Blogger See, Blogger Do

Absolutely because I was reminded to check by this post of Xericstyle's about her gorgeous native Uvalde Texas barrel cacti in bloom, I went right out with my camera to see if my first ever flower bud on the native cholla had opened up.  First blooms are always special, and I get a little extra excited about taking pictures of every one.

I was totally that way with my children, weren't you?  We probably have 538 photos from the first 3 weeks of our first born child's life.  When it came to the second child, I still took lots of photos, but we'd learned to relax a bit by then (or exhaustion had worn us down - sort of the same thing) and did not feel the same urgency to record every single yawn, smile, and puzzled frown.

Our children are grown now (for whatever reason I refuse to call them adults though they are chronologically eligible) and honestly, if I can get two photos a year of either one I count myself fortunate.  So now I take my photographic urges out into the garden beds and fuss over the other babies - the plants.

But back to the bloom.  It is a good thing Heather motivated me to check back, because...ta daaaa!  The first flower ever to grace the cholla plant is open for business.

I'm pretty sure this is a Cylindropuntia imbricata.  It came unlabeled as a gift in one of those small mixed cacti garden dish bowls, years ago.  I moved it (gingerly) from this pot to that until I decided to take a deep breath and give it a bed to dominate.

I say dominate, because this guy gets big when released into the ground, and is so very prickly that weeding and working around one of any size is precarious.

At least for a gardener as uncoordinated as I am.  There's no telling when or where I might lurch or land as I unceremoniously yank or stretch to weed or prune.  Zigging when you should zag around a cholla?  No, thank you very much!  But with a sweet flower like this much can be forgiven, wouldn't you agree?