Tis' the season, for Cactus blooms

[Silas_Sancona]

Here in the Desert, and other arid places, one of the more celebrated aspects of spring are the diversity of cacti that can be encountered both in the garden, and out in habitat.
 In the Garden, you can be sure summer isn't far away when the Torch cacti ( Echinopsis / Trichocereus) start flowering. While you can encounter something in flower from late Feb- October, Spring and mid summer, once Monsoon season conditions kick in, are bigger peaks. Torch cactus season however is the most notable since the huge flowers easily attract attention.

 Here at the house, flowering season started a bit earlier than last year and has yielded a couple not so expected surprises. Some of those surprises are included here. I'll update with the others later.
On the other hand,  Looks like i'll have to wait another year for flowers on my collection of rarer Echinoceri from a well known grower in Colorado. Judging from pictures he frequently shares of the same varieties I purchased on his FB page, patience will yield big rewards.

Starting with Echinocereus triglochidiatus, flowering 2 weeks ahead of last year back in March. Flowers are female.. note the nearly absent male parts.


Mammilopsis senilis, also slightly ahead of last year. 



Echinocereus reichenbachii V. baileyi albispinus.. Didn't expect this tiny plant to flower this year. 



Thelocactus bicolor..maybe V. bicolor - Glory of Texas. 



Echinocereus dasyacanthus, standard yellow form. 



Echinocereus X? Likely dasyacanthus, note the wine-glass flare of the floral tube on it and the yellow dasyacanthus above. Absent or not as pronounced on other Echinocereus. Found it in a local
nursery.



Opuntia basilaris- Beaver tail prickly Pear.. common but stunning Opuntia sp.

 

Echinocereus ( formally Wilcoxia ) leucanthus, rare endangered serpentine-stemmed species from Sonora. Hadn't flowered since 2016. Each and every stem is full of buds this year. crossing my fingers for seed.



..And lastly, for now.. Echinopsis /tricho X. Purchased from the Huntington back in 2013. unnamed, newer Schick hybrid. First time flowering since I bought it. Lots of thinking on a name. 
 
Budding.. wait for it..


Deciding to open as the sun goes down..


And finally. (Big leafy thing behind 1st picture is Erythrina latissimia.)
.


2 More... in some sunlight.






More to come.. 
-Nathan

[PalmsofSantaFe]

I'm looking very forward to blooming season too. The sad thing is that here in Santa Fe our cacti have just started to bud, so we have to wait a little longer. 

Do you have any veriety of cholla blooming yet? I'm looking forward to my Cylindropuntia imbricata and Cylindropuntia viridiflora Hybrid blooms.

[Silas_Sancona]

PalmsofSantaFe,

Not at the moment though I have seen couple hybrids from the same grower i might add to my collection at some point. One, ( can't remember the species atm) has larger dark red ..almost maroon colored flowers and is modest spine-wise.  I have just a near spineless Pencil Cholla atm.  Won't go anywhere near C. imbricata, or bigelovii. Lots of memories of removing plenty of spines from C. imbricata from hands, feet, arms as a kid back in CA. 

[PalmsofSantaFe]

 

34 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

LPalmsofSantaFe,

Not at the moment though I have seen couple hybrids from the same grower i might add to my collection at some point. One, ( can't remember the species atm) has larger dark red ..almost maroon colored flowers and is modest spine-wise.  I have just a near spineless Pencil Cholla atm.  Won't go anywhere near C. imbricata, or bigelovii. Lots of memories of removing plenty of spines from C. imbricata from hands, feet, arms as a kid back in CA. 

The Pencil Cholla you talk about, I think I've acquired a few clippings from a fellow gardener in Albuquerque, though I don't know the name of this species, or the color of the flower. But I know of several pencil cactus species that can do well in the Albuquerque/ Santa Fe area.

[Silas_Sancona]

Thinking the one I have is C. ramosissima V. nudum..  Like the yellow / white spined variant of the species as well. 

[PalmsofSantaFe]

Yeah after a quick google search I think I know what you're talking about, the local gardeners in my area refer to that type of cholla as the Davis Cholla, I've recently added a hybrid of this species to my small succulent garden, but the clippings I recently got are nearly spineless, in fact they are so spineless you can handle them without gloves.

Edited April 25, 2018 by PalmsofSantaFe

[PalmsofSantaFe]

* I think the name of the Cholla might be C. Davisii, but I'm not sure*

[iwan]

9 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Thinking the one I have is C. ramosissima V. nudum..  Like the yellow / white spined variant of the species as well. 

I have a couple of those.  They are not particularly attractive, but spineless.  The glochids however are annoying.

Both of mine throw occasional crested tips.

[RichAZ]

Those look amazing!  Here is a shot from yesterday of some huge Argentine Giant cactus flowers.  Hand for scale.  

[Silas_Sancona]

Rich..  thinking yours is "Flying Saucer" I had a huge one that I had to rescue after it  sun burned and rotted the first summer we were here in AZ. Both cuttings are enjoying life in my shade house atm. It is one of the few that is skipping a year flowering this year.

My most "seductive" Echinopsis hybrid, and another un-named specimen greeted me this morning:


Un-named X. Possible it is a pup off the second Echinopsis hybrid id purchased back in '13 from the Huntington though until the specimen itself flowers, I won't be sure. Fragrant though.. unlike the other Huntington purchased specimen I posted above. 



Echinopsis "Sorceress".. Sultry and alluring. Pictures don't do the intensity of the colors justice. Producing tons of buds this year. Guess it is also happier under shade cloth.




The one down side this year is that I was hoping Sorceress, or the Orange colored hybrid I have would flower at the same time as my White flowered " Fuzzy Navel" Echinopsis subdunada.. Selfed it last year for fun and produced lots of seedlings so I know it should accept pollen from others. Thinking it would be an interesting cross. 

-Nathan

[Chatta]

I love trichos!!! Its my biggest collection of plants lol.

such beautiful flowers awesome picks!

[RichAZ]

Nathan, those colors are INTENSE.  Very cool pics.  

[Silas_Sancona]

Next up.., 

Echinocereus sheeri V. sheeri.. Another one i wasn't expecting would bloom this year. While flower color on other specimens i have seen range between light Orange and medium Pink,  i was surprised at the intensity of the color on this one.

Intense as it is in bright  shade,



..it really smolders when brought into a little morning sun.


For fun, a side by side comparison of Echinocerus (L) and Echinopsis (R) flowers. 



Echinopsis X "Fond Adieu" 



Echinopsis X "Marie Piazza"


-Nathan

[RichAZ]

Wow!   Those are fantastic.  Thanks for posting.  

[Silas_Sancona]

Thanks Rich, 

After our nice start to the week, today's jump into the 100's looks to have caused several other Echinopsis that had been slowly pushing buds into speed mode.  Since the heat looks to stay put, Id suspect those will be flowering by mid week next week. It also looks like some of the ones i crossed for the fun of it are setting fruit. 

[Hillizard]

Since the blooms on my Echinopsis last for only a day or so, I've grown to enjoy the 'preview' of their floral display!

[Hillizard]

On 5/28/2018, 1:46:54, Hillizard said:

Since the blooms on my Echinopsis last for only a day or so, I've grown to enjoy the 'preview' of their floral display!

And this is what it looks like today in its fullest bloom...