindy! They’re really strutting their stuff, aren’t they? 🙂
They are, as if to say, “You thought I was ugly?” 😉
How exquisite. Would love to see this one day!
I hope you do. The desert in the spring is a beautiful experience. <3
Always beautifully done
You are a lovely blogging friend, my friend. Be well~ <3
Cindy, the incredible contrast that you have created here is something ~ the first photo does not seem possible, which makes it all the more beautiful.
These are my favorite cactus flowers because of the vibrant, as you said almost unbelieveable reds, oranges and yellows. They grow wild all over the mojave desert. So pleased you see them as I do Randall & cheers to you~
Fabulous and colorful set of photos as always, Cindy! The Cacti are amazing and special!
So pleased you enjoyed them & cheers to you Kamila~ <3
beautiful eye candy 🙂
Merci beaucoup mon ami!
These pictures reminded me so much of when we lived in Tucson! …fond memories!!! Thank you for sharing them! I am only sad I am late in seeing them. We did have a Prickly Pear bloom a few weeks ago a beautiful yellow flower. We have been tending to it ever since it was very small.
I am so pleased you enjoyed! Your prickly pear will grow and grow and eventually you will have many cactus flowers! <3
Yes, we plan to create a cactus garden starting with this little rescue. 🙂
Wonderful! Cacti are fascinating~