While I was looking the other way.

[cactuswatcher]

Happily not just the weeds have been busy this winter. I've been keeping my eye on one of my cacti that seems like it's been ready to bloom for a week. It has bloomed yet, but I turned around, opened my eyes for once and saw others blooming.

My bishop's cap is getting tall. It has five ribs and seems to want to bloom in threes

Astrophytum myriostigma.

This group is a true Phoenix native. Plants of this kind no doubt grew here when the Native American O'odham had the place to themselves. The flower is a bit worse for wear, but the color shows better this year than the pictures last year. Last year's fruit can be seen near the flower on the same stem.

Echinocereus nicholii

Not yet blooming this is the first of my yuccas to send up a bloom stalk this year. You look one day and there is nothing there. A couple days later there's a stalk a couple feet high. When they are about this high it seems every aphid in the county finds them and slows the growth. It will bloom when it's about five to six feet tall.

Yucca elata

Comments

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

Cacti are such interesting plants. I had no idea there were so many varieties.
The bishop's cap looks like a little cushion with a flower on top! Neat.