As many of the shrubs and small trees here are thorny, they offer a fair degree of protection to other plants growing up beneath them. Or perhaps, in this case, it was other way round. At any rate, it’s not uncommon to find a cholla cactus rampaging upward in the shelter of mesquite or acacia.
Today’s post features one such pairing. This is the redoubtable cholla—probably Cylindropuntia imbricata or else C. spinosior—growing beside and within the whitethorn acacia, Vachellia constricta.
And for the moment, both are in flower, while a taller foothills palo verde (Parkinsonia microphylla) forms a mass of golden bloom just beside them. If you look carefully at the lower right hand corner of this picture, you can even see a prickly pear pad with a yellow flower on it.
There are a lot of beautiful flowers in this scene, and plenty of spines!
This particular cholla has warm pink flowers.
The whitethorn acacia has tiny yellow blooms that hang like Christmas baubles amongst its feathery foliage. Here it is flowering between old, dried out stems of the cholla.
But in many places the bloom stems are essentially intertwined. The blending of the two plants is rather spectacular.
Thank you to Cathy for hosting Wild and Weedy Wednesday!
It is amazing how these plants seem to interact with each other and complement each other. What a beautiful scene - from a safe distance though, with all those prickles! 😉
Your desert garden opens a whole new world, Amy. The combination of these plants is both lovely and intriguing.