More echinopsis fireworks – more cacti, more photos

In my previous post, you saw the spectacular blooms of Echinopsis 'Flying Saucer' and Echinopsis 'First Light', two of the most beautiful echinopsis hybrids around. But we have many other echinopsis planted out all over the front yard. This post will focus on the ones that bloomed recently. Another ten or so are in bud, but not close to flowering yet.

This post is not only a showcase for pretty flowers, it's also a reference for myself to go back to in future years. If you're only here for the pictures, simply skip the other stuff.

These hybrids flowered in our garden in May:

1. Echinopsis ‘Apricot Glow’
2. Echinopsis ‘Daydream’
3. Echinopsis ‘Flattycake’
4. Echinopsis ‘For Norma’
5. Echinopsis ‘Intensive’
6. Echinopsis ‘June Noon’
7. Echinopsis ‘Salmon Queen’
8. Echinopsis ‘Sex on the Beach’
9. Echinopsis ‘Shades of Bourne’
10. Echinopsis ‘Sleeping Beauty’
11. Echinopsis ‘Super Apricot’
12. Echinopsis ‘Tondelayo’
13. Echinopsis ‘Wessner 368’

Some are larger, like 'June Noon' and 'Super Apricot', but most are fairly small globular cacti. For much of the year, they don't look like much, but when they're in flower, they're showstoppers.

With the exception of 'Apricot Glow' and 'Super Apricot', all flowers lasted only one day. 'Apricot Glow' and 'Super Apricot' were open for two days.

Echinopsis 'Apricot Glow'

Hybridizer: Mark Dimmitt, USA

Flower size: 4-5 inches

Note: to 2 feet in height

May 17

Echinopsis 'Daydream'

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 4-5 inches

Note: Available from the Huntington (ISI 98-7)

Early morning on May 16, flowers partially open

Mid-morning on May 16, flowers fully open

Echinopsis 'Flattycake'

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 5 inches

Note: Available from the Huntington (ISI 2002-44)

May 17

Echinopsis 'For Norma'

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 5 inches

Note: Available from the Huntington (ISI 2015-02)

13 (!) buds on May 15

All of them opened on May 16

A short video of the spectacle:

Another 'For Norma' (only one flower) in a different spot of the front yard, also blooming on May 16

Echinopsis 'Intensiv'

Hybridizer: Andreas Wessner, Germany

Flower size: 4 inches

Note: hybridizer code AW 319

May 15

Echinopsis 'June Noon'

Hybridizer: Mark Dimmitt, USA

Flower size: 5 inches

Note: to 3 feet in height

May 16

Echinopsis 'Salmon Queen'

Hybridizer: Harry Johnson, USA

Flower size: 4 inches

Note: prolific bloomer

May 15, 20 (!) flowers

Echinopsis 'Sex on the Beach'

Hybridizer: Klaus-Peter Mügge, Germany

Flower size: 5 inches

May 15

Echinopsis 'Shades of Bourne'

Hybridizer: Southfield Nurseries, UK

Flower size: 4 inches

Note: Southfield Nurseries in Morton, Lincolnshire have created dozens of echinopsis hybrids named after the nearby town of Bourne. I have two, 'Shades of Bourne' (which just flowered) and 'Bourne Splendour' (which hasn't flowered yet). The Southfield hybrids not only have spectacular flowers, they're also spectacularly difficult to find in the U.S.

May 18

Echinopsis 'Sleeping Beauty'

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 4-5 inches

Note: Available from the Huntington (ISI 97-28)

May 18

Echinopsis 'Super Apricot'

Hybridizer: Anton Maas

Flower size: 5 inch

Note: 'Apricot' × 'Super Gelb', spectacular flowers with ragged leaf edges

May 16

May 17 (day 2), flower color noticeably darker

Echinopsis 'Tondelayo'

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 5 inches

Note: no longer available from the Huntington (ISI 97-34)

May 17, early morning

May 17, early afternoon

Echinopsis 'Wessner 368'

Hybridizer: Andreas Wessner, Germany

Flower size: 4 inches

Note: Andreas Wessner's website: https://kakteen-shop.com/

'Wessner 368' is the shorter cactus with pink, orange and yellow flowers. The taller cactus with yellow flowers is Echinocereus dasyacanthus, a species from Texas.

These echinopsis hybrids are in bud and should flower in the next few weeks:

1. Echinopsis ‘319 StaWo Heros’
2. Echinopsis ‘Celeste’
3. Echinopsis ‘El Capitan‘
4. Echinopsis ‘Embraceable You‘
5. Echinopsis ‘Mirabella‘
6. Echinopsis ‘Napaea‘
7. Echinopsis ‘Sleeping Beauty‘
8. Echinopsis ‘Stars and Stripes‘
9. Echinopsis ‘Vanilla Ice‘

As mentioned here, I also have seedlings from a dozen different echinopsis/trichocereus hybrids from Patrick Noll, a German hybridizer who runs a popular YouTube channel called Cactus Jerk. Every year, Patrick sells seeds from hybrids he created. He does give the parentage of each one, but there's no way of knowing what the flowers will ultimately look like. In total, I have well over 100 small plants now that I need to keep happy until they're large enough to flower for the first time – probably in three to four years. I'm crazy, I know.

© Gerhard Bock, 2024. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.