Introducing myself

diana.v · Post by **diana.v** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 2:01 pm

Hello!

I thought I would post some more pictures of the lovely flowers I've been getting from my Mammillarias

I have to say, since I started collecting in 2016, I have never had any cactus flower for me other than a Mammillaria. And in my opinion, Mammillarias are probably one of the easiest to grow/reliable bloomer cacti genera. Even the few other flowers I had, it was because I bought the cacti in bud.

So you can imagine I'm over the moon, when this morning I counted no less than 8 buds on that little Rebutia cv sunrise I had rescued a few weeks ago. Just one watering last Thursday and it started to put out buds. Some of you might say meh, but for me it's so rewarding to see such a display that I've only ever admired in others' photos

My Gymnocalycium baldianum also has two buds, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for them to bloom, as the buds it had when I bought it last year, never opened and dried out.

Aaand I'm very happy to see two buds one my Gymnocalycium mihanovichii, which I haven't seen in flower since I bought it in bloom, in 2016! I guess the clean mix and regular watering and fertilizing are showing results

All in all, I'm very very excited for the upcoming blooms

Edit: Just went to check on the Gymnocalycium and saw the flower has fully opened

Dodi Russell · Post by **Dodi Russell** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 5:32 pm

The first rebutia is rebutia CV sunrise

diana.v · Post by **diana.v** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 8:27 pm

Thank you very much for that ID, Dodi!

bartab · Post by **bartab** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:25 pm

Hmmm. I thought theresa was correct. Have I got them wrong?

Well, Looks like Dodi is right now that I look at them. Sure has a good eye. That is a great plant to rescue!!

: theresa; D4FC58F5-D732-419C-A2B5-AAF1B01F51D7.jpeg (296.52 KiB) Viewed 4469 times

: sunrise; 6E17AB3E-2E93-42AC-BDB9-DF2BD3888350.jpeg (268.49 KiB) Viewed 4469 times

bartab · Post by **bartab** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:37 pm

: Rebutia sunrise.; 7B1AAF50-FDA8-4F8D-8503-27BEF17AE5A0.jpeg (199.99 KiB) Viewed 4469 times

Just for fun, and sorry to hijack. But found 6 old soup bowl type cups from Delta Airlines that we’re used way back in the day. Had to have them for some small Rebutia and a couple special small cacti. Used my Dremel for a hole and ended up with several like this. Lots of buds on this this year.

diana.v · Post by **diana.v** » Thu Apr 16, 2020 8:12 pm

No worries at all! I love seeing other people's plants!
Although subtle (to my inexperienced eye), I can see the difference very well now

I love how they are so tiny and yet produce so many blooms!

Sometimes I would go shopping, see some nice crockery and think to myself, what cactus would go very well in that?

When space will allow me, my dream is to one day have each and one of them in a matching glazed ceramic pot, those handmade, full of character pots that i love.

For now they will have to be content with living on the windowsill, in cheap terracotta and plastic

diana.v · Post by **diana.v** » Mon Apr 20, 2020 6:22 am

Today I took a closer look at my Opuntia microdasys var. albispina and saw what I first thought will be a new pad, could actually be a flower bud. That would be really awesome!

anttisepp · Post by **anttisepp** » Mon Apr 20, 2020 8:57 am

Hello Diana, you have nice very good cared plants!

That undetermined small spiny fellow is Ferocactus stainesii.

diana.v · Post by **diana.v** » Mon Apr 20, 2020 9:33 am

Thank you so much anttisepp for identifying it! Very happy with what it turns out to be

mikethecactusguy · Post by **mikethecactusguy** » Mon Apr 20, 2020 11:08 pm

very nice collection

TimN · Post by **TimN** » Tue Apr 21, 2020 10:00 pm

Great looking plants! They seem to be thriving in your care.

diana.v · Post by **diana.v** » Wed Apr 22, 2020 9:25 pm

Thank you kindly for all the nice comments and compliments!

I love my cacti very much and I hope they feel it

Can't get enough of these beauties now:

bartab · Post by **bartab** » Wed Apr 22, 2020 10:24 pm

You are a very organized person, aren't you?

They look very nice.

diana.v · Post by **diana.v** » Thu Apr 23, 2020 8:18 pm

bartab wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 10:24 pm You are a very organized person, aren't you?

They look very nice.

Thank you bartab!

I guess I am

To be honest the reason why they are so neatly arranged is to make the most use of the little space I have ☹

Thinking of buying a shelving unit because right now even one cactus would be too much

diana.v · Post by **diana.v** » Wed May 06, 2020 6:50 pm

Hello everyone!

Since I posted last time, my long awaited, Gymnocalycium baldianum's bloom opened....and it's yellow

Although I was really looking forward to see that red flower, it's ok, yellow is beautiful too

A few days ago I decided to depup my Echinopsis chamaecereus 'Westfield Alba', as I was worried it will outgrow it's space. I already regret I did so, but oh well, I guess it will grow back

The result was no less than 40 pups, and I managed to coax my brother and his roommate to adopt one each, but I still have 38 and I feel really gutted to throw them away, so I will probably find a large container and try to root them.

Last time I mentioned I have no space, and yet, I couldn't help myself and got some new additions over the weekend. They were ordered from Southfield Nurseries in Lincolnshire, England

All except the Eriosyce senilis, came in 6cm pots. I can't tell you how happy I am with them and how in love I am already with the Gymnocalycium and the Epithelantha. They look fantastic!

They arrived yesterday and they've been cleaned and repotted. Fingers crossed that I'll be able to keep these guys alive