Flowers

The really hot days of summer are now over, it seems, with forecast highs ONLY in the 90’s. Some of the cacti around the yard are opening flowers like spring has sprung. This is typical of this time of year which the locals (and that includes us) refer to as “second spring.”

The photo above is the last flower of many that opened on our Devil’s Tongue Barrel cactus over the summer. We brought this cactus from the old place in California, put it in the ground here and it has been happy ever since, having grown to twice the height and a significantly larger diameter than when it arrived. Click on the image to enlarge.

The Arizona Queen of the Night Cactus on the east side of our house had two open flowers last night. If you catch them early enough the morning after, these flowers are still quite beautiful before they fade away in the sunlight.

Last evening was good for night-blooming cacti in the area; the flowers above (two of them) opened east of the house and the Argentine Giant had three flowers still open this morning. It’s a one-night-stand with both of these flower types. Click on the image to enlarge.

Two of my favorite cacti were in bloom today; the Star cactus flower on the left is the third flower that has opened this summer on my astrophytum ornatum. The flowers on the right are on my old reliable Bishop’s Cap cactus, astrophytum myriostigma. Both cacti are in the genus astrophytum of which there are five major species and a bucketload of variations.

The latter cactus above gets clusters of flowers on a monthly basis it seems, all spring summer and fall. The other flower is only the third one to open on that cactus, but there are more buds and I expect others to open as the summer progresses. Click on either image to enlarge.