Close shot of what’s been happening all of a sudden on my giant cactus plant since that rare day of rain we had last week. (It’s a San Pedro cactus, or trichocereus pachanoi) Buds are suddenly popping out from the tops of each green tower (they lay hidden beneath the wispy white tufts until there’s enough water, I presume). Any day now, they are going to erupt into remarkably huge and detailed flowers. I’m excitedly keeping an eye on their progress.
Come back and have a look!
-cvj
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It never ceases to amaze me just how quickly plants respond to favourable conditions; not surprising when you think about it but impressive, nevertheless. Looking forwards to seeing the flowers open!
Having grown up surrounded by cactus in New Mexico, I hate the things. As a youth, I somehow managed to avoid the almost universal fate of lively boys and never had to be hauled to the emergency room to have several thousand spines removed from me. The worst are the ones too small to see.
That said, there is something about cactus flowers that makes them the most beautiful in the world. In New Mexico, most of them bloom in spring and early summer. I’m kind of surprised that one is thinking about it now.
It just sits there and… grows happily with no intervention
Yes, and that is what makes it all the more frustrating. Way back in the last century, when i still lived in SoCal, we used to grow them (and other cacti) in the Santa Monica Mountains with little effort and attention. The hardest work was cutting out those that had become diseased or damaged; and if you wore good leather gloves that job was easy.
Hi,
Mary: that’s why I say “Come back and have a look!”….. I’ll update with a photo when they emerge.
Spyder:- Sorry! I’m embarrassed to say further than in fact I’m not really doing anything. It just sits there and… grows happily with no intervention from me since I first trimmed it back a tiny amount some years back. As far as it is concerned, I’m an irrelevance. Fingers crossed that its health continues…
-cvj
Perhaps you could post a photo of the flowers when they appear.
Perhaps my most favorite of all cacti, and those stunning flowers, oh my. I almost curse you for being able to grow them so wonderfully. They just don’t take to the indoors up here in the north very well at all.