Echinocereus viridiflorus var. montanus flowers
One last photo of these Echinocereus viridiflorus var. montanus flowers for their beauty. These are really great plants to grow and I look forward to watching them bloom every spring. It gives me a kind of sad feeling to think that I have to wait another year to see them again.
Labels: spring
Echinocereus viridiflorus var. montanus flowers all in a row
This one was very fun to watch this spring and put its flowers out all in a row. Usually they bloom with a few flowers at a time over a few weeks but this one opened all of its flowers at the same time - except a few buds it held back for later.
Labels: spring
Echinocereus viridiflorus var. montanus
I understand the name of these cacti has recently been expanded from Echinocereus viridiflorus to Echinocereus viridiflorus var. montanus. This plant is blooming with some Buffalo Grass growing around it.
Labels: spring
These are all blooming and hopefully they will make lots of seeds too.
Labels: spring
This 'Prickly Pear Cactus' Pad was cut off of its parent plant back in the fall of 2006. Then it spent the winter sitting in an unheated room under artificial lights for the winter. In the early spring it was placed outdoors (with about 40 other pads) in a tray of gravel. The spring snow and rains came and the cool weather slowly turned to warm sunny days. Then the cut pads began to grow roots like this one - so now they are potted in their own flower pots and growing as new plants. This one is turned upside down to show the roots it put out before it was planted.
Labels: spring
These are two flower buds from Pediocactus simpsonii var. minor and one of them is from the plants with green throats. The flowers with green inside also have green exteriors and most of the Pedios I'm growing have the pink flowers. The pink flowers and even other white flowers have a deep rusty red colored exterior.
Labels: spring
These cacti are Echinocereus viridiflorus var montanus that a friend of mine gave me from his mountain property several years ago. I'm growing them here in Wisconsin and getting seeds from them for propagation. When I planted these cacti other small plants started to grow with them like; a very short spring grass, small white flowered plants that grow less than an inch across and a mountain sedum. These plants are all growing together and multiplying as though they were on my friends mountain top property.
Labels: spring
These Prickly Pear pads are sitting in a tray of gravel to prompt them to grow roots. They were harvested last fall and have spent the winter in an unheated room under artificial plant lights. Opuntia pads can live a very long time without roots and if kept cool and dry they will last over a year in this condition. Setting them outdoors in the sun and rain on a bed of gravel will get them to root especially in the spring. I have several other Opuntia pads - not in this photo - which were cut off of their plants this spring sitting on beds of gravel to root. I think the pads can be cut off of their parent plants any time of the year, but spring is the best time to try and root them.
Labels: spring
Spring snow is usually beautiful large delicate flakes that melt soon after landing on the earth. This year the snow is covering the ground - it's spring - and if the snow wasn't there we would have lots of spring flowers starting to show their leaves.
We have lots of cacti in the outdoor cold frames covered with snow. We haven't seen these cacti of about 3 months and I really miss them. Hopefully the snow will all melt this week and the cold frames can be opened so the cacti can see the sun again.
If it weren't for this thick layer so snow the Pediocactus plants might even be forming buds by now. Out in the garden where the spring bulbs grow we would surely have Snow Drops by now if the snow would just melt already.
Labels: spring
