Chollas are among the most unpleasant of all cacti to accidentally brush up against since they’re covered in spines that bear tiny barbs that make them extremely difficult to remove from anything in which they become lodged. Merely brushing up against the cholla plant is enough to lodge their spines, so gardeners who grow cholla gardens should always take care not to touch them.However, Cylindropuntia plants can work well when grown together, especially because of the weird aesthetic charm that these plants can have; for instance, C. bigelovii, or the teddy bear cholla, has such soft-looking yellow spines that it resembles a stuffed animal. (Not that you’d be advised to hug them.) This is just one of about 30 species of chollas, and like many other species in its genus, the teddy bear cholla tends to drop its stems frequently to encourage further propagation.
