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My Cacti 2012

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:29 pm
by hegar
Well, it looks like spring is actually here once again. At least some of the cacti are showing signs of life.
About one week ago I took a few images, showing flower buds on some of the plants. If Mother Nature does not send some really bad weather my way, some of the cacti will have numerous blossoms, including one Echinocereus dasyacanthus on which I counted seven flower buds!
So, here are the first images of the plants most likely to flower first too.
First the only member I have of Echinocereus chloranthus. This plant is very commonly encountered all around El Paso, Texas. While I do enjoy its prolific flowering and handsome spines, the blossoms are not overly attractive to me. However, it is a tough plants and probably the oldest in my collection.

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The next image shows two Echinocereus coccineus plants, also a very common cactus found in our vicinity. It does produce nice clumps and long-lasting flowers. By the way, I shall be going to the Orogrande area this coming April 7th to view those magnificent natural hybrids once more. So be on the look-out for images in the "Cacti Places" section
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The last image does show an Echinocereus dasyacanthus, also a very common plant found around here. It produces huge blossoms and has a beautiful spine color, but those blossoms only last a day or two.


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Well, this site is still not working correctly. So I do not know, if my post will be shown, but I do certainly hope so.

Harald

Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:31 pm
by hegar
I just realized, that I posted the Echinocereus chloranthus twice and submitted only one image of the Echinocereus coccineus.
Here is the image I had intended to send.

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Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:25 pm
by Harriet
I love springing Spring!

Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 12:33 am
by gemhunter178
It's always nice to have a lot of flower buds on your plants, they're the "flowers of your effort" :D

Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:44 am
by Arjen
that will be quite a show!

Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:58 pm
by Peterthecactusguy
hey Harald.
we got some pretty crappy weather here in AZ. I will check my Echinocereus which will bloom for the first time this year after being....rescued from a flood in 2010 AND the other surviving being a cutting and then having to be rerooted after pigs tried to eat them....

Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 4:07 am
by hegar
I am still waiting for the first cactus to flower. The last few days were rather windy and not as warm. Today we even had some hail fall in parts of the city. Otherwise there was mostly a cool drizzle weather.
For tonight the expected low temperature is forecast to be around 34 degrees F. I hope, that the wind will die down some more. Otherwise the wind chill may do damage to the cactus flower buds.
It looks like I will be able for the first time to have a flowering Ancistrocactus (Sclerocactus) uncinatus. I had planted that kind of cactus before - it was a rescued plant - but the specimen refused to form roots and slowly died. This time around the cactus with two flower buds was purchased and is artificially propagated.
I have not yet been able to figure out, why some cacti do root easily, while others are extremely stubborn about forming roots, even when rooting hormone is applied. I am still not 100% certain that my big Ferocactus latispinus has become established again, after I dug it up shortly before the killing frost hit in February of last year. It still looks alive, but it seems to be smaller than it was before.
Well, I hope, that soon I will be able to post some images of cactus flowers.

Harald

Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 5:09 am
by John C
Looking good! Nice to see the flower buds!

Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:13 pm
by Ralf
That looks great Harald. I'm looking forward to see your first flower pictures of this season.
Till now I haven't no life signs on my outdoor plants. Anyhow today is the first day of spring.

Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:52 pm
by hegar
Hello,
finally the day arrived and my first cactus flower showed up. I had thought, that it would be the Echinocereus chloranthus, but it was one of my Echinocereus coccineus plants.
So, here is the first blossom as seen around 7 p.m. yestersday.
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Around 2:30 p.m. the plant looked like this.

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The Echinocereus chloranthus did open its first blossoms today. It is my second oldest cactus. When I received it it had only one stem. Now it has seven. It flowers over a long period of time, with many small blossoms. However, they are not as showy as those of most of my other cacti.
First up an overview. You can see the plant between two Echinocereus dasyacanthus cacti.ImageImageImage
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Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:37 pm
by Andy_CT
Nice start to the flowering season. I'd give my right arm for a claret cup bloom at this point.

Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:38 pm
by Minime8484
What a way to start the bloom season! Awesome!

Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 2:20 am
by hegar
Here are the latest images, some of which I took only one hour ago. All of them do show claret cup plants, one is a regular Echinocereus coccineus and the other one a hybrid. The latter does have larger salmon colored flowers.
Here we go:
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Here are those pictures of a hybrid. In two weeks from now I am going to post many more of plants that do occur in the wild in Orogrande, New Mexico. Most of them will be on stems resembling those typical of E. coccineus. Hopefully, some will be on stems looking more like those produced by E. dasyacanthus or even E. chloranthus.
If you are interested in seeing these images, they will be located in the category called "Cacti Places" under the headline "Hybrid Cacti from Orogrande 2012".

Harald
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I do not know, if anybody else has this problem, but the spacebar to my right cannot be moved downward. This makes it very difficult to type anything or enter images, because I cannot see what I am typing. I proofread after I have finished my sentences.

Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 3:02 am
by peterb
Beautiful flowers and plants, Harald! Always love your member topic.

peterb

Re: My Cacti 2012

Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2012 3:48 am
by jnspire
Harald, They are gorgeous!
Excellent, your work has paid off! :)

I especially enjoy the orange/peach colored blossoms.