Digital Photography Diary - Prickly Pear Cactus - Page 1
This diary section is dedicated to my friend Rob Ford, who wants some really big cactus.
I took these photos in May 2001.
I live in southeastern New Mexico near the Texas border. The area is rural with a lot of desert. It is quite common to see cow skulls or even whole skeletons lying out there by a patch of cactus or in a bed of sand.
The vegetation is mostly scrub brush, mesquite, sage, yucca and cacti. During May and June the whole desert bursts with a profusion of color that changes from morning till dusk, only to begin anew with every sunrise. Flowers in almost every color imaginable cover plants that don't appear to be able to have that much color most of the year. Everything from fragile periwinkle blue and pale pink to intense reds and deep purples make the desert seem more alive than at any other time of the year.
Last year on a photo taking excursion, while looking for interesting windmills, we found this beauty out in the middle of a field full of these vicious plants. It may not look vicious now but when it bears fruit it will be covered with fine spines that will cover your whole hand just by getting close to it. You don't actually have to touch. Those spines burn like bee stings and you can have a hundred of them in a very small area. I did just that while trying to transplant this one. I had cactus spines from my thumb to halfway up the inside of my forearm.
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