My Cacti 2009

[hegar]

Hello everyone,
we did have an unusually mild winter and as a result I have had a cactus blooming almost every month. While the Ferocactus latispinus flowered from November 2008 until February 9th, 2009, there is one spring-flowering cactus out in the front yard that has opened its first blossoms.
No, it is not the "early bloomer" (Echinomastus intertextus). I do have four of those, but I planted them last summer in a partially shaded location and I have yet to spot any buds on them. The "early bird" this year is the very dependable small clump of Echinocereus chloranthus. Here are two images I took on March 20th.





As you can see, the blossoms are "nothing to write home about". However, this plant is a tough one and it flowers every year. Also, I do like its spines, even when there are no blossoms enhancing them. The plant is quite common here around El Paso and if this one should ever die, I can get a whole lot more of them for free!

Harald

[peterb]

beautiful, Harald. I'm a huge fan of the viridiflorus-type flowers. They're subtle, but they have great strange colors of brown, yellow, green and red.

peterb

[CelticRose]

Very pretty, especially the spines.

[Tony]

Hello harald, This is a favorite of mine because of the wild spine colors.

[John C]

Wonderful flowers!

[CoronaCactus]

Nice one Harald!
Do you have a full view pic? Looks like a nice big clump.

[iann]

I like these flowers also. Usually scented as a bonus. E. davisii has buds and that will be the first Echinocereus here.

Harald, you were on the news today. Well El Paso was anyway. Not exactly flattering, a report about the drug smuggling trade from Mexico And the gun smuggling trade back over the border

[kevin63129]

I really like the color of these flowers for some reason.They are different.

[hegar]

Thank you very much for your favorable comments about the first Echinocereus sp. plant to flower.
Darryl, I shall take a digital image showing the whole plant. However, the blossoms will not be very visible then.
Iann, it might look rather silly, but I shall try to find out, if the cactus does have scented blossoms. I will have to almost lie down to get close enough to the flowers though and that is not easy with all the rocks and other cacti nearby. You are right, our neighbor city in Mexico, Ciudad Juarez has been in the news often enough to get a very bad reputation. First it was a long-lasting string of murders of women, coupled with the incapability of the police to find the killer(s). Lately, there have been numerous murders, sometimes more than 10 in one day. This is the result mainly of a vicious drug war between two drug cartels. Also, police and soldiers are part of the victims. There are now more than 7,000 troops in that Mexican city. They have taken over a lot of the duties of the police and the number of murders has gone down substantially. It was getting to be so bad, that police officers, mayors, businessmen, etc. would flee to the U.S. Our major not-for-profit hospital had to take care of a number of shooting victims at U.S. taxpayer expense. Fortunately, we have not had a significant increase in violence here in El Paso. You are right, drugs are flowing into the U.S. and weapons and money are being returned to Mexico. So it is no wonder, that the boss of the Sinaloa drug cartel Joaquin (Chapo) Guzman recently was placed on Forbe's list of the richest people, with an estimated wealth of over 1 billion U.S. dollars! There was some protest of course, because honest businessmen did not like being on the same list with a criminal.
Well, I am going to post additional images very soon.
Until then

Harald

[cactuspolecat]

...As you can see, the blossoms are "nothing to write home about".

Harald

Just as well beauty is in the eye of the beholder...

I love these ones too Harald, you are blessed to have them naturally growing locally.

CP

[daiv]

Well you might not write home about it, but it is perfect for writing to a cactus forum!

[hegar]

Hello Daiv and CP,
I am not saying that I dislike E. chloranthus. The flowers are not very large or bright, but they are plentiful.
The spines are also colorful and it is not a fussy plant at all.
Darryl, here is the requested photo of the whole plant. It is not very big at all and has not yet fully expanded after all the water loss during the fall and winter months.



Yesterday evening at around 6:30 p.m., when returning from work I noticed, that one of my Echinocereus coccineus plants started to bloom. When I received it from our plant rescue coordinator it was a small plant consisting of three stems. Then one of the stems died back. This is the first time that it flowers. The color of the blossom is a little on the pale side, but after looking at it for a while I find, that it is pretty nevertheless.
Well, here are two digital images showing the first flower. With its tendency to keep the blossoms for a long time it looks, like I will be able to post both flowers open at the same time in a few days.

Harald

[Saguaro123]

Nice flowers. And Plenty of buds.

[peterb]

wow, Harald, very atypical salmon flower color there. Do you know where this one is from? I'm going to guess Orogrande/Jarilla Mtns.

peterb

[hegar]

Thank you, Byron for your kind reply. It looks like that plant does have quite a number of amirers.
Peter, I do not know where the plant originated. Maybe the fellow who gave it to me still remembers. However, it was about two years ago and he may have forgotten where he obtained it. I do hope though, that it was not dug up in the Orogrande region, because then it would not have been officially "rescued" but "pilfered" instead! I have never taken any cactus out of that area, but I do have a strong suspicion, that other people have not been able to contol the urge to get their hands on some rare color combinations of the naturally occurring hybrids there.

Harald