A very uncooperative Prickly Pear - Perservere - Teenager

Prickly Pear, AZ Gardens, Stanford  University

This very uncooperative Prickly Pear keeps her face turned away. 

She knows how to use her prickles to her best advantage.

I finally catch her blooming when she isn’t looking.

Once upon a time my daughter was a teenager.

I know all about perseverance.

Prickly Treats

AZ Gardens, Stanford University

Can you imagine a better treat, than a Prickly Pear in full bud?

 

Shall We Dance ? Stanford Arboretum Cactus Friends

Alluring Stag Horn Cholla dancing withBeavertail Pkicklypear 

Shall we Dance?

On a bright cloud of music, shall we fly?

Shall we then say goodnight, and mean goodbye?

OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II;RICHARD RODGERS, The King and I

A Southwestern Soul (Hiking San Luis Obispo)

Prickly Pear Fantasia
Click on the illustration above for an in-depth view

Up where I live, San Francisco way, we don't see much in the way of prickly pear cactus, unless it's been planted (though it will often thrive for generations once it's been introduced). When we see these needles growing on their own, we think southwest. As I said when I first wrote about this hike on my weekend trip to San Luis Obispo ( SLO Field Trip: Madonna Mountain), there's both a southern and a northern CA feel to San Luis Obispo.