Spring has arrived in full swing. The days are sunny, and the skies are clear. The whole landscape is starting be full color. It is a good time to see what's new at my local plant nursery.
My husband is a cactus lover, so I wanted to surprise him with a new species for his collection. Without much thought, I went to my friend Marisol's plant nursery to see what cacti I could buy to give him.
I like this plant nursery because they have varieties of species that are optimal for each season. So, if you visit them in winter, they have a type of plant that tolerates cold. The same for spring, summer, and autumn.
When I arrived at the place, what I loved the most is to see all the colors of the flowers of the plants in bloom.
I didn't want to get distracted by so many beautiful plants. The first thing I saw was a couple of clusters of Sedum morganianum, but this time it was not the turn for succulents, although I confess, I was tempted.
I continued walking through the site and found a spiky specimen of Euphorbia trigona. I knew I was on the cactus trail, but my search was for a small-sized cactus species. A species that I could place on my window sill where my husband has his other cacti.
This plant nursery has a great variety of cacti, so it took me a while to decide which one I would take.
This cactus caught my attention. It is Cereus peruvianus monstruosus. It is very curious what the name "monstrous" is.
My friend Marisol explained to me that perhaps this name is because when it grows, it takes exotic shapes. The thorns that are seen in the pic of reddish appearance fall giving way to a kind of arms of extended leaves like those of a candelabra. It can reach almost 10 meters, so the decision to take it with me or not depended on having a space in the garden to transplant it in the future.
Suddenly I saw at the bottom of the garden counter a beautiful cactus whose flowers made it eye-catching. The truth, the combination of its tubular structure full of fine thorns next to its flowers with delicate petals is a contrast that only nature can achieve to surprise us wonderfully.
I have seen cactus flowers of various colors. Some have fuchsia, white, and yellow flowers. However, this orange color mesmerized me like a bee. It was love at first sight! It would be the perfect gift for my husband.
Although I know that the flowers of this Rebutia muscula cactus will only last a few days, the seller told me that if I took good care of it, kept to the watering schedule and exposed it to the sun, and fertilized its soil, maybe this beautiful specimen would give me its flowers again next year.
Now, it remains to place this cactus next to the others and enjoy the best of spring on the plants.
All images are property of the author
(Camera cell phone: POCO X3 Pro, Xiaomi)
The author's original text in Spanish was translated into English using DeepL
