Saturday, May 23, 2009

Sunday Stills: The Color Yellow

This week's challenge is the color yellow. Be sure to check out the other Sunday Stills photos. Also yesterday I photographed a Luna Moth on my windowsill, which was a yellow-green, so check that out too!

We had a storm roll in and give us another couple of inches of much needed rain. It made for more dramatic photography. Here's some of the interesting parasitic plant, Dodder, floating in the river that I photographed for the Black and White challenge two weeks ago. Its spaghetti-like form is really interesting.




The rest are the flower of the Prickly Pear Cactus, Opuntia engelmannii, which grows in the sunny prairies of my farm.




When the flower falls off the fruiting body holding it--the prickly pear--will ripen to a dark red. In Spanish it is called a tuna, and makes a delicious jelly. The pads are called nopales, and once the thorns are removed are cut into small pieces called nopalitos which are added to salsa or steamed like green beans . Living so close to Mexico, it is common to see all of these sold in the produce section of our local grocery store.

20 comments:

Ed said...

Sweet!! Love the PP flower..:-)

Linda said...

Great shots, we have what we call horse cactus here that is somewhat similar to your prickly pear. It has the same yellow flowers but I've never tried eating the pads.

Pony Girl said...

Beautiful shots! You have a very creative eye. I hope you are having a great weekend!

Nivin Kadar said...

Great Shots! I love the first three shots, they looks a bit special for me. Lovely! :D

J9 said...

The flower on that prickly pear is very pretty. We can get nopales here at a restaurant - it's really good!

thecrazysheeplady said...

Beautiful shots! We have prickly pear in a few places in KY, but I've never seen it bloom.

The Wife said...

Great pics. I took some of our cactus blossoms this week too. Great minds...

gigi said...

I don't beleive I have ever seen a prickly pear. That is way cool. I love your yellow!
Happy weekend.

CTG Ponies said...

Love the prickly pear!

WhimsybyMari said...

I have a PP in my front flower box, in Kentucky. Every year it gives me the most beautiful blooms. The downside? Everyone gets thorns if they get anywhere near them.

VioletSky said...

We don't have anything resembling prickly pear here, so thank for the informative post. Great photos of the closeup.

Carla said...

Great shots of the prickly pear flowers. Mine are all full of those crazy beetles that eat them.

flowerweaver said...

CeeCee, perhaps you are talking about the Cochineal beetles. They lay their larvae in the strange white fuzzy stuff which is worth about $60 an ounce.

The Navajos use it to dye their wool purple for their rugs. If you lived through the 50-70's it was also used as food coloring. I don't think we would have eaten it if we'd known! Thank goodness for labeling now.

Kelly said...

Pretty pics...even if the dodder is invasive!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Wonderful and fascinating photos all....and a few new things learned, too.

Thanks and have a great weekend!

~Lisa

Jen Mo said...

Oh wow, just love the prickly pear!!! The moth is great too!

lisa said...

Great pictures, love the cactus.

Far Side of Fifty said...

What a great bunch of yellow! The cactus shots are very well done, I also liked the explanation..I learn something new everyday! :)

Andrea said...

Great shots.....so creative and colourful! :)

EarthNSky said...

Beautiful photography Sage! I'm not close to Mexico at all, but all the grocers here sell nopalitos and other Spanish items. We have a large immigrant population here. I have a prickly pear, started it from one pad; it's three years old and two feet tall now..multiple pads. I've gotta find a permanent place for them. Most folks in these parts put them near their mailboxes, but I want to see mine! I love them!

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