My flowering Cacti 2018

[hegar]

Today two cacti were blooming. One of them was one of the two Astrophytum asterias hybrids, of which I probably already have posted digital images several times. the other one is a Thelocactus. I am not quite sure which one it is, but I believe it to be a T. bicolor ssp. bolaensis. That plant flowered for the first time on August 4th and I was only able to get a photo of it, when the flower had almost completely closed. Today I almost missed it again, but went out in time to spot two blossoms that were still open. Although the flowers are of decent size, they do look a little bit pale (bleached out). Also, I do not like that they seem to drape themselves around the stem. In a day of two the regular T. bicolor plants will also both bloom. Of course, I shall take images of those blossoms too, if for nothing else than record keeping about flowering days this year.
It seems like most of the Thelocactus members do flower repeatedly, which makes them interesting and worthwhile to have. Echinocereus spp. on the other hand flower only once each year, with a few exceptions like E. reichenbachii and perhaps a few more.
Within the next three to four days, I am also going to have a large number of large white flowers on my clump of Echinopsis eyriesii. I shall post a few images of that one too. Most of the blossoms will be opening around midnight all at once. They can still be admired the next day until about noon time. That plant also flowers several times

Harald

T_bicolor ssp bolaensis4.JPG (93.61 KiB) Viewed 3898 times

T_bicolor ssp bolaensis5.JPG (74.61 KiB) Viewed 3898 times

[ElieEstephane]

Wow the flower is much bigger than body! I like cacti that have this feature.
Btw do you happen to have a photo of the whole cactus corner? I'd like some inspiration to get started on mine

[hegar]

One last image of the Thelocactus bicolor ssp. bolaensis. This time only one flower was open, with the other one having done its duty.
I was able to take the image at high noon, instead past 3 p.m.. As a result, the flower is not open as wide, a condition which I prefer.
The petal color is also slightly darker i.e. not as bleached-out looking as what I saw yesterday.
The second image shows my clump of Echinocereus eyeriesii. I used to have another, smaller clump. In order to find out how sensitive this cactus is to cold, I did not cover that clump with a tarp-like weed barrier cover, but protected the larger clump. Just as feared, that clump did not make it through the cold snap. Now I do cover the remaining clump, if the temperature drops to the low 20's F.


@ Elie: I am also attaching three images, which do show my three cactus beds. Cactus Bed 2 is the one and only, which my wife had agreed to allow. The other two I just started without her agreeing first. Cactus Bed 1 is located at the corner of my property near the street. There used to be ice plants growing in that location. Because these plants would grow in a patch onto the sidewalk, I decided to pull those plants out, because I did not want to be liable, if a pedestrian slipped on them and got injured in a fall. Cactus Bed 3 was put in place for cacti which do not do well in full sun.
I have used rocks collected from around this area in order to place a boundary around the cactus beds and also to give some of the cacti - especially the new cacti purchased and those that I needed to transplant - a little bit of protection from our strong sun. I do live in the desert at 4,000 feet altitude. El Paso, Texas also names itself "Sun City", which is a correct label in my opinion. Except for the indigenous cacti, only a few others will do well in full sun all day long. I have noticed, that when I do go out into the desert with my club members, even our "locals" do not grow best in full sun, but are found, sheltered from the blazing sun light in crevices, overhangs, or near desert shrubs.

Harald

T_bicolor ssp bolaensis6.JPG (72.48 KiB) Viewed 3867 times

E_eyriesii buds2.JPG (123.92 KiB) Viewed 3867 times

Cactus Bed1.JPG (104.53 KiB) Viewed 3867 times

Cactus Bed2.JPG (100.72 KiB) Viewed 3867 times

Cactus Bed3.JPG (102.37 KiB) Viewed 3867 times

[hegar]

Well, here I am again.
Today I am presenting two cacti in flower. The first one is Thelocactus bicolor ssp. bicolor. Two plants were in flower yesterday afternoon.
I do not know exactly, why this is the case, but the first flowers always seem to be of a more intense color than anything produced at a later date.
On this plant, the first bloom is of a deeper, richer pink, while flowers that open later in the season are of a paler, more washed-out pink color.
The second plant in bloom is a good-sized clump of Echinopsis eyriesii. This plant already did flower on June 10th, August 4th, and August 18th.
However, this time it did produce the most blossoms (over 30)!
The individual stems are not very big and the flower size - although large for a cactus - is only in the mid-range when compared to some Echinopsis and Hylocereus spp. However, it is always thrilling to see so many blossoms all at once on one plant.
The flowers opened around midnight and I photographed them at about 10 a.m. this morning. By the afternoon the show will be over. However, there is a very good chance, that this plant will flower at least one more time, before its deserved winter rest.

Harald

T_bicolor6.JPG (79.96 KiB) Viewed 3844 times

E_eyriesii11.JPG (101.88 KiB) Viewed 3844 times

E_eyriesii17.JPG (85.96 KiB) Viewed 3844 times

[ElieEstephane]

Very beautiful cactus beds harald! I think i'm gonna do something very close to that but with different species. Oh and all those eyriesii flowers arw gorgeous! It must smell heavenly

[hegar]

Well, Elie, to my surprise the flowers are still open and it is past 2 p.m.!
So I went out and tried to sniff them. They are not perfect, because - if they even do have any scent at all - they are not fragrant.
Perhaps I should try to smell the flowers from my other cacti. Because they are planted in the ground, I would have to bend down considerably, in order to find out whether or not they are fragrant.
I did smell the blossoms of the Queen of the Night cactus (Peniocereus gregii). Those do have a sweet perfume.

Harald

[hegar]

Oops, I just realized, that I had misspelled the scientific name of the Queen of the Night cactus. It should be "Peniocereus greggii".
Well, it would have been a good idea to proofread my writings, before hitting the submit button.

Harald

[hegar]

Today another one of the few Echinopsis sp cacti is in flower. I am not sure, if this is a hybrid or a pure species plant, but I guess, it is the latter.
The blossoms are not quite as large as those formed by the E. eyriesii, which it is following in lock-step. They are, however, nevertheless beautiful in their own right. The very strong red color is just beautiful in my opinion. I hope, that in the near future this clump will be considerably larger and give me a similar display of a multitude of flowers as what E. eyriesii is doing now. The only bad thing about this though would be, where do I move the cacti, which would be in the way of such a big clump?
This plant had only one blossom on July 16th, but it does have several more flower buds, which should be opening before it gets too cold here in late fall.
I do fully understand, why some cactus collectors exclusively cultivate members of the Echinopsis genus. There are after all over 100 species and numerous hybrids around. The multiple flowering each season and the usually rather large blossoms make this genus an attractive one.

Harald

Echinopsis sp6.JPG (111.49 KiB) Viewed 3808 times

Echinopsis sp7.JPG (96.42 KiB) Viewed 3808 times

Echinopsis sp8.JPG (60.85 KiB) Viewed 3808 times

[hegar]

Today, out of the blue, I noticed, that one of my Ariocarpus fissuratus plants had a flower bud that was just about to open up. The plant is in a 13 or 14 inch diameter bowl, along with two others. After transplanting them during the late part of spring last year, none of these good-sized plants flowered. The first photo was shot with the maximum setting 20x tele, and the second image with my super-macro setting on my camera. Because of the partial shade, the image does have a slight bluish tint.
Perhaps I am going to be lucky this year, and all three of them will bloom. Once I have my new cactus bed finished, I may go ahead and plant all three there in the ground permanently. Moving that big bowl around is becoming more and more burdensome at my age. I did place these plants in a pot, because that is how I can protect them best from being exposed to moist and cold soil during the winter months. They did overwinter in a dry location, protected by the overhanging roof from becoming soaked. Making the outdoor "soil" more porous and planting them at the top of a slight slope may also achieve the same thing. At least that is my plan.

Harald

A_fissuratus1.JPG (81.14 KiB) Viewed 3780 times

A_fissuratus4.JPG (73.21 KiB) Viewed 3780 times

[A_G_R]

Nice Arios Harald! Are these from local population? I would think they can take the cold and rain?

[hegar]

Hello Alejandro,

thank you for your compliment of one of my Ariocarpus fissuratus plants. I am aware of the fact, that this cactus does grow in the wild in the Big Bend area of Texas. However, I have yet to see it grow in habitat. Perhaps it does grow on rocky mountain slopes, which would ensure, that these plants do have excellent drainage. I have been able to have this specific species survive for almost ten years, but that plant could have lived another fifty years. My cactus club members do tell me, that failure with the cultivation can be attributed mostly to the cactus body being subjected for too long to moisture, especially if the soil is cold, leading to a rot, which becomes evident as soon as the temperature warms up in the spring.
I do have a very spotty record trying to grow cacti of this genus. The ones I seem to be able to grow best are A. fissuratus and A retusus. They seem to be the least picky about soil conditions. While I have yet to lose one of the A. retusus cacti, none of them has yet flowered for me.
Perhaps they have spent their years in too much shade, perhaps they are not big or mature enough to bloom.

Harald

[hegar]

I just felt like I needed to show my red-flowering Echinopsis one last time this year. I am not sure what the species is or if it is a hybrid. However, the individual flowers are smaller than those of my Echinopsis eyriesii. So I assume, that my plant is not a hybrid, because those usually do have extra large flowers. Like my white-flowering E. eyriesii, this one also is also forming a clump, but has not yet had enough time to produce many flowers. However, with the few stems it does have it produced 5 blossoms with an almost unreal red color. Even the buds were magnificent.
The other plant that went into bloom was my one and only Ariocarpus retusus x A. agavoides hybrid. It did flower last year for the first time and also produced one blossom.
I am hoping, that before winter sets in, one of my Ariocarpus retusus plants will bloom for the first time. I have had three of these for many years and never seen a flower on any of them. I am not even sure, if I do have A. retusus ssp. retusus or A. retusus ssp. trigonus. Perhaps the flower color will tell. Once the plant blooms, I shall also place images of it on the thread dealing with cactus identifications.

Harald

Echinopsis sp11.JPG (111.95 KiB) Viewed 3624 times

Echinopsis sp12.JPG (90.6 KiB) Viewed 3624 times

A_retusus x agavoides Hybrid1.JPG (61.56 KiB) Viewed 3624 times

A_retusus x agavoides Hybrid2.JPG (76.43 KiB) Viewed 3624 times

[Pompom]

Well that's a stunning color! It's almost like psychedelic. And to me the ariocarpus hybrid bud looks nice enough by itself too. It's like a rose. Two words: absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

[ElieEstephane]

Very beautiful plants harald! Im always jealous of anyone who has an ariocarpus
The color of the echinopsis is just phenomenal! Are the edges really magenta or it's just the photo? I think it's almost definitely a hybrid (with echinopsis mammilosa var kermesiana for a mother?). I know not of any red flowered echinopsis so that color must have come from a lobivia

[hegar]

Pompom and Elie, thank you very much for the praise you heaped on me. I really do appreciate it when forum members comment about the cacti that I am growing more or less successfully. Getting some positive feedback keeps me going.
About the "Echinopsis sp.", if it even is one, I do not know the name. One stem was given to me by one of the local cactus club members. The lady only told me, that the flowers were of an intense red. If it is indeed a hybrid, with one of the parents being a Lobivia sp., that would explain, why the flowers are smaller than those of the Echinopsis eyriesii.
Although I do have mostly Echinocereus spp. cacti in my collection, my favorites are definitely members of the Ariocarpus genus. Turbinicarpus members are also valued, mostly due to their smallness. I can just place so many more of these slow-growing and small plants in the few cactus beds I do have. It will be a difficult decision for me to make, when the Echinocereus cacti form clumps too big for the limited space. I am already taking less vigorous, smaller cacti out of their way and give away stems from their perimeter.

On October 6th and 7th one of the Ariocarpus fissuratus plants did flower, producing two blossoms. Unfortunately, the buds were too close to each other, making it almost impossible for both flowers to unfurl. I am attaching an image below. All the other larger plants of that genus will most likely skip the flowering cycle this year. I hope, that next year will be a better one.

Harald

A_fissuratus9.JPG (79.25 KiB) Viewed 3511 times