“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”
~Vincent Van Gogh
Teddybear Cholla
Pick Me, Pick Me!
Inner Network
Cholla Beauty
Cholla Cactus Garden
Armed and Dangerous
Cholla Blooms
Remains of the Day
Desert Life
From the Joshua Tree National Park website:
Approximately 12 miles (20 km) south of the park’s north entrance is the 0.25 mile (0.4 km) Cholla Cactus Garden Nature Trail; this flat loop leads hikers through nearly 10 acres (4 hectares) of landscape dominated by the teddybear cholla. This unusual stand of cacti is located in the Pinto Basin, a large expanse of alluvial fans covered with creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) and burrobush (Ambrosia dumosa) for as far as the eye can see. There are very few teddybear cholla stands in the park.
Jane Lurie Photography 
They are amazing! I can see your photos getting better! Keep it up!
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Thank you, Angel. 🙂
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adore the detail – seriously like another planet! thanks for sharing!
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Thank you, Andy. I could spend hours there looking at the Cholla details… definitely out of this world.
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Nice
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Thanks, Ayi. Appreciate you stopping by. 🙂
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I remember being fascinated by these teddybear cholla when we visited Joshua Tree! You have captured them beautifully, especially those back-lit shots 😀
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I’m so glad you’ve seen them, Sarah. So surprising, aren’t they? Glad you like the photos – in the morning sun, I was particularly enamored with the backlighting on them as they waved their spiky arms at me. 🙂 Thanks very much!
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I wasn’t aware of the name Cholla Cactus until now, thank you Jane for educating me through your wonderful images.
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It’s nice to introduce you to them, Cornelia. It’s quite surprising to see. Happy you enjoyed seeing them– thanks very much. 🙂
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Thank you Jane
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Nice! Great Series of images!
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Thanks so much, Reed! 🙂
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Great photos! They almost look like they could be in corral reefs🙃
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Thanks, Josh. You know, you’re right, they could be sea creatures. Appreciate your visit here. 🌵🙂
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Incredible textures, beautifully captured!
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Thanks so much, Karine. So glad you stopped by. 🙂
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Wow! These are gorgeous photos Jane.
Alison
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Thanks so much, Alison. They do fall into “and now for something completely different” category!
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Dude. Duuuuuude. That is the one place I didn’t hit last year that was on my vision board, that flat tire before the weekend sucked. But I’m determined this year. I am so glad I can catch its story up here on your blog. Armed and dangerous! Ha! Yeah cactus totally are 🙂 THANKS for sharing you know I totally dig your photo stories and am giving you The Fonz thumbs up. They always have good feeling.
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Hi Guat, Smiling… Thanks for your great reaction! Sorry you didn’t make it but hopefully this year….just not in summer! Really glad you enjoyed them and I love that you gave me the Fonz thumbs up…aaaaaayyyyyy! 😄 🌵
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“Pick Me, Pick Me, Pick Me?” No Way!! 😉 I trust you kept your distance from the chollas, they’re tricky! Very nice backlighting on the color and B&W images. I love the skeleton – it looks like it was made from silver. The little blooms are interesting, too. I don’t remember seeing any. “Remains of the Day” is another interesting skeleton. I’m glad you chose to see the Cholla Garden, something wonderful that I missed seeing in person when I was there but can appreciate here. I read about a fire killing a huge number of Joshua Trees but most were just outside the park, I think. Did the Joshua trees inside the park look OK?
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Hi Lynn, Haha- I felt like the Chollas were waving at me as I looked through my lens. 🙂 I did find a lone fallen bit of cholla riding on my hiking boot, but other than that, we kept our distance! I thought of you when I was focusing on the skeletons and other details which were fascinating. I think the Cholla garden is often missed since it’s out of the way from the main attractions. Yes, I believe the big loss from the fire was outside of the park.The Joshua Trees inside the main part of the park seemed healthy and fine. They are such cool trees! Thanks so much for your thoughts.
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I saw a T-shirt tangled up in a cholla cactus at Joshua Tree – that was a good warning! A piece on your boot, no problem. 😉 Thanks for refreshing my memory about that fire – I think it was northeast of there – maybe. Anyway, it’s good to know the park is doing well. I enjoyed seeing the difference between the north and south side s of it but it was a long drive. We’re planning a trip to southern Utah for early April, hoping it won’t be too cold in the higher elevations. We’ll fly to LV, rent a jeep, and head northeast. We haven’t decided on which parks yet but we don’t plan to go farther east than Capitol Reef. It’s been a long time since we’ve done a road trip!
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Sounds great! So much to see in Utah- it’s a natural wonderland. 👏🏻
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Beautiful, as always, Jane! Give my best to Gram Parsons next time you’re there!
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Hi Ron, So glad you enjoyed these– thank you. Sad ending for Gram– he loved JT.
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These are beautiful pictures but some of them look a little bit scary 🙂
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Thank you, YC. I think a bit of fear is a good thing when walking around the chollas. There are warnings about avoiding painful encounters! 🙂
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These are beautiful
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Thanks so much, MM. This national park is a stunner. 🙂
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some fascinating structures and textures there!
✨🙏🕉☀🌙⚖🪔🕊♾🈚☯🌍🐲🙋♂️
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Thanks, Graham. They are intriguing to photograph. Glad you enjoyed these. 🌵💚🙂
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“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere” is a fact of life. All cactus 🌵 have inherent beauty within themselves 🏵🌹
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Thanks, VM. That Van Gogh quote hits home, doesn’t it. And I agree, there’s a stoic beauty that cacti exude.
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So unusual. Lovely to look at. Difficult to touch?
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Thanks very much, Sandy. Oh yes, there are many warnings of the pain that would be induced from touching a cholla. 🌵
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😨 scary!
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Fine set! Kind of portrait.. See you, Jane! 🙂
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Thanks so much, Harrie. Glad you enjoyed– these portraits required keeping my distance! 🙂
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Amazing to see them in such profusion! Wonderful details, Jane!
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Thanks, Jo. Agree, it’s particularly amazing and unusual that there are so many in one place. Glad you enjoyed! 🙂
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Wonderful images and captions! We love this park, the teddy bear cholla garden in particular, and having only been able to visit in summer, usually wandered at sun up and sundown to avoid the high temperatures. It’s a spectacular place, truly amazing…
Thanks, Jane!
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Thanks, Adam. I’m so glad you’ve been- you’re brave to have gone in the summer but I’m glad you had a great time. Agree, it is a spectacular and unusual park!
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““If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”
He is completely right, isn’t he. I was introduced to chollas, in so many ways, by my grandfather when I was a child. He had a world class cactus garden. Your photos are magnificent Jane, as is your thinking process.
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Thank you, Cindy. And I’m touched that these brought back such a wonderful memory of your grandfather. Was he in California? Pleased you enjoyed the photos– much appreciated. 🙂
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What an interesting cactus, and in such amazing numbers too!
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Oh wow, Jane! These are absolutely beautiful!!
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Thanks, Lisa. They are a beautiful cactus. Glad you enjoyed the photos! 🙂
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Once again, you stopped me in my tracks. Stunning … and thank you for capturing and sharing the beauty.
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Thanks so much, Frank. These chollas were such fun to see- such a large grouping. Happy Birthday! 🙂
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Wow! 😍 These are beautiful. What an enchanting cactus.
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Thanks, Tara. The cholla garden is quite enchanting. So glad you enjoyed these. 🌵
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So happy that you posted this, Jane. Stunning, as always! Here’s my Joshua Tree story. We set out when we were in the desert over Thanksgiving. I put the wrong entrance into my GPS and we would have had to drive 75 miles through the park to get to the cactus garden and other popular areas. We walked a bit, but there wasn’t much to see at that end of the park. We’ll try again next year! We did visit Sunnyland, which has a lovely cactus garden.
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Hi Susan, Thanks for sharing your JT story. Glad you enjoyed these photos. We did the same thing the first time- entered in the north entrance which is much closer to the famous rock formations and Joshua Trees, but too far for the Cholla Garden. This time we entered in the south entrance and did the Cholla first then drove through the park and exited north. Sunnyland is on my list next time we are in PS. Glad you made it there. 🙂
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The Remains of the Day looks like a loofah, but I’m guessing it might be a bit too excoriating! But cool to see the fibrous structure, as well as the plants thriving and even apparently waving! 😊
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Thanks, Robert- your comment made me smile. So many fascinating things to study in the desert. The cholla does look like it’s greeting people! Such a great national park.
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Cholla Beauty gets my vote but what do I know about Photography. More BxW it is what painters do not excel in, we have them there!!
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Hi Marc, Thanks! I do love how these work so well in B&W. We do have them there. But what do we know? 😄
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We are the more intuitive because we get to make more images that express the beauty of Nature.
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Looks like a perfect getaway…. but beware of cuddly cholla! They are most definitely not for picking! So very armed and dangerous! As always great to see your fun with captions. My desert rat from days gone by explained “the remains of the day” to me when we encountered it. I brought a remnant of one home… it’s a fascinating structure. Mother Nature creative and inventive as always. 🙏😏
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Hi Gunta, Fun to read your reaction to these- of which you are quite familiar from your desert days. Glad the captions made you smile and that these brought back good memories. I agree, the internal designs are fascinating! Thanks so much, as always. 😊🌵
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I’d never heard of the cholla cactus garden at Joshua Tree till the day we visited in 2016. Having spent most of our time in the northern part of the park, we exited via the southern part and managed to catch the cholla garden near sunset. It’s good that you’ve made people aware of its existence.
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Thanks, Steve. I’m glad you saw them. We didn’t our first time since we came in on the other side, but this time entered the park nearer to the Chollas. Happy we did – it is a treat to see.
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I just watched a BBC program about desert plants today, including this cholla cactus and the importance of the creosote bushes. Absolutely fascinating. You wouldn’t want to get too close to them, cuddly teddy bears they are not.
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That must have been a great show, Jude. It is quite a thrill to see so many all together. Only one grabbed my hiking boot but I came away unscathed. Glad you liked these- thanks so much.
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Hi Jane, love the shots you have a special gift for capturing close ups! it’s on my bucket list to spend the night there.
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Thanks, Michael. Love Joshua Tree and it would be an extraordinary experience to see the night skies there. Hope you get there soon. 🙂
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This is amazing, I love Cholla! I’ve never seen so many in one place around Las Vegas like this, beautiful photos! ❤️🌵
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Thanks, John! They are quite amazing to see in such large numbers. Not sure where else you would find it. Glad you enjoyed! 💚🌵
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Nice set, Jane. Such a prickly subject! 🙂
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Thanks, Eliza. I was happy to see this on our visit to JT this time. So pretty in the sunlight.
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Excellent photos as always, Jane, and your captions are masterful: Pick Me, Pick Me and Armed & Dangerous really capture the mood!
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Thanks so much, Babsje. This park is a thrill. Had fun with the captions- glad you enjoyed! 😃
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How Fab is that…I love ALL Cacti
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Thanks, Paula. Me, too! These were incredible to see in such large numbers. This is a fantastic park.
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Hello Jane. Again great photos! Are they current? I would also like to live in an area where the sun shines more. In any case, this Central European winter is something of a dull and gray one😬
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Hi Detlef, Yes, I visited last week. It was quiet and not too hot. A fabulous park! Thank you!
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