Early morning surprise

in Succulent growers4 years ago

echinopsis1.jpg

Echinopsis aka Domino cactus belongs to the family of night-blooming cacti, meaning that they are pollinated by moths. It never ceases to amazes me that such small cacti make such large spectacular flowers that bloom only for about two nights, closing during the day. If you are up early, you can catch them at it

echinopsis3.jpg

I took this picture 3 years ago of the leftover flower and the cactus body has fattened out a lot, it's a very old cactus, that's why it's brown at the bottom. It's not rot you are looking at but corking. I find this species actually enjoys getting watered well in summer so I leave it outside in winter and summer. The body swells considerably with summer rains but then it's quite deflated by the end of winter when I keep it dry.

echinopsis4.jpg

It also blooms almost continuously throughout summer if it gets enough water, you can see the next flower bud forming.

echinopsis2.jpg

Cacti are extreme and austere plants but they enjoy putting on a show at flowering time. This plant has surprised me: it was an unwanted gift, mainly because I was previously expert at killing cacti but this tough character just lasts and blooms without any fuss. I'm slowly getting more cacti and being more successful at keeping them alive.

Sort:  

No longer a murderess cacti killer eh..?

Peanut Request.!

 4 years ago  

I've learned to just find their happy places and leave them there

Ok, Peanuts needs a feature, how is your kid doing?

Lil' Guy sayin meow. (hello




Posted using Dapplr

Such an interesting and beautiful flower... I wonder if it's edible?

 4 years ago  

If you are a hungry caterpillar, I suppose so

I'm a hungry butterfly...

It is such a simple cactus but it has a spectacular flower.
This is what I like about cacti ... THEIR floral surprises.
This is a beautiful flower!.

 4 years ago  

Yes, for many years I grew cacti indoors and never saw this

What a beautiful surprise. Makes early mornings worthwhile.

 4 years ago  

Not THAT worthwhile, haha. I'm not an early riser by nature

wow, spectacular indeed. The flower is gorgeous. The white is so pure.

 4 years ago  

They are so delicate compared to the plant that creates them

There must be a message in that. :-)

Very impressive flower for such a small cactus! Hope you’ll have a jungle if cacti one day soon.

 4 years ago  

It's getting there soon

Yay! Good news! Would love to see a picture of the nursery in the future.

Great surprise!
I also belong to those who stay up late and get up late :-)
So you and I are "owls" :-)

 4 years ago  

All the best people are ;)

That's for sure! :-)))

Beautiful!!! Cactus are such amazing plants!!!!!😍

 4 years ago  

Yes they are!