Monday, June 04, 2007

my little cactus flower...

A couple years ago I made a rock garden under the overhang on the back of our house where there was once only hard-packed dirt. The rock garden was my idea for transforming an ugly space near our patio into an interesting feature. I have a yucca and many cactus plants. Oh--and lots of rocks. The cactus bloom for two days and are gone. This is the second day of these blooms, a little past their prime. I will snap the new blooms as they open to show you the beauty of that one day of perfect bloom.

7 comments:

  1. I only have cactuses in flower pots. And they don't seem to want to make any flowers. But one of my cactuses I've had for over 15 years made a one single yellow flower first time ever 2 years ago. And some books about flowers and cactuses I had read claimed those cactuses never make any flowers if you have them growing in flower pots.

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  2. 15 years! Wow! I wonder why that is. They don't have particularly deep roots. And don't seem to need much fertilization and require no attention. These are great big ones that get bigger each year so far, and they are PAINFUL if you accidentally get a needle in you. I got stuck a dozen time while planting them, even though I used tongs and wore gloves. You can cut off a section and just stick it in the ground and it will grow.

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  3. I really don't know. I had a different kind of cactus that made flowers once or twice a year, no problem. But this one... Maybe it has something to do with the amount of sun light the cactuses can get here, or something. But I read somewhere that if you keep them in a dark place or put a small paper bag over them at winter for a few weeks and give them very little water they'll make flowers. Maybe I'll actually try that next winter and see if it works. I'd like to see my cactus make another flower.

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  4. I'm sure there are many varieties. It will be interesting to see if you can force it.

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  5. Aren't cactuses amazing. You never know if it will surprise you with a flower or not :)

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  6. I don't have any cactuses. I didn't even know they made flowers! lol

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  7. I've brought many catus plants home from Arizona and they never seem to live where I am. Those are so pretty!

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