What the Rain Brought Forth

Some rain falling from the sky and blam . . . the cholla cactus in the front yard blooms.

It sits out in the front yard gravel and gets no attention, no water, no care. Then it rains, like it did a couple days ago for the first time in months, and within hours it bursts into flower.

This is a tree cholla, Cylindropuntia imbricata. Someone had planted it just before we moved in. It was tiny then, and despite no care and no water other than the occasional deluge, it has grown each year we've been here. I think it might get way too big for the space in our front yard, and sooner rather than later.

People are always amazed that we don't live in Arizona amid saguaro cactuses and dry exotic succulents. We don't. We live at 7,000 feet in the mountain uplands and it's too cold for desert plants. But it's dry enough. And chollas grow here well enough.

I never would have planted this. Most of the time my only thought is to avoid it -- the spines are nasty things that will find your soft spots when you walk by. But after neglect, avoidance and indifference, here it is blooming after a little bit of rain, with beautiful magenta flowers and I have to take notice.