I have been waiting for a few cacti to bloom for the first time this year. One of them was Echinopsis that I grew from seed. It is 6 years old already and didn't bloom a single time. Last year it started to grow buds, but they blasted.
And what happened this year? They blasted too :/
Two other two are Echinocereus types I was looking forward to see in bloom and they did the same. The buds were pretty big and I thought this time I will finally see the flowers. Nop.. not gonna happen.
I read that they can abort the flowers when they don't have enough water and I think this could be the case. I am so afraid to overwater them and rot, that I might be underwatering.
Bummer.
And now for today's star. I am actually surprised I didn't show it before as it did bloom last or two years ago. I probably forgot to take photos. Here it is then :)
Aylostera cv. Sunrise
I see that Rebutia heliosa cv. sunrise is more accepted name, so I guess I will have to update the tags. I got it as Aylostera and kept it under this name though.
Whatever the name, it is still a very nice little cactus.
It is a hybrid between Rebutia heliosa (which I'd love to have) and Rebutia pulvinosa ssp. albiflora (this one I do have). It grows those little round stems like the albiflora one, but the flowers are bigger.
Like most cacti it likes bright locations, but not too much direct sunlight. Winter rest is also needed and it needs to be kept dry when the temperatures drop to avoid rot. I don't get frosts here, but close to 0-3 degrees C happen and she is fine with it.
The easiest way to propagate it is though offshoots which are eagerly produced (you'll see that further down) and root without problems.
Lovely petals with darker pink stripes - this is probably why it is called Sunrise.
The second flower didnt fully open yet, probably tomorrow. But I didn't want to wait as I could miss it completely like with some others.
I like how small it is and all those clumping cacti are just freaking adorable. This is why I also like Mammillaria Prolifera - a very common one and probably no serious cactus grower would waste space on it, but I like it too.
It is still growing in the smallest pot I have but with the little one on the side I will probably have to move it to something bigger. If not this year, before next spring for sure.
I actually have two of them :)
The second one has bigger pot, but skipped blooming completely. Instead it decided to grow multiple little pups around. This one will need something bigger too. I just run out of larger square pots for now.
Bonus shadow monster aka Hard working assistant :)
Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos, graphics and text are my own.
