Back in 1966 when I was under the tutelage of my wise old grandmother, I had a little cactus garden. Nothing but cactus. Little plants with spines and thorns. Lots of owees did I get. They were painful, but nothing that a teenager couldn’t handle. If I could handle grandmother whippings with an oleander switch, heck, I could handle just about anything.
Fast forward 50 years and the closest I get to those little plants with those spines and thorns is about four inches away but protected by the lens of my camera.
Last Friday I went to the Super Succulents Celebration hosted by Waterwise Botanicals in Bonsall, about 40 miles north of where I live.
Since waterwise plants include cactus, there were a lot of cactus on the grounds of this huge plant nursery comprising over twenty not-flat acres. Speaking from experience, don’t try to walk all those acres at one time.
Having been there before, I knew to take my Canon 760D camera and all three of my lenses, a Tamron 18-300m, a Tamron 90mm macro, and a Tamron 150-600mm. There were so many plants in bloom that all I used was my macro lens.
Here are four of my favorite cactus spine and thorn macro pictures:
If you look closely at the third picture, you can see a few translucent circles at the bottom of that spine. Those are raindrops. It had rained earlier that day, so I got lots of extraordinary macro pictures of raindrops on cactus and succulents. I will share them in my next post.
Russel Ray Photos 
Wow! These are very unique plants. (Zoey looks very interested in whatever is outside the window.) It reminds me of my post https://thismademesmiletoday.wordpress.com/2017/12/12/the-indoor-cat/
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You do get up close and personal. I think the fourth picture is the prettiest.
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These could produce some real pain! You and your camera made getting close look easy. Love the angle of the first one. I don’t have cactus in my yard – seen enough out in the pasture but I do enjoy seeing Spanish daggers in bloom as they are almost like lilies.
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Owee indeed! I have a couple of cacti myself and I’ve learned to treat them with a great deal of respect. 🙂
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I didn’t find out until last month at the San Diego Cactus & Succulent Society meeting that the Christmas cactus actually is a cactus. I always thought it was a mis-named succulent. I mean, where are its pointy owee things? I recently bought a prickly pear cactus that also has no pointy owee things on it. Uh, it’s called “prickly pear.” Where are the pricklies?
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On the fruit! lol We actually get prickly pear fruit in our supermarkets every now and then. The shop provides tongs to pick them up with and there’s a big sign warning shoppers of the danger. 😀
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My wise old grandmother used to make Prickly Pear Jam. I was so disappointed when it tasted absolutely nothing like pears.
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lmao! So what did it taste like? I can’t imagine it would be earth shattering?
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My wise old grandmother made the best fig preserves using figs from our back yard trees. I liked it a lot more than the prickly pear jam. I have never had a desire to try anyone else’s prickly pear jam.
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Ah, that says it all. I shall definitely not go out of my way to try one then. 🙂
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Ouch! but they are beautiful!
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Cacti are quite beautiful. I don’t live in an area where they grow naturally, so I forget how intricate and lovely they can be. Thanks for these gorgeous photos.
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I have some acquaintances who grow cacti in Minnesota and upstate New York…….. in their greenhouses!……..lol
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