After spending a good three weeks in Germany, visiting my 94 year old mother and rest of the family, I returned to my home in El Paso a week ago.
Unfortunately, it was not only unusually hot in Germany - in one place there a record high temperature of 42.5 degrees C (108.5 degrees F) - was recorded. In the region around the northern city of Bremen, where I spent my time, it was not quite that hot, but still rather uncomfortable.
My plants in El Paso also suffered severely from a good number of temperatures above 100 degrees F and not being watered, although it did not rain.
Most of them did pull through however, although some do not look too good. I think, I did lose my Echinocereus knippelianus. It was badly sunburned last year, due to it having been moved to a full-sun location, but seemed to be on the path to recovery. The harsh weather during my absence, i.e. not receiving any water was too much for it. Well, I can always purchase another plant.
We are looking forward to some additional days of above-100-degree-weather with only a very slight chance of rainfall. But I am back now and shall apply water to the thirsty plants.
Despite all the harsh conditions, two cacti did flower today. One of them is my only surviving Mammillaria (M. grahamii) That plant did last bloom on June 18th. The other plants, which produced their small blossoms are Escobaria tuberculosa cacti, which are native to this area.
I am posting images of both of these cacti. The E. tuberculosa only warrants one image. In a few days I should be able to take a picture with several flowers and better light conditions.
Harald
- M_grahamii5.JPG (124.19 KiB) Viewed 3417 times
- M_grahamii6.JPG (118.87 KiB) Viewed 3417 times
- E_tuberculosa7.JPG (107.89 KiB) Viewed 3417 times
Gabriel
