Strangle Weed is one of the old common names for Dodder (Cuscuta) and that describes its behavior perfectly. It is a parasite that kills whatever it takes over. It was interesting to find out that Cuscuta is a problem world wide.
For those who wondered why I stopped suddenly as we were leaving our TT climb adventure last month, below is what I saw. It was the first time I’d seen Cuscuta blooming so it was pretty exciting….to me anyway 🙂
Tag Archives: blooms
bud nippers
I’ve been watching my Hedgehog Cactus developing big fat flower buds and looking forward to multiple blooms. Javelina nipped that in the bud. Ha! pun 🙂 They came through and chomped off almost every bud! Oh well…..that’s the price of wanting to enjoy wildlife.
So far they haven’t touched my two Claret Cups. Maybe they only like local native food 🙂
eye candy
Our native Fishhook Barrel (Ferocactus wislizeni) is also known as Candy Barrel Cactus. Blooms range in color from this yummy brilliant red to yellow.
Fish Hook barrel blooms
I was hoping for a full ring of flowers on this Fish Hook Barrel at the end of the driveway. It probably won’t happen this time. The blooms are best in the middle of the day. (Should have used a diffuser).
bee
Flowers are still showing up! This weekend it was the Echinopsis huascha (aka red torch cactus) and it was loaded with blooms. I took one document shot (below) and then switched to my macro lens to capture this bee. (180 macro with 500D added. ISO 400 wide open. Handheld)
Echinopsis candicans
We were treated to two more blooms yesterday. This time from our Argentine Giant (Echinopsis candicans).
I just relocated our specimen because it didn’t seem happy where it was. So far so good and we’re hoping it becomes a monster bloomer like the one next door. It took our breath away the first time we saw it!
kitchen sunset view
Palo Verde trees are still in full bloom and we’re lucky to have a large one outside our kitchen window. Below is a close-up of the blooms.
saguaro cactus blooming time
The above photo was taken with my 40D but the close-up below was shot with my Canon S5 IS. I’m always amazed at its ability to capture action and detail!
Encelia farinosa
Brittlebush is beginning to bloom around the house….a sign of Spring. A pretty name for a pretty flower. It’s also easy to pronounce so I think I have this one down 🙂