Late Spring snow in the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, accompanied by original music.
Read MorePhoto of the day - 20 May 2017
In the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, Utah.
No chest of gems could match it.
The amazing textures and colors strewn over the landscape of Petrified Forest National Park near Holbrook, Arizona. Gun metal alabaster chalk dust on corduroy mahogany bubbles. Sawdust in snow on scorched jerky leather lightning pearlescent mustard chrome. Diamond charcoal velvet frayed cowhide smoke frozen seawater glass.
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"Mountain ball" cactus blooming - time lapse
Pediocactus simpsonii in bloom. The flowers open in sunlight and close in shadow.
Photos of the day - "mountain ball" cactus
Pediocactus simpsonii, a small but stunningly beautiful cactus is commonly called "hedgehog" or "pincushion" cactus [those names are also commonly applied to other cacti], but my favorite nickname for it is "mountain ball cactus". This one has always bloomed in the last few days of May into the first week in June - but this year it is two weeks early.
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[I have previously posted images of this particular cactus and called it a "Mammillaria", a closely-related genus. Mea culpa.]