Grizzly Cactus Buds

I'll be posting pictures of the grizzly prickly pear cactus flowers before too long, but I wanted to give you a good look at what the young buds look like.

They will be soon closing up to look like a typical flower bud. There are dozens of them on my cactus right now.

This particular plant is my pride and joy. I raised it from one pad stuck in the ground. It's now almost 5 ft (1.5m) long and 3 ft (1m) tall.

I also rarely see this particular type of prickly pear. There are others much more common than the grizzly in this area.