STYLE : GARDENS : Pointed Desert

If the message of a rose is “Come closer,” the cactus cries, “Stay back.” And yet, there’s something eternally fascinating about a colony of cacti, tough survivors from a world that has no pity for the weak. Their forms are almost infinitely various, recalling piled-up plates, hairy clubs and thorny pincushions.

Collecting cacti can be an obsession for people who like subtlety and independence in their plants. For the last five years, the owners of this Pasadena garden have devoted a small hill by their driveway to such rare specimens as a giant, forked saguaro, a 7-foot-tall old man of the Andes and a crested blue cereus.

Designed by Sammy Thongthiraj of the California Cactus Center in Pasadena and Gary Lyons, former curator of the Desert Garden at the Huntington Botanical Gardens, the hillside suggests an extraterrestrial landing spot that is just a stone’s throw from a rose garden. According to the owners, the cacti require less maintenance than hybrid teas but demand far more from the observer: “Some flower only at night, with incredible, unexpected sweetness. Others bloom only for one day. You’ve got to pray that you’re home--and paying attention.”