The cacti along the PCT near me are blooming. While cacti are dependable bloomers, the profusion of flowers has certainly been helped along by the large amount of rain we received this winter and spring. I always wonder that cacti (especially the species of the prickly pear cacti) are not cultivated like roses for their variety of color.

The hedgehog cacti are uniformly colored:

as are the beaver tails:

But the prickly pear blooms range from the “standard” pure yellow

to peach or light pink or red.

Sometimes, there is even a variety of bloom colors on the same plant.

With this natural beauty lining the trail, who needs an artificial garden?