FOR A BRIEF SHINING MOMENT

Over the years I have become more and more interested in cactus and succulents and have amassed quite a collection. I see a trend towards this easier kind of gardening in my future. I love the structure of all of them, even those that are the least attractive to look at, and it is many of these that put on the most stunning floral display every year.
On a particularly rainy Sunday it was wonderful to look back at some of my cactus that have flowered in the last two weeks. The first is the ladyfinger cactus, Echinocereus pentalophus. 

I have several of these in pots which spent the winter in the greenhouse where the dry conditions and cool temperatures made for a spectacular blooming over a period of 4 weeks. Not all the flowers opened at once although on this plant 10 blooms appeared at the same time. Whereas many cactus flowers are ephemeral these last for at least 4 days, opening in the late morning and closing by evening. Although we are slightly out of its range in zone 8b I have succeeded in growing in the ground in well-draining gravelly soil.

The claret cup cactus, Echinocereus triglochidiatus, however, is completely hardy in our area and I have several stands in the front courtyard garden. Their petals are quite stiff which means the blooms can last for over a week. The hummingbird is a regular visitor for nectar.

Some of the mammilaria species pop out a few flowers during the winter when located in a sunny window.

But their main blooming time is spring when the crowns bear tiara-like rings of booms which are similarly long lasting.

We have a number of nurseries which sell cactus and even the big box stores have some nice specimens. As always is is necessary to do ones own research about the hardiness of species as often labels are inaccurate. Surprisingly Walmart had a great cactus selection this year and the thing I loved was that each were labeled with the the genus and species names in detail. So often small cactus come with no labeling. They were a welcome addition to my cactus theatre.