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There is not too much action going on in my cactus garden. However, this Opuntia cochinellifera is still - or again - doing its best. Most likely it will freeze back some shortly, but it always springs back with a fury. I do have cladodes all over the box tortoise run and did grow additional plants from some pads. The flower is not pretty, but still does add some color this late in the season. Another thing that is good about this plant is the fact, that it is basically spine and glochidless.
The first image shows two buds, ready to pop open, and the second one the actual flower.

Harald

I love those strange flowers! Everything is getting ready to sleep all winter here, except for Ariocarpus, which flower for me usually near the end of December.

peterb

Cool flowers Harald.

Peter, I'm surprised that you don't have more winter action down there.

Hello Cactus Friends,
I had been waiting for the last cactus in my yard to produce a blossom, but I am not sure, if this still will happen this year. So at this time, I can only produce the plant showing some flower buds. The first two images were taken on November 7th and the last two on November 29th. Today we have had snow falling all day long and the temperatures are going from a high of about 40 degrees F early this morning to below freezing tonight. If my simple protection works - two 5 gallon plastic buckets - perhaps the plant will still flower this year. If that happens, it will only be the third time that I could actually see a blossom. Last year was an exceptionally good one and I did have six buds or so open over a several week long time period.
Well, here are the pictures. I believe, that this cactus is even picturesque without flowers.

Harald

Your right Harald, its a truly beautiful plant you have there, especially when wet.
My F. latispinus has not bloomed now for I think three years, not even buds. But this year it looks exactly like your does today so maybe this is the year it will start blooming again.
I hope the bucket trick works.

wow amazing

wonderful plant Harald!

peterb

Tony wrote: especially when wet.

Is that wet or on fire!

Amazing spines on that Harald!

What an awsome pic!

That is a beautiful plant!

Thanks for the accolades!
Tony, you are right. The plant was wet when photographed. It was raining, kind of in preparation for the following snow. Yesterday, when I left my work place at shortly after 4 p.m. I had to remove two inches or slightly more from my car roof, hood and trunk. Then early this morning there was at least that much again on my vehicle. Most of my cacti were completely covered, but you could still see the outline of the larger specimens.
Tonight it is clear and the predicted low will be around 28 degrees F. After that we will slowly warm up once again. So tomorrow sometime I am going to peek under the double bucket cover and hopefully the buds will still open up to show their beautiful flower.

Harald

Beautiful spines and buds.

We did have snow two times during the last week and also two days in a row with lows of 23 degrees F (- 5 degrees C). The Ferocactus latispinus still looks fine and the buds have not shriveled. So there is still some hope for the plant to flower. However, most likely I am not going to see this event - at least the first blossom -, because I shall fly to Germany come Wednesday. My dad died early Sunday morning and his memorial service will be held on Friday.
I plan on returning to the U.S. on January 14th. Because there are at least four buds with a chance to bloom on the plant, there is still a good chance that I will observe the flowering event. However, that would require my wife to cover the cactus every night whenever the temperature might drop into the freezing range. I am going to ask her to do so and even take some images when the cactus does flower during my absence. I cannot guerantee, however, that she will honor my request.

Harald

I just received my first Fero like that. I had no idea the spines changed colors? Do all do that? At a certain time of the year or certain conditions?

The spine color seems to vary some depending on the time of the year and the conditions they are exposed to. In the spring, as far as I recall, the color is more reddish and becomes a little more yellow-brownish later in the season. Also, as Tony already pointed out, the red becomes more noticeable and is more pronounced when the plant is wet. Cacti do respond to intense sunlight by sometimes "bleaching out" or losing the chlorophyll and then showing the red, brown, purplish pigments and also when the temperatures drop. I do have a purple Echinocereus pentalophus every time come early winter. The plant looks horrible right now, but it will recover by April of next year, regaining its green stem color.

Harald