June 15, 2009

Cactus Canter - My World



More rain than usual has has led to a beautiful desert spring.
We cantered over the sand hills, stopping often to admire the flowers.
Prickly pear cactus are blooming all over the desert. Some are pink ...
and some are yellow.
We didn't recognize this plant with its unusual flowers and had to look it up. It's spiny hop-sage (Grayia Spinosa). The male and female flowers are found on separate plants. The one above is female, which has brighter colors.
This is a nearby hop-sage bush with the less colorful male flowers. I'm holding one of the pink female flowers to demonstrate the difference.
Big game and livestock browse on these plants. Native Americans ground the dried seeds to make flour. Did we outrun the rain again? Well... almost. We only got a little wet.
For a peek into other worlds, click here.

40 comments:

  1. Look at Boss kick up the dust!

    So very colorful. I like the spiny hop-sage. Never saw one of those before.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Such beautiful desert flowers! I love seeing your adventures!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Desert plants are so lovely! Love the vivid pink blossoms.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Janie. Looks like you all had a great ride despite the rain...

    Gorgeous cactus blooms. Is Daisy still MISSING the thorns??? Hope so!!!

    GiVEAWAY on my blog today only.

    Have a great day.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Janie. I especially love the photo of riding over the hill with those gorgeous clouds in the background. Hmmm, and the female hop-sage is brighter...tee-hee! :o)

    ReplyDelete
  6. These plants are so unusual and a pleasure to look at. They have very hard-to-remember names don't they!

    Horse back looks great in the desert.

    CJ xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wonderful shots from the trail. I love the diversity of cactus you get in the desert.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It is a pleasure to come to your journal...I love seeing the cactus in bloom! Seeing the desert is amazing to me.
    Sherry

    ReplyDelete
  9. These are beautiful cactus blossoms. I've never seen the blossoms of a hop-sage bush before. It's interesting that there are male and female plants.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love your photos and going along for the ride with you! Beautiful flowers!
    Thanks for sharing a slice of your world with us.

    Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've never seen that hop sage before but I've seen the others. They're wonder when they flower like that. Great shots of the desert which certainly has a beauty all its own.
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gorgeous dessert flowers. Thanks!
    Your stormy skies resemble a glacier.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Those are gorgeous flowers. Thanks for sharing your world.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your pictures are just breathtaking.
    Looks like a lot of fun!

    ReplyDelete
  15. i like the cactus flowers. gee, those flowers are really sturdy and beautiful! Your horses look grand. Must be wonderful to be riding them.

    My world is here

    ReplyDelete
  16. Love this post... the 2nd photo is awesome. The clouds are beautiful, Boss's mane is flying, his nostrils are flaring, just gorgeous!

    And the cactus flowers are absolutely beautiful. How unusual that the female plant is more bright and colorful; usually in the animal kingdom the male is more colorful. Perhaps that rule does not apply with plants?

    ReplyDelete
  17. The rain certainly brings out the wildflowers and wonderful bursts of color to ride through. I like that action shot of Steve and Boss. Spiny hopsage is a new one for me.

    ReplyDelete
  18. very cool pics, love seeing the different colors.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for the tour of the desert. Those flowers are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Such a beautiful place I really enjoyed the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  21. As long as there wasn't any lightning in the clouds getting wet is fine.

    ReplyDelete
  22. For some reason desert flowers are always the prettiest.

    ReplyDelete
  23. these are beautiful shots. i have never been to an actual desert so this blog is a welcome addition of blogs to visit. thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  24. What a great day and the flowers are beautiful. Thank you for sharing your part of the world with us Janie!
    Blessings and smiles

    ReplyDelete
  25. I love the second photo, a great capture. I'm also glad you managed to almost out run the rain...although I guess it will make the cactus blooms even more spectacular.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I absolutely love the second picture! It looks like a movie poster :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Wow, I didn't realize that cactus had such beautiful flowers. Thanks for sharing them.

    ReplyDelete
  28. lovely pix with the horses and desert backdrop.

    klike out of a hollywood western!

    ReplyDelete
  29. I never knew the this area was just so pretty.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Great shots!
    What a lovely place to go riding.

    ReplyDelete
  31. How wonderfully splendid! The desert in bloom is a sight to behold. Do you have to wath where the horses step with all those spiky plants about. I know a hors's hide is thik and how hard it is to give one an injection. I also know cactus needles are so tough you we used to use them to play the gramophone.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Those wildflowers are just so lovely..

    Wonderful country to ride through.

    Very cool shots !!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Impressive cactus flower pictures! And I like the action shot of Boss. It has been nice to get all of this rain, but I'm ready for the warm weather that is on the way.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Janie: Love the flowers you were able to see in the brush. Cacti are great when flowered.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Thanks you for sharing your desert world. It's so beautiful and different from my urban/suburban community. :)

    ReplyDelete
  36. Great to see the desert flowering...back in 95 or so, I was camping in the southwest in the spring in what I understand was the last time there was enough rain...guess things always do come back around, in the natural world, at least...

    ReplyDelete
  37. The cacti blooms are amazing!!! I would imagine that in drier years there would hardly be any blooms at all.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Oh, how beautiful. Some year I'm going to get out to the desert while the flowers are blooming. Until then, I'll live vicariously through your photos.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin