Schlumbergera gaertneri Easter cactus and Zygocactus truncatus hybrid Christmas cactus. The names of these cacti, which are native to jungles rather than deserts, denote their blossoming season. The individual stem joints 1 to 1 1/2 inches long, form arching, pendulous branches from whose tips hang satiny, many-petaled flowers. The Easter cactus bears starlike 1 1/2 inch scarlet blossoms at the stem joints as well as at the stem ends. The Christmas cactus Zygocactus truncatus has claw like stem joints and bears 3 inch long hooded tubular pink, reddish, white or multicolored flowers. Hybrids of these two species have no claws; their flowers, also tubular but without hoods, come in lavender or purple as well as pink, red, orange and white and may appear from November through February. All grow 1 to 1 1/2 feet high. Flowering is triggered by short days and cool temperatures. Once flower buds have formed, DO NOT MOVE the plant, as slight changes in environment may cause the buds to drop. It requires ample summer water and partial shade. They are treasured for there abundant, colorful flowers.

This Christmas blooming cactus Zygocactus truncatus bears starlike 1 1/3 inch long to 2 inch long blossoms at the stem joints as well as at the stem ends. The plant is about 10 years old and has a white flower on it. This Christmas blooming cactus Zygocactus truncatus has claw like stem joints and can bear 2 inch long hooded white colored blooms and lights up the room. As seen on the right.

    This Christmas cactus Zygocactus truncatus has claw like stem joints and bears Bridges ii hooded tubular pink, reddish, white or multicolored flowers. Christmas Cactus Gold Charm cactus is 2 years old and flowers at Christmas time. It has beautiful yellow blooms. This is a bud from the Gold Charm at left.

This cinnamon colored Christmas cactus Zygocactus truncatus bears beautiful flowers a Christmas time. The edges are a dark cinnamon in color.

This Christmas cactus Zygocactus truncatus cactus bears starlike 1 1/2 inch blossoms at the stem joints as well as at the stem ends. The plant has pink flowers at Christmas time.

This is Dasher Schlumbergera truncatus a Thanksgiving cactus that is about 10 years old and has red flowers at Thanksgiving time.

This Christmas Schlumbergera Bridgesii cactus has red flowers at Thanksgiving time. It can bloom any time between October to December. It has thick, succulent leaves and large flowers.

This lavender colored Christmas cactus Schlumbergera Bridgesii has thick succulent leaves and large flowers that bloom from October to December. It likes indirect light and moderately moist soil. It bears 1 1/2 inch blossoms at the stem joints and stem ends. It likes cool to moderate home temperatures. This close-up of a bud is from the lavender plant to the right. I don't keep these moist except while they are blooming.

This is a bud of a Schlumbergera Bridgesii, it has been blooming a lot this year, and the flowers are so pretty, it has an almost pink color to it. Don't know if it will continue to bloom or not, but sure have enjoyed it's long blooming season.

This Easter blooming cactus Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri Easter cactus bears starlike 1 1/2 inch blossoms at the stem joints as well as at the stem ends. The plant is about 10 years old and has cinnamon edges on a white flower in the spring. This Easter cactus Rhipsaldopsis gaertneri has claw like stem joints and can bear 2 inch long hooded tubular multicolored, pink, reddish, or white flowers. This one has beautiful cinnamon colored with a white center blooms and lights up the room.

This Easter blooming cactus bears starlike 1 1/2 inch long blossoms at the stem joints as well as at the stem ends. The flower is almost brown in color and blooms in the spring.

Hybrid Cactus    Christmas Cactus

This Sunrise cactus Rhipsaldosis gaertneri is similar to the Easter and Christmas Cacti until it comes time for the blooms. It's blooms open with the sunrise and close each night. It is available in different colors, although this one seems to be the only one blooming this spring. It can bloom all summer long, to bloom properly they need longer nights and cooler temperatures in the winter to promote blooming. We have been unlucky at getting this to bloom, even though it is getting the cooler nights and longer nights. We've been told to try some fish emulsion, use it a couple of times, then put it in the basement (a cooler place) or in a closet with no light for about 5 weeks. Will let you know what works as we have a few different plants to try this with and no basement. This worked very well for us and you can see the difference above in the picture to the left.

This bright red Sunrise cactus Rhipsaldosis gaertneri is in it's full glory.

This rose colored Sunrise cactus Rhipsaldosis gaertneri has only one bloom on it, and although we thought they were are lost these 3 have survived and are doing great.

This little "Golden Star Cactus"  Mammillaria elongata cactus is 12 years old and flowers in spring. It has beautiful tiny pale yellow blooms. Mammillaria cacti are especially suited for window sills and dish gardens. They usually produce clumps of young plants at the base of the main stem, and in winter and spring bear flowers in concentric rings at their stem tips. They do best where they get four or more hours a day of direct sunlight, or where artificial and natural light over 12 hours a day. The golden star cactus, a 4 to 6 inch tall multi-stemmed plant, is studded with star burst like clusters of slender curving yellow spines; its flowers are a very dainty pale yellow.

This little "Silver Star Cactus" or Pink Nymph Mammillaria elongata cactus. It is a hybrid Mammillaria cactus and is especially suited for window sills and dish gardens. They usually produce clumps of young plants at the base of the main stem, and in winter and spring bear flowers in concentric rings at their stem tips. The silver star cactus, a 4 to 6 inch tall multi-stemmed plant,is studded with star burst like clusters of slender curving silver spines. The bloom from the Pink Nymph or Silver Star Mammillaria elongata is beautiful and they circle the stems. Its blooms are pinked striped and very dainty. They say it likes filtered or direct sun and likes to be drenched thoroughly and then allowed to dry before watering again. I have mine on a south window sill, and it tolerates our wide temperature swings.

The Peanut Cactus Chamaecereus silvestrii grows in our cactus garden it blooms more often than normal as it blooms many times during the summer. It has stems to 6 inches long. Peanut cactus is native to western Argentina. Creeping, low-lying stems branch from the base and are about 1/2 inch thick. The cylindrical stems have six to nine ribs, which are studded with short white bristles. When the plant is placed in a bright summer light, the pale green stems may turn violet. Funnel-shaped flowers up to 3 inches long appear in spring. This cactus should have bright light year round. This one was saved from the winter freeze of 1998 -1999 and is recovering very well.

This is a Rat Tail Cactus Aporocactus flagelliformis it looks like a peanut cactus that has very long stems, it's flowers are also similar. It hangs from trees or rocky mountain crevices, the rattail is one of the easiest of all cacti to grow. Its green cylindrical stems lengthen at the rate of 3 or 4 inches a year. They have eight to 15 narrow, rounded ribs, thickly covered with short, thin spines that are yellow or red-brown. The funnel-shaped pink-to-red flowers, 2 to 3 inches long, appear in spring, each one opening during the day and closing at night for three or four days. The rattail cactus should get four or more hours of direct sunlight a day or at least 12 hours of strong artificial light. The rattail cactus has trailing stems, only about 1/2 inch across but as much as 3 feet long. The rattail cactus is usually grown either in a hanging container.

This cactus was a gift that is suppose to produce different colored flowers. It grows inside at a southeastern window. It is a hybrid from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Sorry no name on this one either. These are the same hybrid cactus from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, they are suppose to have a different colored flowers on the same plant. It is always a surprise to see what the flowers open to be. These pictures are from the same plant at different times it has bloomed. The buds form one year and do not open until the following year. The same plant that has produced different colored flowers and is also now producing babies around the bottom of the base. The fuzzy buds are very neat and interesting to watch as they slowly grow and become flowers. At first we thought we had done something wrong when the bud did not open after forming. The ones that are being neglected the most are producing the most babies and buds. We have them all in southeastern windows. This one produced yellowish flowers the first time but has continued to only produce the beautiful pink flowers ever since. This year 2008 it's bloomed 2 times already.

This is a Corncob Cactus Euphorbia Mammillaria it likes bright light, needs fresh air, and I let the soil dry out between watering thoroughly. The corncob euphorbia grows about 8 inches tall and has many leafless spiny stems that look like green corncobs. I think that the little light green tops at right are the flowers. They turned a little bit redish after a couple days.

This Old Man Cactus Cephalocereus Senilis has a shaggy, tousled mane of white "hair" that gives it personality. The dense white hair conceals a danger: fierce, 2 inch yellow brown spines. It needs very high light and shouldn't be grown in the kitchen as the long hair will become coated with any grease particles in the air. When it gets to be 15 years old it may bloom, the flowers are delightful rose-colored. It grows at only an inch a year. It requires a porous soil with limestone added and less than average water at all times. In nature, plants may grow to a height of 50 feet, bearing rose-colored flowers on a lateral cephalium, that part of the stem with the thickest growth of hair. It does not normally bloom when grown indoors.

This is I'm told a pencil cactus, it has tiny yellow flowers that, produce seed pods and it is quite thorny. It produces little yellow flowers and forms tiny red seed pods.

This is a Monster Cactus Cereus Ming Thing, it is also called the Crested and Motrose Cactus, it is a vigorous grower, and has white summer flowers that open at night. It will have to be protected from the hard frost and enjoys full sun. As they start to fan out along the growing tip, they are creating curves and folds in the stem. It will unaccountably grow out in all directions in bumpy, twisted and gnarly shapes. Water thoroughly every two weeks, if the soil has become dry. It didn't like being close to the window when our temperatures dropped during the winter of 1999 - 2000. But once moved it recovered quite easily.

This Blue Myrtle Myrtillocactus Geometrizans needs bright light and fresh air. I'm told it will bloom, and look forward to that. It has started with a new baby at it's base.

This is an Organ Pipe Cactus Lemaireocereus Thurberi and it's best know for its use in building fences, in Mexico. Their are numerous types of cacti with this name this so it shall be interesting watching this one grow. Although susceptible to frost, it usually will just end it's lengthwise growth and branch where the damage is done. Gaining in girth throughout its active growing season. Many people visualize the organ pipe when they think of cacti. This large handsome plant is native to Arizona and Mexico. Its green-to-gray stems branch freely just above the ground. Each stem has 12 to 17 ribs armed with glossy gray, brown or black spines that project from brown felt like areoles. White to purplish nocturnal flowers, up to 3 inches long, bloom throughout May and June, followed by edible red fruit. Because of its size, the mature organ pipe is best suited to outdoor cultivation. However, seedlings grow very slowly and can be kept as windowsill plants for years. They grow to be 20 feet tall, with stems to 8 inches in diameter. This plant was damaged when I got it, so I'm anxious to see how it recovers.

This is a Crown Cactus Rebutia miniscula grandiflora is neat small cactus has multitudes of carmine flowers that peek out from the base of the plant. It reaches a height of only 6". It is a reliable spring bloomer, it has many babies around it. The spines are like this, the central spine is red, surrounded with more red spines. Red crown cactus bears 1 1/2-inch deep red flowers on 2- to 2 1/2-inch-wide globes covered with white bristle-like spines. It likes fresh air, filtered or direct sunlight. Drench thoroughly when soil is dry. The small size and beautiful, abundant flowers of these cacti make them popular house plants. Most of them are small bristly globes with dense spiraling lines of projections. At the top of each projection is an areole that sprouts eight to 40 needle-like spines. From spring through summer, masses of funnel-shaped flowers appear on the plants. Each flower lasts four or more days, opening in the morning and closing each night. So great is the array of flowers a single plant has been known to bear as many as 70 blossoms that these cacti seem to exhaust themselves in the effort, rarely living more than three or four years. But they produce many offsets to make propagation easy.

This is a Pink Crown Mammillaria Zeilmanniana, it is also a small cactus only 2 1/2" tall, and has small pinkish flowers 3/4" across. It has a long flowering season. It has lots of little white spines around a long red central spine. It likes fresh air, filtered or direct sunlight. Drench thoroughly when soil is dry.

This Powder Puff Cactus Mammillaria Bocasana is a fast growing cactus with lots of cream-white flowers. It likes fresh air, filtered or direct sunlight. Drench thoroughly when soil is dry. The Powder Puff is one of the most popular cacti. A clustering species, it has blue-green rounded or oblong stems 2 inches thick; these are covered with clusters of silky white hairs, with each cluster surrounding a yellow-to-red hooked spine. Creamy yellow flowers 3/4 inch long bloom abundantly in spring, followed by 1-inch-long rosy-pink seed pods.

Another Powder Puff cactus with pink to red flowers Mammillaria Bocasana v. roseflora is a fast growing cactus with lots of reddish flowers. It likes fresh air, filtered or direct sunlight. Drench thoroughly when soil is dry. The Powder Puff is one of the most popular cacti. A clustering species, it has blue-green rounded or oblong stems 2 inches thick; these are covered with clusters of silky white hairs, with each cluster surrounding a yellow-to-red hooked spine. The right most picture is of the seed pods that are forming on this cactus.

A Mammillaria hybrid with beautiful pink to purple flowers. This one is also new to our collection in 2000.

This hanging Chain Cactus Rhipsalis paradoxais one of two hanging cactus that we have that are really neat. This one got a shock and had to recover from it, I forgot it and it got too warm next to the fireplace, it has now recovered and is growing lots of new shoots. The Chain Cactus Rhipsalis paradoxa has trailing stems up to 3 feet long with cascading stems and branches that may be cylindrical, flat or angled, these tree-dwelling jungle cacti are suited to display in hanging baskets. Their branches have small areoles with hairs or bristles but usually lack spines; most rhipsalis species have aerial roots. Chain cactus looks like a zigzag link chain up to 3 feet long; its branches are about a foot long. Fine hairs or bristles appear on young cacti; older plants have woolly hairs. On established plants, small white flowers up to 3/4 inch in size bloom near the stem tips for as long as three weeks and are followed by small red fruit. Because of these tiny berry-like fruit, rhipsalis are often called mistletoe cacti. It likes to be misted instead of watered, and this makes a big difference in the plant.

This very small hanging cactus Euphorbia leucodendron was the hardest to get started of any plant I've ever seen. The cuttings were given to me, and they took forever getting roots and to start to grow, I only had one cutting that rooted. It doesn't seem to like the bright light close to the window, but does like lots of light. It wouldn't start in water, nor in just soil, but after putting it in growth hormone it finally took hold in soil. After 2 years we've transplanted this to a bigger pot and now have a new shoot coming. It's Euphorbia leucodendron and it's from Madagascar. Thank You Denise for identifying it for me!

Cleistocactus - orange flower Silver Torch Cacti, A fast Cleistocactus pojoensis growing branching columnar cacti from South America that is covered with eye-catching silvery spines when older. Starts out solitary when young, but branches out and creates it's own clumps as it matures. Can grow to 6 ft. tall. Good container plant for inside, it requires a warm climate if grown outside. Will not tolerate temperatures below 41 degrees F. this one has already started to have new growth from the root area.

Mammillaria Rhodantha is new to me and I don't know much about it yet.

Fish hook Notocactus magnificus Cactus - has golden spines and a light green plant body, it blooms during the day and has beautiful yellow flowers on the top of the plant. Thank You Jeff for identifying it!

Mammillaria - old plant. The flower appears to look a Sun Cup with a purple center and pink edges to a yellow flower, the cactus it's self does not look at all like a Sun Cup. It only stayed open a short time, opening late in the day and closing as the sun left it. It also has a pup growing from it's side now.

Cholla - unnamed!

This was a gift from a fellow cactus lover, and it is waiting patiently for us to finish our work on the addition to our cactus garden. We had never seen it bloom and this was a real treat for us. As it has kept blooms that last one day, most of the season. It has been in a pot as we get ready to double the size of our cactus garden, we know it can handle our weather in the ground. We have no idea what kind it is, but it is quite small.

The winter of 1998 - 1999, was really hard, and we lost a lot of cacti due to the freezing temperatures that, we're not used to and the cacti did not handle well at all. Even though our cactus garden has been established for over 13 years, Mother Nature sure took it's toll on our garden. As we try to save some and have to replace others, it should be most interesting to tell you of the our trials and triumphs.

March, 1999 - So far we seemed to have lost all of our Prickly Pear type cactus, which are most of the huge ones in this picture. The Silver Dollar which are also quite big, and which we use their fruit for making jelly, appeared to be OK, but the bottom has totally been destroyed. Also suffering are the tall cylinder type cactus, Whether the destruction to them is going to be a final blow to them, only time will tell.

May, 1999 It seems as though the root system of some of the prickly pear is still good as new growth has started to appear from the bottom of some of those plants.

Had no warm weather to speak of in June so not much changed in our cactus garden, but the month of July has brought lots of new growth from the roots of the prickly pear cactus, and we saw very little growth on the silver dollar which went into shock and although we did not lose them we had to add soil around the bottom, to ensure new growth. It appears as though the bottom most pad was destroyed by the cold.

Barrel Cactus   Cholla Cactus   Christmas Cactus
Desert Cactus Cultivation    Epiphyllum  Hedgehog Cactus   Hybrid Cactus
Mystery Cactus   Night Blooming Cactus   Pincushion Cactus
Prickly Pear Cactus   Saguaro Cactus   Succulents   Sunrise Cactus

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