Some fresh habitat photos of Escobaria vivipara

[7george]

Decided to check well known local population near Drumheller and found lot of plants in bloom. This year, maybe because of abundant rains in previous weeks blooming in that area started earlier, in very beginning of June.













Took over 200 shots last weekend. The whole set with the uploaded so far photos in different size is here:
Prairie blooms 2024

[anttisepp]

Beautiful plants, many thanks for nice photos! How much is year precipitation in your place and average winter temps?

[7george]

Well, Calgary and Drumheller areas are relatively dry places.
https://calgary.weatherstats.ca/charts/ ... early.html
Also in winter and spring time can be very windy and soil surface gets dry in few days if not the same afternoon after the rainfall. So cacti can succeed in bare prairie spots where even grasses are not very thick. We are in cold hardiness zone 3, so we have at least few days with minimums of -30 to -35 C every winter.
https://www.wunderground.com/history/mo ... ate/2024-1

May brought lot of rain this year, over monthly average. https://drumheller.weatherstats.ca/
Photos are from 1 - 3 PM June 9th, when temps in the area did not get over 20 C even in afternoon.