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Backyard Nature Wednesday: Bloomin' cactus

It reveals itself very slowly.

In the early morning hours, it begins to unfurl its petals. 

By mid-day it is about half opened.

Mid-day as seen from the side.

Finally, in mid-afternoon, it reveals its full delicate beauty.

I confess I don't know what variety this cactus is. It is one of several in a little planter that I bought a few years ago at a plant and gift shop in the little West Texas town of Terlingua when we were visiting Big Bend National Park there. This one has bloomed faithfully for the last couple of years and it's now blooming again. That big one next to it, the one with the wicked spines, also bloomed last year and I'm hoping for an encore in coming weeks.

Since I brought it home, the planter has lived mostly on a table on my patio. The first winter that I had it, we did have some quite cold weather for a while and I did bring it inside then, but other than that it has lived outdoors and seems quite happy there, even though we hardly duplicate the desert conditions where it originated.

I do love that pretty little bloom, even if I don't know its name.   

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Comments

  1. bookwormMay 11, 2016 at 6:46 PM

    Sorry that I don't know its name, either. But thank you for sharing and I hope you find out what plants you have. Seeing plants successfully bloom is exciting, to people like me. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMay 11, 2016 at 10:52 PM

      I have a number of plants in my garden to which I cannot give the variety name. I find that it doesn't lessen my enjoyment of them.

      Delete
  2. Judy KruegerMay 11, 2016 at 10:57 PM

    My cactus are blooming now as well. Such a here today, gone tomorrow proposition. I can see why you had to photograph it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMay 11, 2016 at 11:20 PM

      This one actually keeps its bloom going for several days, opening over a period of hours during daytime, then closing up again at night.

      Delete
  3. CarmenMay 12, 2016 at 8:23 AM

    Well, the flower is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete

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