My flowering Cacti 2017

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hegar
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Location: El Paso, Texas

My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by hegar »

Hello,
I am once again going to post a few digital images of my in-ground (outdoor) cactus plantings. The first two plants finally did start to flower.
Both of the can be called "Claret Cup" cacti. However, I am not sure what species the first one pictured is.
It does have a nice dark red flower, which is a little bit smaller than those on my other claret cut cacti. So I am only going to call the first one Echinocereus sp.. The second set of images shows a hybrid plant produced by the parents (Echinocereus coccineus var roseus and Echinocereus dasyacanthus). The hybrid name is Echinocereus roetteri var. roetteri.

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?

Harald
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Steve Johnson
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Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:44 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA (Zone 10b)

Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by Steve Johnson »

hegar wrote: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.
If you just want photos without all the blather, please visit my Flickr gallery.
My location: Los Angeles, CA (Zone 10b)
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greenknight
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Location: SW Washington State zone 8b

Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by greenknight »

The .xfc format is used only by the GIMP for working copies, when you finish modifying an image you need to export it as another format. Open your .xfc image in the GIMP, got to File > Export As, select .jpg or .png (I recommend .png) and where you want it saved (you can choose to overwrite the old version).

Here's a tutorial on resizing images with GIMP - https://www.gimp.org/tutorials/GIMP_Quickies/
Spence :mrgreen:
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hegar
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Location: El Paso, Texas

Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by hegar »

Thank you very much fellows! I am not "with the time" as far as technology is concerned. I shall give it another try and also look into Fotor option.

Harald
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K.W.
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Location: Köln, Germany - Zone 8a

Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by K.W. »

hegar wrote:Thank you very much fellows! I am not "with the time" as far as technology is concerned. I shall give it another try and also look into Fotor option.

Harald

We want to see pictures! ! !
We want to see pictures! ! !
We want to see pictures! ! !
We want . . .

K.W. =D> :wink:
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
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hegar
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Location: El Paso, Texas

Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by hegar »

OK, I did try the "export as" function and converted the images to the PNG format. let's see, if the pictures are now being accepted.

Harald

P.S.: I am adding a few images, because the Echinocereus x roetteri hybrid opened up several additional flowers. Yesterday there was jus one. In addition, a second cactus, which may be a pure strain of Echinocereus coccineus var. rosei opened its first blossom.
Well, without further delay, here are the first cactus images from my small cactus planting.
Attachments
Echinocereus sp1.png
Echinocereus sp1.png (454.08 KiB) Viewed 3414 times
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by hegar »

Well, I got too excited and hit the submit button instead of the add photo. The next images will hopefully be in sequence and without any typed explanation.
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by hegar »

Echinocereus sp2.png
Echinocereus sp2.png (431.25 KiB) Viewed 3413 times
Echinocereus sp3.png
Echinocereus sp3.png (471.27 KiB) Viewed 3413 times
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by hegar »

It seems like the size of the last images - all 600 x 450 bytes - was too large. There seems to be a 500 kilobyte size limit. So I converted the PNG images to JPEG and stayed under 500 kB for each. Let's see if things work now.

Harald
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by hegar »

Claret Cup Hybrid1.jpg
Claret Cup Hybrid1.jpg (378.75 KiB) Viewed 3413 times
Claret Cup Hybrid2.png
Claret Cup Hybrid2.png (456.66 KiB) Viewed 3413 times
Claret Cup Hybrid3.jpg
Claret Cup Hybrid3.jpg (455.54 KiB) Viewed 3413 times
E_coccineus1.jpg
E_coccineus1.jpg (456.56 KiB) Viewed 3413 times
E_coccineus2.jpg
E_coccineus2.jpg (447.67 KiB) Viewed 3413 times
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fallout330
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by fallout330 »

hegar wrote:Claret Cup Hybrid1.jpgClaret Cup Hybrid2.pngClaret Cup Hybrid3.jpgE_coccineus1.jpgE_coccineus2.jpg

Beautiful to see Hegar. Thanks for sharing.
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by hegar »

If anybody could give me a species name for the cactus shown on the first three images, that would be nice. I believe, that it is some kind of claret cup, although the first blossom is already spent after only three days. The other two though are still wide open at almost 10 p.m..
The flower is smaller than those of my other claret cups. Could it possibly be an Echinocereus coccineus var. paucispinus?
There may, however, be a few changes in the way my plants in that cactus bed perform this year versus prior years. I did dig all the cacti up and transplanted them. That was necessary, because some of the plants were crowding each other out, I did have Johnson grass stolons invade the cactus bed, and also needed to remove three Texas sage (Leucophyllum sp.) shrubs, which had grown too much and were reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the cacti. So the transplantation shock my have some impact on those plants. At this time, I do not see any quick additions to the pictures I placed. The claret cups will add a few blooms, and that will be it.
In a few weeks this will change though. and I should have a few decent images to show you.

Harald
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thomas
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by thomas »

Beautiful. i just put my collection back outside (live in Wash. State) and the temps are in the 50's to lower 60's so I'm hoping for the best. I have a couple that are not looking too good but hope they will come back. I just hope that after a good cold dormancy I will get lots of flowers this year. Congrats.
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hegar
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by hegar »

Not much has happened since I last posted a few images. Of the three cacti in flower, one is already done. It did have three blossoms and all of them are closed now (see image). The other two - the salmon-colored Echinocereus x roetteri and the Echinocereus coccineus ssp. rosei - are still going strong and I believe, that there will be open flowers on them for another week. But, don't worry, I am not going to show these two any more. :lol:
So, here are today's pictures:

Harald
Echinocereus sp4.JPG
Echinocereus sp4.JPG (466.52 KiB) Viewed 3318 times
Echinocereus x roetteri1.JPG
Echinocereus x roetteri1.JPG (487.8 KiB) Viewed 3318 times
Echinocereus x roetteri2.JPG
Echinocereus x roetteri2.JPG (368.66 KiB) Viewed 3318 times
Echinocereus coccineus ssp. rosei1.JPG
Echinocereus coccineus ssp. rosei1.JPG (466.31 KiB) Viewed 3318 times
Echinocereus coccineus ssp. rosei2.JPG
Echinocereus coccineus ssp. rosei2.JPG (496.82 KiB) Viewed 3318 times
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greenknight
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Re: My flowering Cacti 2017

Post by greenknight »

I should explain why I suggested .png - you can edit .png images any number of times without loss of quality. With .jpg, every time you edit the image some data is lost, the picture quality deteriorates. If you're not going to edit them any more there's no difference, and .jpg files are smaller, if they were small enough in that format already then that's a good choice. It's a good idea to save master copies as png, though, if there's a chance you may want to do something with them later.
Spence :mrgreen:
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