Friday photo – Blooming hedgehog cactus in Sedona
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Hedgehog cactus - beauty among the rocks
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One nice thing about visiting the desert in the spring is the flowers that add splashes of color to the landscape. It’s amazing how even the forbidding cacti, covered in treacherous thorns, have these beautiful blooms. It almost doesn’t seem to go together.
These little hedgehogs are just a few inches tall, and the blossoms are nearly as big as the plants themselves.
As for the name? Looking at these adorable baby hedgehogs, it’s easy to see the resemblance!
Baby hedgehogs
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We’ll be headed back to Sedona soon, for our Sedona Red Rock Getaway. The mesquite trees are in bloom now, and the palo verdes will be coming soon. With any luck, we’ll see plenty of blooming hedgehogs while we’re there too. 
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11 responses so far ↓
1 Amitesh Kumar // Mar 21, 2009 at 8:50 pm
The resemblance is remarkable.I am stunned and still gazing at these beautiful hedgehogs.
2 sonica // Mar 21, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I love gardens and flowers and have seen enough of cactus at flower shows usually with wonderful flowers in brilliant colors. But this cacti is something new for me and the size and shape of the flower resembles that of Aster. It is amazing to see such a big flower on top of a very small cactus.
3 Deanna Keahey // Mar 22, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Sonica – You’re right – it does look something like an aster, and it doesn’t look like it quite fits on that cactus.
Amitesh – Aren’t those the cutest things?
4 Michael Ray // Apr 1, 2009 at 12:09 am
Thank you for sharing this lovely moment, and the cactus do resemble the hedgehogs. Just watch out for the latter when they’re grown up though!
5 Deanna // Apr 2, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Michael – I don’t know how big and prickly they grow up to be, but they’re pretty adorable as babies. There may be a mom somewhere who wasn’t too happy when this pic was taken, though!
Deanna’s last blog post.. San Juan Islands – The ferry ride
6 cope // Apr 2, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Nice shot! I love the colors in that photo. Those purples are amazing. I wish I had time to get out into the desert. I love the flora of that environment.
7 Deanna Keahey // Apr 3, 2009 at 10:02 am
Copy – I don’t get out as much as I’d like, either (all comes back to that “never enough time” issue). But every time I’m out there, I think “Gee, I should do this more often!”
I’d really like to go out often enough to catch the whole flowering cycle of an individual plant, rather than just snapshots in time.
8 Enlastnaf // Apr 7, 2009 at 2:43 am
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9 Pattaya Pete // May 30, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I haven’t been up to Sedona in years, it really does have some fabulous places to hike and take pictures.
From looking at your destinations list, you really do make it around the globe. I’m jealous.
Pattaya Pete’s last blog post.. Holiday In Pattaya Thailand
10 Deanna Keahey // Jun 8, 2009 at 10:01 am
Pete – Sedona really is gorgeous. Of course Thailand’s not bad either. (-:
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