My flowering Cacti 2017

[hegar]

Thank you very much, greenknight, for explaining to me, why png is preferable to jpg. I knew, that the image quality when using jpg and doing different changes to the image would reduce the quality each time the image is processed. My camera is set to record jpg images at a high resolution. I do use that image, produce a copy of it and do the required changes with the copied image. I hope, that my original image stays the same and only the copies are affected.
By the way, what kind of cactus do you use for your avatar? It must be a night bloomer, e.g. Cereus, Echinopsis, etc..

Today was not a very exciting day as far as flowering of my plants is concerned.
I only found two additional cacti with opened blossoms and both of them are not providing peak performance.
The reason could be, that on March 3rd I dug all these plants up and transplanted them the following day. This may have impacted their willingness or ability to flower. I needed to do this work, because three Texas sage bushes (Leucophyllum sp.) had taken over the little cactus bed and they had to go, because they were shading out the cacti. With too much shade, the flowering also suffers. That is also, why I need to thin out or remove my prickly pear cacti.

The first image shows the new and improved cactus bed. There is actually now room to walk to the plants I want to photograph or cultivate around them!
The second picture shows the sparsely flowering indestructible cactus with the scientific name Echinocereus viridiflorus ssp. chloranthus, and the third the first blossom of a small plant named Escobaria sneedii ssp. sneedii.

Harald

New Cactus Bed.JPG (391.28 KiB) Viewed 2833 times

E_viridiflo_ssp chloranthus.JPG (355.86 KiB) Viewed 2833 times

Esc_sneedii ssp sneedii.JPG (305.89 KiB) Viewed 2833 times

[fallout330]

Beautiful flowering, thanks for sharing those, hegar.

[fallout330]

Well, I tried to import the images, but I do get a rejection, telling me that the extension "xcf" is invalid.
My original images are taken in the JPG format, but my GIMP program does not allow me to size the image in jpeg.
Does anyone here know, what I could do, so I can once more place digital images here? Is there another program that can be downloaded and does not cost and arm and a leg, which would allow me to keep the jpeg format?

Check out Fotor:

http://www.fotor.com/

Haven't tried it myself, but this may be perfect for you. By the way, a cursory look at the interface leads me to believe this is a Flickr product. I've been hosting all my photos at Flickr after Microsoft ditched static image URLs on OneDrive. Wonderful experience, so if Fotor does come from the same company, I think you'd be happy using it.

Amazing collection you have, Steve. Thanks for sharing Flickr gallery!

[hegar]

Hello everyone,
here I am again. Not much is happening as far as flowering is concerned. However, there are large, partially open flowers on one or two of my Texas rainbow cacti (Echinocereus dasyacanthus) and also on a plant that was sold to me under the name Echinocereus coahuilense. It may be, however, just an Echinocereus pectinatus. At least it does look similar in appearance.
Today was an overcast and windy day, and perhaps that prevented the cacti mentioned above from flowering. If they do bloom tomorrow and I can persuade my wife to take pictures, I shall post some of those tomorrow.
This evening, when I came back from work, I noticed, that one of my many kinds of prickly pear, the Opuntia rufida had opened its first flowers. Maybe because it was almost 7 p.m. and the sun was not shining brightly, the blossoms were half-way closed.
Here are three images. The plant is a very tough cactus and flowers profusely every year. It also drops the inedible fruit, which readily sprouts and produces a new plant.

Harald

O_rufida1.JPG (349.18 KiB) Viewed 2782 times

O_rufida2.JPG (322.99 KiB) Viewed 2782 times

O_rufida3.JPG (348.89 KiB) Viewed 2782 times

[hegar]

I rushed home today, but despite not running into any traffic jam, I was still a little too late for taking pictures.
The two Echinocactus dasyacanthus blossoms were almost closed as was the Echinocereus coahuilense. My wife told me, that neither one of these cactus species ever opened the flower more than halfway. Perhaps it was once again not sunny enough.
I did spot a plant though that I had expected to wait with the blooming until the weekend. It is a hybrid between E. dasyacanthus and E. coccineus ssp. rosei. Those plants are found in Orogrande, New Mexico and I will be going there and bring back many digital images. The scientific name of these hybrids is Echinocereus x roetteri.
Here are two images taken in less than favorite conditions this evening.

Harald

E_xroetteri1.JPG (365.62 KiB) Viewed 2763 times

E_xroetteri2.JPG (348.42 KiB) Viewed 2763 times

[hegar]

Here are some more photos of my cacti this year. While the most likely pure strain of Echinocereus coccineus ssp. rosei is still going strong, after opening the first blossom on March 25th and 26th, the hybrid is coming to an end of its flowering. It too flowered first on the same day.
The other hybrid in bloom (E. x roetteri) is in a more shady location. So it flowers later. Here is one more image, showing it with fully open blossoms.
Also, I did have the first flowers open up on two of my Echinocereus dasyacanthus (Texas Rainbow) cacti.

Harald

E_xroetteri4.JPG (381.9 KiB) Viewed 2740 times

E_coccineus ssp roseus4.JPG (375.23 KiB) Viewed 2740 times

E_x roetteri3.JPG (313.39 KiB) Viewed 2740 times

E_dasyacanthus2.JPG (358.46 KiB) Viewed 2740 times

E_dasyacanthus3.JPG (324.46 KiB) Viewed 2740 times

E_dasyacanthus4.JPG (305.33 KiB) Viewed 2740 times

[hegar]

This weekend was not too bad as far as flowering cacti at my place are concerned. Saturday afternoon, after I returned from my annual trip to Orogrande, New Mexico, I found the following cacti in bloom. Images from that field trip will be located on the thread "Cacti Places" within the next few days.
Thelocactus mcdowellii, a plant that I had only purchased two weeks earlier, Echinocereus dasyacanthus (with blossoms that are more open than when I photographed other plants earlier in the week, and Opuntia violacea. That plant has a huge number of flower buds. So it will be blooming from now on until perhaps two more weeks

Harald

T_mcdowellii1.JPG (362.18 KiB) Viewed 2707 times

T_mcdowellii2.JPG (341.57 KiB) Viewed 2707 times

E_daysacanthus6.JPG (308.99 KiB) Viewed 2707 times

E_daysacanthus7.JPG (282.04 KiB) Viewed 2707 times

O_violacea1.JPG (329.11 KiB) Viewed 2707 times

O_violacea2.JPG (265.57 KiB) Viewed 2707 times

[hegar]

These two plants did flower today. The first one is a cactus that is commonly encountered here in the desert hillsides. The common name is corn cob cactus and the scientific one Escobaria tubercularia. It is a relatively small cactus and produces cute small flowers and it does flower repeatedly during each growing season.
The second plant presented is one of my favorites. This cactus is a true dwarf, with a stem diameter not bigger than a penny coin. Only the top 1/2 to one inch sticks out, the rest of the body is below ground. The plant is also tough and one that I have never killed. I even had an Opuntia basilaris die on me! This tiny cactus survived in the ground at my place, when temperatures were below freezing for a full 72 hour time period. The low temperatures did not exceed 10 degrees F!. I did just place a weed-barrier tarp over the cactus. This plant also will flower several times during the year. This fragile looking cactus has the name Turbinicarpus valdezianus.

Harald

E_tuberculosa1.JPG (308.79 KiB) Viewed 2705 times

E_tuberculosa2.JPG (337.45 KiB) Viewed 2705 times

T_valdezianus1.JPG (262.87 KiB) Viewed 2705 times

T_valdezianus5.JPG (326 KiB) Viewed 2705 times

[cactushobbyman]

I believe you posted some pictures last year of your "Claret cup cactus." I found serval types that went by that name. I posted that I liked the flower and so I purchased an Echinocereus triglochidiatus. It has just started flowering; thanks for your post and now I can enjoy the flowers. Thanks for the post.

1.jpg (113.55 KiB) Viewed 2687 times

[hegar]

Hello cactushobbyman,
I am glad, that you do like your Echinocereus triglochidiatus claret cup. You must be giving it great care, in order to have at least five flower buds on just one stem! I only do have one plant of this species. Although it has been in the ground for several years, it only produces one or two blossoms. The plant also has not significantly increased in size. I do love those beautiful red blossoms. As far as the spines are concerned, there is a giant claret cup, which naturally only occurs on White Sands Missile Range property. I purchased also only one plant and that one has not flowered yet.
Today two plants did flower, but I was too late to take pictures of the Echinocereus pectinatus (Arizona Rainbow Cactus).
I do, however, have several plants and hope, that I will be home at least for one of the blossoms.
The plant with the still somewhat open flower was the Opuntia azurea. This prickly pear cactus does have very long spines, with a dark-colored base and light grey tips.

Opuntia azurea1.JPG (341.91 KiB) Viewed 2677 times

Opuntia azurea2.JPG (239.39 KiB) Viewed 2677 times

[hegar]

Here are a few digital images photographed yesterday and today.
Yesterday evening one of my red-blooming hybrid Opuntia cactus was flowering. The plant looks similar to an O. engelmannii and is quite vigorous.
This morning the two flower buds on my Turbinicarpus laui opened. I received this plant for free from one of our local Cactus and Rock Club members.
It did already produce a second stem, which hopefully will also flower in the near future.
Also, two other Opuntia spp. opened their first blossoms. I actually only wanted to photograph the larger yellow blossom with the red throat, and quite accidentally also photographed the first flower being produced by one of my Opuntia microdasys.
One more cactus started to flower. It is the Echinocereus fendleri (Fendler's Hedgehog Cactus). It does have a good-sized blossom, which does not fully open and thus almost resembles a tulip. The flower color is a very strong deep pink

Harald

O_red hybrid1.JPG (339.64 KiB) Viewed 2635 times

O_red hybrid2.JPG (282.74 KiB) Viewed 2635 times

T_laui1.JPG (435.84 KiB) Viewed 2635 times

T_laui4.JPG (300.49 KiB) Viewed 2635 times

O_microdasys and unknown Opuntia.JPG (367.92 KiB) Viewed 2635 times

E_fendleri1.JPG (374.13 KiB) Viewed 2635 times

E_fendleri2.JPG (444.13 KiB) Viewed 2635 times

E_fendleri3.JPG (423.46 KiB) Viewed 2635 times

E_fendleri4.JPG (376.97 KiB) Viewed 2635 times

[hegar]

Today another cactus started blooming. If I am not totally mistaken, it is the first flower this plant produced for me, unless it flowered shortly after I purchased it last year in April.
The label that came with the plant identified it as a Turbinicarpus schmiedickeanus ssp. klinkerianus. The blossom is not as pink as those of the T. laui, but it does have a pink stripe running the length of the mid-petal and is larger in size.
I am waiting for some of the other plants to go into the flowering mode and hopefully will have additional images tomorrow.

Harald

T_schmiedickeanus ssp klinkerianus3.JPG (374.36 KiB) Viewed 2614 times

T_schmiedickeanus ssp klinkerianus5.JPG (355.23 KiB) Viewed 2614 times

[greenknight]

By the way, what kind of cactus do you use for your avatar? It must be a night bloomer, e.g. Cereus, Echinopsis, etc..

Echinopsis ancistrophora (bought it as an unlabeled seedling, but pretty sure of the ID). Flowers do open at night, but that photo was taken at 5:00 pm, just before it began to fade.

[hegar]

I had hoped to show a flowering Echinocereus reichenbachii f. pailianus. However, the blossom opened and closed and I was not home.
The plant only had one flower bud and it looks, like this will be it, unless it decides to bloom once more this year. The regular E. reichenbachii also opened its first blossom and I missed that one too. However, it has several more of them. So by the weekend I may be able to photograph it.
My prickly pear cacti are in the middle of their blooming cycle; at least some of them are.
I am attaching three images of them, one is of a low growing plant and the other two were produced by my Opuntia violacea (O. santa-rita?)
I am never quite sure what the true species of these prickly pear cacti is, but they are quite showy when in bloom and very easy to grow.
The last image is that of a good-sized Cat Claw cactus (Ancistrocactus uncinatus). The cactus was salvaged and saved from destruction by the bulldozer, when a parcel of land at the mountain slope here in town was developed, in order to build a school.

Harald

Unknown Opuntia3.JPG (426.93 KiB) Viewed 2578 times

Opuntia violacea6.JPG (475.72 KiB) Viewed 2578 times

Opuntia violacea7.JPG (402.46 KiB) Viewed 2578 times

A_uncinatus2.JPG (494.16 KiB) Viewed 2578 times

[hegar]

Today only one of my Thelocactus bicolor (Pride or Glory of Texas Cactus) opened a blossom. It was the second one and I missed both. My wife did take a picture while the flower was still open. The quality of the image is not top notch, but it does show the interior of the blossom.

Harald

Thelocactus bicolor 2017-3.JPG (325.59 KiB) Viewed 2554 times