I grew up around barrel cactus and never noticed until this weekend that they point south. Apparently, the other name for this cactus is “compass cactus”. Photographed a few days ago at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in Pasadena, California.
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MK pix 
Huntington Gardens – one of our favorite places!! Great shot, and I had no idea about the south pointing. ~SueBee
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One of my favorite places also. I live quite near, so I visit frequently. I spend most of my time outside, not in the galleries.
On Mon, Dec 9, 2013 at 9:02 PM, MK photographs
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I’ll bet you also go to Arcadia Arboretum and Descanso Gardens, right? We’re so lucky living in this area… so many beautiful places!
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Thanks for reminding me! I’ve been to both, but more frequently to Descanso than to the Arboretum. I am also a huge fan of our many museums. On any day I can happily choose between the Zoo, the Huntington, LACMA, the Getty, Pacific Asia Museum, the Norton Simon Museum, Venice Beach, Switzer Falls, Abalone Cove …
Yes, we have an embarrassment of riches, that’s for sure. I enjoy your blog because you visit places that I don’t even know about. More to do!
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It really is incredible here! Glad you find our blog useful!! đŸ™‚
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wow how cool are those cactus
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Aren’t they? There are over 100 acres of gardens at this place. My favorite is the desert garden; there is always something in bloom, and the birds cover it with a net of beautiful sound.
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Does look like they are all gathered there, waiting for something.
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I thought so too! The sun was setting, so I knew which direction was west. But they weren’t looking toward the sun as I assumed they might. I had never seen a flock of barrel cactus before, so I never noticed this phenomena.
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Elephant Butte Lake in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico was about the northern limit of barrel cactus in the Chihuahuan Desert; I only found them on south facing hillsides, leaning south and downhill. Interesting the same phenomenon occurs elsewhere!
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There you go! You noticed that the cacti were on south-facing hillsides. I grew up around these fellows and never noticed until this particular day. I really need to work on that observant thing.
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