APPEARING FLOWER BOUQUET

Cactus Flowers (Look West Series)

Cactus flowers provide some of nature's biggest surprises.
From drab greenish plants that bristle with vicious spines, blossoms burst out in an extraordinary array of colors, including sizzling salmon-pink, sulfur yellow, cerise, mauve, magenta, flaming orange stripes, and pure wax white. Some bloom at 115 degrees F; some bloom only after rain, some exclusively at night; and many are lavish with fragrance and pollen. All in all, cactus flowers are anything but shrinking violets. This vivid addition to the Look West Series includes basic succulent information and horticultural tips as well as a little cactus folklore and, of course, a dazzling desert garden of full-color photographs.

About the series: Look West: What do you find? Wide, wild landscapes...extraordinary plants and animals...rugged people rich in history...ghost towns and working ranches...ancient pueblos and ultramodern urban areas. In the West, coyotes howl. Native Americans endure and flourish. Kokopelli, the mythical humpbacked flute player, prances across the cliff dwellings and into popular cultureand thousands of curio shops. Every small, handsome book in Rio Nuevo Publishers' Look West series presents a unique aspect of the American West. Using words and pictures, each volume explores a special Western topic or phenomenon, and all have been written and illustrated by regional experts. Each of these attractive 6 x 6-inch hardcover books contains 64 pages of text, illustrations, and photographs. And each one allows the reader to capture the spirit of the West in the palm of a hand. 45 full-color photographs and illustrations

Cactus flowers blooming in Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Monday, June 27, 2011. Cacti are flowering plants with green, fleshy stems which have a waxy coat to retain water. They have spines, as opposed to leaves, and some have glochids, which are tiny barbed bristles. Grand Canyon cacti most commonly have flowers of red, purple or yellow. The majority grow in the inner canyon, although several species are found on the rim. Some of the common catus species found in the park are the California barrel, fishhook, beavertail, desert prickly pear, claretcup hedgehog, Englemann hedgehog, and whipple cholla. NPS photo by Michael Quinn

Another cactus flower shot top view from our garden of pots

Walter Matthau stars as Julian Winston, an easy-going bachelor dentist whose delicately balanced scheme crumbles under some unexpected circumstances. Winston is stringing along his dizzy blonde mistress, Toni (Goldie Hawn), by telling her he has a wife and children. When he learns that Toni has tried to commit suicide over him, however, he promises to marry her. Toni, refusing to be a homewrecker, insists on meeting Winston's wife. He convinces Stephanie (Bergman)--his starched, no-nonsense receptionist--to pose as his wife, and there are unforeseen twists and surprises for everyone.