The SHAD0W's Online Photo Album
The Flowers	When I purchased the house in El Paso, there was no landscaping; I had to do the entire thing from scratch.  One thing I did was get a raised planting bed in front of the house, intending to fill it with flowering plants.  Then I decided to go with zero maintenance landscaping (requiring almost no water), and filled the bed with cacti and succulents.  I wasn't expecting much in the way of flowers.  Boy was I wrong.
		click each photo for a larger image
	Here's a photo of the planting bed, with a few different varieties of plants, including dwarf agave, two different types of hedgehog cactus, rainbow cacti, and a Mexican succulent.		hi-res version
	I knew cacti flowered, but I wasn't expecting so many flowers from a single plant!  First, I saw a bud.  Then I saw a LOT of buds.  In this photo the first bud is opening.		hi-res version
	Just a few days later, and I had a number of red and yellow flowers.  The leaves shone in the sun, making big bullseyes for pollinating insects.		hi-res version
	I think the landscaper made a mistake in giving me two of the hedgehog cacti; the pink variety are rare in El Paso, and she was trying to breed more before selling them.		hi-res version
	Another pink and yellow flower from a hedgehog cactus.		hi-res version
	A month later, and the rainbow cacti flowered spectacularly; only one flower apiece, but they were bigger around than the tips of the barrels.  The big greenish yellow flowers closed at night to protect themselves from the chilly air.		hi-res version
Questions?  You can contact me at theshadow@shambala.net.