Cactus flowers

[Mailman]

I wait months for this one day. Our trumpet flower cactus blooms once a year, it takes these massive buds, months to fully develop. They start out looking like a little speck of cotton fuzz and over a period of months grow to nearly 6” in length. They opened overnight, we awoke to see this in the front yard. By the end of the day it will be drooped and done. So much effort for just one day. P.S. the rabbit fence is because the rabbits will eat the buds before they open.

This hedgehog cactus was planted three years ago and this is the first time it’s bloomed,


My little guy, the devils tongue cactus, only about 6” tall.


Not a cactus, the desert milkweed is one of the more interesting plants in my yard. Impervious to our desert heat, it blooms year round and attracts monarch butterflies, bees, the slightly terrifying tarantula hawk wasps, milkweed bugs.

My other cactus aren’t ready to pop just yet.

 

[Downeaster]

Brother Dave lives in Green Valley near Tempe and has an extensive cactus garden. Beautiful when they flower.

 

[Jim]

Nice photography buddy!!!

 

[Jan_P]

I can see the bee there also on the day ...

 

[John Regular]

 

[atom4488]

Huge fan of cacti... the ones I cultivate are in FL and don't have the same spectacular floral display as the desert varieties.

 

[DogBunny]

This is the rainbow hedgehog cactus that I dug up from 2M's property 8 years ago. Like Mailman's trumpet flower cacti, it is a relaible yearly bloomer. Other similarities are that the flower starts as a tiny speck of white lint (you can see a third flower that is still developing), and that the bloom only lasts a day. Except, this year it lasted two days due to overcast skies and cooler weather. And, it seems to be in sync with Mailman's. I took these pics two days ago, and had intended to post them in Mailman's other cacti thread:
https://www.xs650.com/threads/cactus-flowers-seen-on-my-morning-walk.56942/#post-639961

Growing around the base are one of several sedum varieties that I have (AKA stonecrop), and they are blooming too -- the tiny white star-shaped flowers. I did not intentionally put the sedum in the cactus pot. That particular sedum has a habit of escaping and propagating itself everywhere.

 

[AUTOMAN]

Still waiting for me tulips.

 

[DogBunny]

I posted this pic 6 years ago. Scarab beetles, specifically Euphoria kerni, enjoying a love fest on my rainbow hedgehog cactus. They are built similarly to a June bug or Japanese beetle, but about 1/2 the size.

They are back. The third flower on my cactus opened today, and the scarab beetles descended on it. I counted -- hard to tell for sure, because they are double-stacked, but there are at least 15 of them. This is only the second time I've ever seen them, anywhere.

 

[650Skull]

Deleted, didn't add quote

 

[650Skull]

I wait months for this one day. Our trumpet flower cactus blooms once a year, it takes these massive buds, months to fully develop. They start out looking like a little speck of cotton fuzz and over a period of months grow to nearly 6” in length. They opened overnight, we awoke to see this in the front yard. By the end of the day it will be drooped and done. So much effort for just one day. P.S. the rabbit fence is because the rabbits will eat the buds before they open.
View attachment 369059
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This hedgehog cactus was planted three years ago and this is the first time it’s bloomed,
View attachment 369064View attachment 369065

My little guy, the devils tongue cactus, only about 6” tall.
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Not a cactus, the desert milkweed is one of the more interesting plants in my yard. Impervious to our desert heat, it blooms year round and attracts monarch butterflies, bees, the slightly terrifying tarantula hawk wasps, milkweed bugs.
View attachment 369068View attachment 369069View attachment 369070
My other cactus aren’t ready to pop just yet.

Wouldn't want to come stumbling home in the dark.

Beautifully colours. In jealous, no lawns to mow

 

[nj1639]

View attachment 369076

I was wondering what kind of flower they would have…….

 

[Pat D]

I have been fortunate enough to visit/tour the American SW during spring when the desert is in bloom, it is truly a wonder to behold. Managed to hit the Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson at the peak. I do so love it out there.

 

[DogBunny]

Didn't know whether to put this here or in the "gardens and flower beds" thread.
This is a very cool little plant called a Dyckia. It is a bromeliad.


Very commonly mistaken for a yellow yucca. It forms spikey mats about 12" tall that you can see in the foreground, and sends flower stalks straight up as much as 5" tall. It is xeric and tolerates full Texas sun and heat as well as extended freezing, all of which are unusual for a bromeliad.
Behind on the left is a yucca, and on the right is a sage.


An individual specimen in a sedum bed. The leaves are lined with nasty hooked barbs.


The black spot are aphids, which are being tended by ants in a symbiotic relationship.

 

[RC4MAN]

Hmmmm, I was expecting Goldie Hawn

 

[Mailman]

Didn't know whether to put this here or in the "gardens and flower beds" thread.
This is a very cool little plant called a Dyckia. It is a bromeliad.

Very commonly mistaken for a yellow yucca.

Well isn’t that a cool little plant! All the bromeliads I ever knew of were tropical plants.

Speaking of a yellow yucca, I just planted one my front yard. I’ve been looking for one forever, everybody sells the red ones but the yellow ones are hard to find here.

 

[Raymond]

Mrs and I like cacti but they wouldn't survive a Scottrish winter outside, so she keeps little ones in pots all over the house. Here's a couple window sills I just snapped:

 

[atom4488]

I typically spend at least a month or two in SW Florida, where I do a fair bit of what we'll call gardening; plant collection, propagation, planting etc. I don't buy plants (unless an interesting specimen shows up at a yard sale), I scrounge them wherever I find them. I am particularly interested by Bromeliads, agaves, cacti and succulents, but I'll take what I can get. Pics to follow...

 

[DogBunny]

Well isn’t that a cool little plant! All the bromeliads I ever knew of were tropical plants.

Speaking of a yellow yucca, I just planted one my front yard. I’ve been looking for one forever, everybody sells the red ones but the yellow ones are hard to find here.
View attachment 371206

I was gifted some yellow yuccas 20 years ago, and this is what they look like now. Behind them is another xeric Texas native, a Turk's Cap.


The flower looks like a turban with a tassel.

I live in a corner house, and this is the side street. The falling-down fence and overgrowth in the background belongs to the elderly, single, neighbor lady, not me. I'd offer to fix the fence, but she is reclusive and introverted, and would not welcome the offer.

 

[Wagner73]

I will preface this by saying I am no "gardener", but y'all seem to know your plants, so...

Have a few of these and have always thought yucca, but maybe they are instead hesperaloe? Whichever, a question: they are getting almost too big for where they are, is there a friendly way to reduce their size i.e. pruning, or ??