Today for the first time, the mystery prickly pear bloomed, taking away all hope that my strange prickly pear was the fuchsia-flowered Opuntia basilaris. Instead, I got this beautiful lemon yellow flower. Any flowers on this cactus are welcome, but I'm disappointed that it wasn't the species listed on the label. As I discussed in a previous post, identity of this cactus with its odd pads has been elusive, even for the elite experts at Desert Botanical Garden.
Yellow is the predominant color in the desert. It seems that most of the trees, flowers, and shrubs that grow well here have various hues of yellow flowers or foliage, so what's one more! Still, I really wanted those fuchsia flowers....
6 comments:
What a shame you did not get what you wanted, but it still a magnificent bloom.
I hate getting mislabeled plants! I didn't know that yellow is a predominant color. In the rose world, that's pink.
Oh, I am so sorry, Aiyana. Yellow is good, but fuschia would have been STUPENDOUS! I feel your pain!!!
I'm sorry to hear that you didn't get the colour of flower you had hoped for. Fuchsia ones would have been more dramatic, especially if yellow is the colour most often seen in desert flowers. Like NikkiP, I didn't know this.
That's an Optunia Santa Rita :-)
Beaver Tail Cactus have remarkable fuchsia flowers
Thanks Topper Bottom. I did figure that out after I went back to the nursery where I bought it. They admit that many of their plants are mislabeled. They claim most people don't care and really don't know the difference. After that, I depend on friends to spare a pad when I see the flowers!
Post a Comment