A small collection: 2015 and beyond

[Steve Johnson]

Some random selections of summertime growth this week...

Cephalocereus senilis -- actually, I've been saving these photos from March, and I was lucky enough to get a winged visitor on camera:





A more recent pic -- Thursday morning, as the "old man" shows off a vibrant head of new hair:



The following pics are also from Thursday morning. 2 Stenocactus -- lloydii...



...and zacatecasensis:



Between my 2 Stenos, the zacatecasensis seems to be slower and more occasional about growing. But when that tippy-top is active, we'll sure know it!



2 Tephros working on their new segments -- papyracanthus...



...and inermis:



When the pine cone grows new segments, they'll appear in May and/or June. As I get to know more about the plant's interesting growth habits, this may be worth some further observation -- we'll keep it in mind for spring 2017:



My Turb klinkerianus from the Sunset show -- well-established and putting on new growth:



Rebutia heliosa -- still astonishes me to think about all the new pups it started right after the plant was done flowering:



Today was blooming day, so let's see what we have in the floral department...

Copiapoa tenuissima -- in its 3rd summer under my care, and I finally get to see 2 buds at the same time:



Artsy-fartsy shot with a "glowing" flower (Eriosyce napina glabrescens in the background):



Ooh, this is a nice one -- great view including my Eriosyce and Turb jauernigii loving their summer:



Afternoon in Shady Glen -- those flower colors sure are pretty:



From pretty to drop-dead gorgeous -- Mamm guelzowiana getting ready for a big display:





You might want to get sunglasses out for this!

[Steve Johnson]

About this time 3 years ago, I was playing with my brand new custom-built plant bench. The old single-shelf bench I started out with in 2011 just wouldn't do anymore, although as an apartment-dweller with very limited growing space, I had to get creative about maximizing it to best effect. Couldn't build out, so why not build up? Since I was looking at a 2-shelf affair, I had to consider one important problem -- shade. A full-length shelf on top sounded tempting at first, but what about more-or-less permanent shade all day on the bottom? Well, that's what could well happen, and I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of seeing a bunch of etoliated plants -- I'd rather have quality over quantity! A half-length shelf on top was certainly acceptable, and after giving the matter some careful thought, I came up with the design you've seen so many times elsewhere on the forum. Of course this introduced a new set of conditions to my growing setup, so interplay between light and shadow on the bottom shelf required further thought in terms of what would go where as I integrated new selections with the cacti I already had before my bench arrived. Plant placement decisions for the top shelf and Sun Valley were fairly straightforward. I already knew that some cacti in Shady Glen really need more than shade cloth for protection from the full midday sun. But for others (including species I hadn't tried growing before), Shady Glen was a testing ground to see just how shade-tolerant they would be. Based on a summer of observation (confirmed by additional close observation in 2014), turns out that the ambient light in there is wonderful throughout the entire growing season. Such being the case, I thought it might be nice if I show you how shade thrown by the top shelf moves west-to-east on the bottom shelf during daytime.

Going by hours of the day on June 18 -- 8:30 a.m.:



At 10:15:



We'll zoom in on Shady Glen -- this is "high noon" as the first day of summer is almost here:



In the above pic, I had the shade board up as a demo of what I do when heat waves are imminent.

I took the shade board down in this pic (note the time on my digital thermometer):



At 5:30 p.m.:



7:30 -- a lovely early summer evening:



I'll top off this post with a couple of blooms -- from yesterday, my Copiapoa tenuissima with its very first twofer:

[NancySLAZ]

I notice that your Melocactus is in the sun from at least 3:30 until 5:30 PM. I don't think I could do that here in Phoenix! Mine gets some morning sun and a bright sunless spot in the afternoon. You have a really nice setup for your cacti and very adaptable depending on the plant!

[Steve Johnson]

Nice thing about maintaining a small collection -- I'm able to give more attention to individual cacti than I could if the collection was substantially bigger. Of course, it also means that we're looking at the same old plants all the time, so holding the interest of people who've been following this thread for a good while can be challenging. Such being the case, hopefully our faithful "repeat customers" will notice and enjoy a shift in my approach to cactus photography, as you'll see in this post...

7/17 -- Gymnocalycium vatteri with rather unusual pale green petals as one of its buds begins to open:



7/19 -- a very awkward angle to get this shot, but I thought it might be kinda fun to show you. The view facing west at 9 a.m.:



Copiapoa tenuissima.



Now we'll bring the plant out for a bird's-eye look at the bloom in full sun:



Astrophytum myriostigma quadricostatum -- woo hoo!







7/20 -- Gymno stenopleurum close to popping big-time.



Mammillaria theresae -- thought the plant was done flowering by now? Nope, and it's not the first time this beautiful gem has favored me with summertime blooms.



Turbinicarpus young and old -- my new klinkerianus from the Sunset show, with the 2011 "veteran" krainzianus in the background.









Both Turb polaskiis getting ready for synchronized blooms.



Now for the krainzianus -- in its 6th summer under my care, and this is only the 2nd time when I get to see 3 buds at once. The lighting was wonderful for these pics, here at 7:30 p.m.:





7/22 -- 10 a.m., and the shade cloth hit the sun at just the right angle for this attractive effect:



Gymno vatteri & friends enjoying their hot summer morning on the top shelf.



Same with these 2 Mamms.



7/23 (that was yesterday) -- day 2 of a high above 95. Yep, in my little corner of the world that's a heat wave! The Mamm theresae and deherdtiana are a day closer to showing off:



(It'll be sometime this week, although unfortunately I'll have to miss the display! Oh, well.)

Shady Glen looking none too shady at 10 a.m.:



The shade board sure comes in handy when it's needed -- 12 noon at the time I took this photo:



A really nice close-up shot of the polaskiis in flower.



A "threefer" as my lovely old Turb produces the best flowers I've ever seen on the plant.







Melocactus matanzanus -- considering the sorry state of the roots when I got it at the Sunset show, I'm pretty amazed at how well the plant is doing these days. Healthy enough to pop out a flower or two almost every day here in summer:



2 Gymnos just lovin' the heat!











Rather odd tinge to the light, isn't it? Here's why -- something no one likes to see, but a part of living in SoCal:



A brush fire broke out just east of Santa Clarita on Friday afternoon, then turned into a massive blaze yesterday as it dumped smoke and ash all over the Los Angeles basin. 34 square miles burned thus far, and with only 10% containment, it's going to be a long week for the residents and firefighters who are looking at one of the worst wildfires SoCal has seen since 2009. And this year's fire season ain't even close to being over yet.

[NancySLAZ]

I WISH it was 95º here in Phoenix! Over 110º all last week and now again this week! Not good for the people OR the plants. The real problem for the cacti is the over 90º nights. Growing here is a real challenge! Ugh!

[David48]

Thank you for sharing. Most interesting.

[luigonz]

nice blooms!
I have tried growing Mammillaria luethyi, M. hernandezii, Rebutia heliosa. all rotted! Still working out my growing conditions.
Great Turbs...love the blooms on them..nice juxtaposition of the old and gnarled with light delicate flowers

We got our first rains of summer down here in Texas. good luck with the fires!

[Steve Johnson]

Although my collection is pretty small, I've managed to assemble a fairly diverse group of cacti. But oddly enough, I never thought much about where these species actually come from. To address that oversight, here's the list broken down by countries of origin. Don't want to give y'all just a dry recitation of facts, though, so I'll end this post with some nice new pics...

North America

Ariocarpus fissuratus -- US and Mexico
Astrophytum asterias -- US and Mexico
A. capricorne -- Mexico
A. 'capristigma' -- nursery-grown hybrid, but genetic heritage is from Mexico
A. myriostigma var. quadricostatum -- nursery cultivar, but genetic heritage is from central and northern Mexico
Cephalocereus senilis -- Mexico
Coryphantha hesteri -- US
C. retusa -- Mexico
Cumarinia odorata -- Mexico
Echinocereus rigidissimus subs. rubispinus -- Mexico
Epithelantha bokei -- US and Mexico
E. gregii 'rufispina' -- Mexico (may be a nursery cultivar)
E. micromeris -- US and Mexico
Escobaria minima -- US
Geohintonia mexicana -- Mexico
Gymnocactus ysabelae -- Mexico
Leuchtenbergia principis -- Mexico
Mammillaria crucigera -- Mexico
M. deherdtiana -- Mexico
M. grahamii -- US (wide range in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas) and Mexico
M. guelzowiana -- Mexico
M. hernandezii -- Mexico
M. perezdelarosae subs. perezdelarosae -- Mexico
M. spinossissima -- Mexico
M. theresae -- Mexico
Obregonia denegrii -- Mexico
Pelecyphora aselliformis -- Mexico
P. strobiliformis -- Mexico
Stenocactus lloydii -- Mexico
S. zacatecasensis -- Mexico
Strombocactus disciformis -- Mexico
Turbinicarpus jauernigii -- Mexico
T. pseudomacrochele subs. krainzianus -- Mexico
T. pseudopectinatus -- Mexico
T. schmiedickeanus subs. klinkerianus -- Mexico
T. schmiedickeanus var. polaskii -- Mexico
T. valdezianus -- Mexico

South America and Cuba

Copiapoa hypogaea -- Chile
C. laui -- Chile
C. tenuissima -- Chile
Cumulopuntia rossiana var. fuauxiana -- Argentina and Bolivia
Discocactus buenekeri -- Brazil
D. crystallophilus -- Brazil
Eriosyce napina subs. glabrescens -- Chile
E. odieri var. odieri -- Chile
E. senilis (adult) -- Chile
E. senilis (4 year old seedling volunteer)
Espostoa lanata -- Ecuador and Peru
Frailea castanea -- Brazil and Uruguay
F. grahliana -- Argentina and Paraguay
Gymnocalycium baldianum -- Argentina
G. ochoterenae subs. vatteri -- Argentina
G. stenopleurum -- Paraguay
Melocactus matanzanus -- Cuba
Puna clavarioides -- Argentina
Pygmaeocereus bylesianus -- Peru
Rebutia heliosa -- Bolivia
R. pygmaea -- Argentina and Bolivia
Sulcorebutia callichroma var. longispina -- Bolivia
S. rauschii -- Bolivia
Tephrocactus articulatus var. inermis -- nursery cultivar, but genetic heritage is from Argentina
T. articulatus var. papyracanthus -- Argentina
Uebelmannia pectinifera var. multicostata -- Brazil

And now for the new photos as promised. The evening of July 26 -- Melo matanzanus keeps popping out pretty little pink flowers:





Frailea grahliana -- the biggest bud I've seen on the plant since I got it from C and D 2 years ago:



Copiapoa tenuissima with bloom #3:



Same day, let's see what my show-off Mamms are up to. In the morning...



...and evening:



Next morning, and they did indeed show off for the camera! Yeahhhh!!!

[Steve Johnson]

I was all set to show you the first-ever flowers on my Weingartia brevispina, but sadly it was not to be. The plant on 5/14 and 6/26:



That's as far as we got before something went wrong around July 4th weekend, when a small bleached-out spot started right on the growing point. Not good -- here's the view on 7/10 and 16:



On the 24th -- yep, that Weingartia is dead:





So what the heck happened? I believe that the sharp heatwave starting on Father's Day is what happened. I watered pretty much everything on 6/17 -- regardless of what conventional wisdom may tell us, watering into a heatwave is fine as long as excessive heat doesn't last through the night. In my case, the overnight lows were in the low 70s, so the cacti were happy to get their deep drench when they did. Well, the Weingartia wasn't so happy. From this "autopsy" photo, it's apparent that rot began in the plant's core, most probably when the daytime high hit 104 on 6/20. Then the rot slowly ate its way through from the inside out:



I'm not sure if my Weingartia was the one cactus that shouldn't have gotten a drench on 6/17. Could've been that or just a coincidence. Either way it's plain old bad luck. But to be honest with y'all, the plant wasn't one of the more interesting selections I've made, so this is no big loss.

With 2-plus months of the growing season left, I wasn't about to let that empty space go unfilled for long. Didn't have anything particular in mind (that's a change -- I usually have a list of candidates in hand when I go cactus shopping), although it would be nice if I went for a genus I haven't tried growing before. Straight from the autopsy table to my home computer, here's what I found on eBay:



That's Parodia subterranea being offered by Kyle's Plants right here in SoCal. Lovely form, attractive spines, and a wooly top which will grow in more as the plant gets older. While flowers have never been a major factor in what I choose, I must admit that the blooms I saw here did help seal the deal. A very interesting selection, and I eagerly anticipated the arrival of my new find. It came on the 27th, so time to pop open the box. I looked at the sender's name and address on the invoice, and what do you know -- turned out that Kyle is our one and only Saxicola!(Wonderful chap, and it was a pleasure to spend time with him in Thousand Oaks 3 years ago.) He does a good job of prepping his plants before he ships them bare-root, although I still wanted to give the roots a followup cleaning and peroxide soak before I transplanted the latest acquisition. Here it is right before the roots got buried in a potful of pumice and granite gravel:



Some of the fine roots got left behind during my prep work, but there's plenty of healthy rooting material left to grow in below-ground. Not leaving anything to chance, I sterilized the ex-Weingartia's empty pot with alcohol followed by a wipe-down with bleach. Repotting day on 7/30:





Same day, same pot, and the same spot too!



Kyle sure sent me a nice one, so we'll check in toward the end of summer and see if the Parodia settles in well. And I have a good feeling that it will! Now, there are a couple of things I'd like to mention concerning this group shot. First, my critical eye leads me to point out that the Astrophytum asterias is looking unusually pale. That June heatwave figures into the story, although it began well before then. Kinda complicated to explain what's been happening, but since the plant is slowly greening up again, I'll see if this is a tale worth telling before the growing season ends. And second, the pic you just saw is a sneak preview of some really nice ongoing activities from the weekend which I'll share in my next post. Until then, I'll just say that I'm thrilled to introduce my first-ever Parodia to the collection -- what a beauty!

[Steve Johnson]

As the new kid on the block arrived on my plant bench last weekend, there were some really nice activities going on around the event, so let's see what else I have to share starting with 7/30...

For some strange reason I can't figure out, my Frailea castanea attracts an unusual amount of dust. At least this phenomenon will give us an interesting view of what the plant looks like in full summertime growth:



Even with all the corking, this Pelecyphora strobiliformis can still give us a decent look at vibrant new growth on top:





The strobiliformis is making some remarkable progress this year -- although it did lead a hard life before it came into the collection, before-and-after pics should rate a special entry in my End-of-summer review.

Epithelantha gregii 'rufispina' -- aerial view showing active growth and a pretty little flower:



Do you like the more artfully composed shots I've been posting lately?



Mammillaria guelzowiana -- what a show-off!



Mamm grahamii showing off in its own way:



I watered all but a few of my cacti last Saturday night. And whenever I water, it's always at night, so let's see what happened the morning after I dealt a deep soak to the residents of Sun Valley:



I took that pic at about 9 a.m. The top dressing on the upper berth was already dried out from the sun by then, but still a nice view to start the last day of July:



Early afternoon in Sun Valley:



Epithelantha 'rufispina' putting on a small show, P. aselliformis included at no extra charge!



Now it's all about Mr. gregii:



And back up to the top shelf for last Sunday's main event:





Believe it or not, the July version of "June gloom" bled into the beginning of the new month. Actually this isn't unusual here, so as we wait for nature's oven to turn up the big heat for late summer, I'll have some new stuff to cover a pleasant first week of August.

Cheers, everyone!

[Steve Johnson]

The first half of the month wasn't quite as hot as L.A. was expecting, but still hot enough to keep this small collection happy. In Part 1, we'll look at some miscellaneous items of interest...

After my Sulcorebutia rauschii went through a flower-less spring last year, it was nice to see the plant setting 2 new buds in April. The view on 4/16 and 5/14 -- if you know the species well, you'll be able to tell that 1 bud was going to make it all the way to blooming, while the other was having second thoughts about following through:



Sometimes aborted buds will convert into pups, although I can't say that I've ever seen it on any of my cacti. Then again, there's a first time for everything -- different angles of the same spot on 5/16, then 3 months later pretty much to the day:



Is that a conversion? Yuppers!



No aborted buds here -- Turb klinkerianus on 8/3...



...and Frailea grahliana loving its summer on 8/10 and 11:





Melo matanzanus also on the 10th:





Its flowers just keep going and going -- a small, but wonderful sign of how healthy the plant is these days.

Rewinding back to 8/3 -- could that be my Epithelanta bokei's very first bud?



Yes indeed! 8/6 on the left before it got watered that night, then a wet look for the bokei the morning after its deep drink:



From first bud to first bloom on 8/13:









I was hoping to attend the big Inter-City show this weekend, but unfortunately too many things got in the way of that possibility. Oh, well -- such is life, and at least I could put on a little show of my own just for the forum. You saw a little bit of it here, so stay tuned for the main event in Part 2!

[Steve Johnson]

And we're back...

Before we get to the more floriferous part of this report, I just wanted to mention that as far as Augusts go, this one is turning out to be fairly mild. How mild? For our consideration:

1. Highs for the month are usually upper 80s to low 90s, but my part of L.A. has been on average 5-10 degrees below normal since the beginning of August. In fact, yesterday's high was only 78 -- chalk that up to the coastal microclimate here. My 7-day forecast is back in the 80s, although still below normal. Not that yours truly is complaining -- inland SoCal is hotter than the hubs of Hades these days.

2. My night-bloomers (Discocactus buenekeri and crystallophilus, Pygmaeocereus bylesianus) should be at least setting buds by now, but not even a hint yet. Not enough heat for them? 2013's infamous "summer that wasn't" happened before the night-blooming cacti entered my collection -- while this summer isn't even close to being a repeat, prior experience does give me some deja vu as I contemplate the relatively "tepid" August we're experiencing. It could explain lack of flowers on those plants, so IMO a reasonable guesstimate of the situation. We still have September, and if the night bloomers end their summer with a return to seasonably high heat, perhaps they'll give us nocturnal submissions after all.

If the absence of nighttime activities is a bit disappointing, one cannot say the same about the recent day pics I'll share with you. For example -- in its 3rd summer under my care, this Copiapoa tenuissima is blooming more now than it has in the past. On 8/3:





10 days later, and this is the biggest flower I've ever seen on the plant:





My "Queen of the Astrophytums" holding court on 8/6:



Getting ready to bloom on 8/8 -- wow, that was fast!



Unfortunately I couldn't be there to get the wide-open flower on camera the following day, but the "after" was still pretty to look at that evening:



Gymnocalycium baldianum, from bud on 8/6...



...to bloom on 8/9:



As other DSLR photographers will attest, it's difficult to get true color on these flowers. Color correction through Photoshop comes in handy, although if we hit the lighting just right, we can get true color the natural way. In this case, the sun was playing "hide and seek" with a far-off palm tree when I took the above pic that evening. In this bird's-eye view, we'll see a significant color difference between full sun on the left, and sun filtered through the palm tree on the right:



Of course I just got lucky, so I usually resort to color correction before I post photos of the baldianum in flower. If you'd like to try doing it yourself, use the pic on the right for
reference -- that red color is true!

Back in June, my Strombocactus disciformis started on 3 new buds. They sat there and didn't do much until the plant finally decided to abort 2 in favor of growing new spines. But the 3rd bud woke up again, and its progress looked good -- here on 8/6:



The morning of 8/13 as the bud started opening:



This winged little pollinator was having fun (lucky shot!):



By bye, my tiny friend!





Another Gymno heard from -- stenopleurum (again) on 8/8...



...and 8/14:



Same day with Mammillaria grahamii at its summertime best:



Well, not quite -- give it 2 days, and the grahamii's flower display is fantastic!







Epithelantha gregii joining in:





(What, no 'rufispina' at the end of the name this time? Yuppers -- I may have to correct a misidentification, although I'll leave that picky bit 'o detail for a later post.)

For now I'll leave you with a nice look at the top of my Gymno vatteri, with new buds that'll turn into blooms sometime next month:

[Steve Johnson]

I know these things happen, but it was so disappointing...

When I increased my growing space with the then-new plant bench I installed 3 summers ago, Mammillaria hernandezii was one of the cacti I selected. A grower who knows the species told me that watering every 2 weeks in spring and summer is all the plant needs -- overdo it, and you'll get in trouble. Following his advice, my hernandezii did incredibly well. Then last month I had a "senior moment" thinking that it could use watering once a week in summertime. The view last Saturday (8/20), oops :



Note to self -- cacti with big, thick taproots don't need watering any more often in summer than they do in spring. Those 2 pups have been growing nicely, so I was hoping that they could be saved. Possible or not? Well, let's have a look at the "autopsy" photo first:



As we would expect given my watering boo-boo, rot started way down in the taproot and made its way up through the meristem. Next I carefully chopped off the pups with a sterilized knife. One needed a little more cutting than the other, but the results on both look pretty good:



Yep, IMO those pups can be saved. Give the freshly cut tissues a good dusting of sulfur powder, then let the cuts form a callus, and I'd say the chances for rooting next year are good. So what happens next? The answer may not be what one would expect, although I'll save this little story for my next post. In the meantime, the views I just showed you came with a much nicer one that day -- Copiapoa tenuissima flowering yet again:



The pup in front is obvious (and obviously doing well), but something on the left side looks like there could be a new pup growing. Bears further investigation, I believe.

I'll leave you with an attractive bird's-eye pic of the tenuissima enjoying its spot in Shady Glen:

[Steve Johnson]

As much as I enjoy my small collection, there's a definite drawback involving limited growing space -- acquiring new cacti usually means that something will have to move out first. Sometimes this is by choice, but unfortunately sometimes it's not. We'll begin with an example of the former...

When I was able to expand the collection 3 years ago, I went on a little cactus buying spree. One of the plants I chose was a Pygmaeocereus bylesianus from Mesa Garden. Been growing well enough, although since I have to be kinda picky, I'll admit that it finally looked too much like the more common "peanut" cacti we see all over the place. I was set on finding a more interesting replacement, so I went to the Miles' To Go website. Ooh, and I sure found a very interesting one! Before I show it to you, I'll just mention that I'm not about to throw out a perfectly good plant, and when Miles Anderson kindly took me up on my offer to give him the Pygmaeocereus, it went out to the wilds of Arizona as the new arrival was about to come in. Hitting my doorstep on Friday, here's what he sent -- Echinocereus viridiflorus subsp. canus:



From today, potted up and ready for action:





Native to Presidio County, Texas, this is a new offering through M2G, and perhaps the only place where you'll find them for sale. The specimen you're seeing is just emerging from its juvenile phase. As the stem grows, the spines will take over -- it'll be fun to watch the plant get older over time. For you Echinocereus fans out there, IMO it's one of the most fascinating members of the genus you're likely to see! All that hair rates the canus as a top-shelf plant, so here it is right next to my beautiful E. rubispinus:



By the way, when E. canus is mature enough for blooming, it'll produce green flowers with a lemon scent.

The sad part of the story was covered with the demise of my Mammillaria hernandezii. I could've held onto the pups for an attempt at rooting, although Mr. Picky said "I love the Mamms I already have, so maybe it's a blessing in disguise to let them go for something completely different". Since the hernandezii came from M2G, I thought it would be nice to send the pups back home. I asked Miles if he would like them, and he said "Si!". Like ships passing in the night, the Pygmaeocereus and hernandezii pups went out as my new E. canus was joined by another interesting selection -- at least the sad story has a happy ending:







He lists the species as Neoporteria duripulpa. If you'd prefer to go with the current taxonomy, this one's a tongue-twister: Eriosyce napina subsp. lembckei var. duripulpa. Oy, what a mouthful! (I'll give it the shorthand name of E. duripulpa. Yeah I know, not taxonomically correct, but easier to manage.) No matter what you want to call it, this is another fascinating choice.

The duripulpa taking its place in Sun Valley:



Just a couple of points worthy of note. First, the pot you see here was vacated by my Stenocactus lloydii when it went into a bigger one. In terms of diameter, the duripulpa may appear to be overpotted, but depth-wise that pot is perfect to accommodate the long taproot. Second (and to make things more taxonomically complicated. Yay! ), E. duripulpa is a Thelocephala -- great for regular watering in summer, but springtime can be problematic without consistent stretches of heat they need to get their roots going.

Actually, conventional wisdom suggests that both of my new acquisitions could be overpotted right now. But working with pumice and granite gravel as long as I have, I can tell you that roots grow more extensively in pure mineral mix than they will in mixes containing soil and/or organic materials. The trick is to avoid deep drenches right away, and instead water the mix just enough to moisten it. As it dries out, new roots will seek out water. Repeat this process another time or two, then the canus and duripulpa will be ready to accept deep watering. Well, not
quite -- since I got them so late in the growing season, they won't have enough time to fully establish before they go dormant. If the better part of October is nice and hot, a good soak is certainly possible, although that'll have to be it for the year. If not, a few judicious sips should be enough to tide them over until their next growing season kicks in.

I can't let y'all get away without a flower -- Frailea grahliana finally blooming for us on camera today:



It wasn't hot enough to get the flower wide open, but still pretty, and the plant itself looks beautiful with its late-summer growing dress on. The view from above:

[keith]

Werid the Mammillaria rotted ? I guess the pumice hold water pretty good somthing I need to watch for. I wonder if miles will graft them ?