Please click on photos to enlarge.
The hairs on the Old Man Cactus are modified spines and serve to protect the plant from frost and sun by reflecting the rays of the sun and insulating the cactus from heat and cold. The hairs are only the radial spines of the cactus; beneath them are sharp yellow central spines. The solitary, nocturnal flowers are red, yellow, or white, though the plant may not flower for 10 or 20 years. Since I don’t know if I’ll be around that long, I’m going to share these photos of these flower guardians which are as beautiful as flowers in my estimation!.
See Cee’s lovely tulip cluster with lots of real flowers HERE.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Here are shots of the entire plants. Don’t get excited. What looks like a flower is actually a bird of paradise flower peeking out from behind the cactus. We will have to wait at least 10 years for these ladies to bloom.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
My mom put a little curler on hers. It was pretty funny.
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I had one, and it was huge, but it up and froze before it ever bloomed, guess it needed longer hair after all~!
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Yes. More suited to my climate than yours.
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I have several like that, mostly succulents, but the pots are too large and heavy to carry inside and out as I get older so I have a rolling flat to move them. I lost many bromeliads and orchids due to this. The largest bromeliad was “Ladies Tresses” and was over four feet across~! I have a “sun-porch” connected to my “man cave where the spa and sauna are.
In cold weather I move these plants inside that “sun-porch”, note the quote, it is a rather dirty place with all the plants there and never much used as a place to sit and enjoy the Sun, but the plants do enjoy the full glass wall, and it doubles as the place where the Cat Box, bird seed, and Cat food is stored, and it is a pass through for the three doggy doors.
They enter the warm “Man Cave” from my South porch, then into the “sun porch” and lastly into my bedroom.. So far the coons have only found their way as far as the sun porch, where they broke open and raided the cat food and bird seed, (several times) but some night I may wake up to a big coon sitting on my bed.
That want really happen because my “watch dog” hears each of the doggy doors “flapping” and runs toward the sound, barking~! So in the past I use a “have a heart” trap to catch the culprit and Tami and I take it far away to a wild life park along the Pedernales River.
Actually Tami does not agree that they should be removed, she seems to think that they “belong” here as part of the family.
That reminds me, I need to get out there and water those plants~!
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Cool photos Judy 😀
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Never seen one like this before!
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I planted these in the planters my cats created by knocking over the large sculptures that were on either side of my entry.
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