When the desert blooms in hues like yellow, orange, and pink in the spring, I adore it.
Last week, I had a hard time keeping my eyes on the road as I traveled through a neighborhood tucked away in the desert highlands.
There were blooming cacti in vibrant colors everywhere I looked. The fact that I didn’t hit the curb as I drew nearer is nothing short of a miracle.
Even though I’ve spent 31 springs in the Southwest desert, the transformation of spiky cactus into vibrant accents never ceases to astound me.
For a variety of textures, I like to see smaller cacti like strawberry hedgehog and claret cup planted next to boulders. The cactus also enjoys the chance for the boulder to cast shade over its roots.
Flowering cacti come in a variety of hues, including orange, pink, red, and yellow.
It can be challenging to distinguish all of the many kinds of flowers because there are so many of them. However, that does not prevent you from admiring their lovely flowers.
This time of year, prickly pear cactus are especially beautiful, and the species differ in the color of their flowers.
I must admit that I don’t have many cacti in my garden; I’m more of a perennial and flowering shrub kind of gal. I do, however, have a few cacti that I’ve collected throughout the years that are stashed away here and there.
My favorite is a tiny pincushion cactus that intermittently blooms in spring and summer with rings of pink flowers. The little, local bees simply like the blossoms.
Prickly Pear Cactus
The species of prickly pears is extremely varied. The most typical variety has yellow blooms, although it also occasionally has yellow flowers with red centers, tangerine flowers, and brilliant pink flowers. They all share flat pads with spines as a common feature. There are occasionally many tiny spines and occasionally fewer larger spines. Those wonderful prickly pears, oh my.
Cane or Walking Stick Cholla
Cholla cacti can bloom in a variety of colors depending on where they are. The cholla that Bandelier grows always has pink blossoms. Additionally, it possesses long, stick-like limbs that are spine-covered. The cholla cactus is unquestionably the tallest cactus in Bandelier.
Pincushion Cactus
Pink flowers are a staple of pincushions. They bloom at highly irregular intervals between May and August. The cactus is a small rounded ball covered with star like clusters of spines. The cactus can be found both alone and in groups at different periods.
Fendler’s Hedgehog
In comparison to the other pink flowering cacti on this page, Fendler’s Hedgehog are less frequent. They are little, spherical cacti like pincushion but rarely form clumps, unlike pincushion. Additionally, their spines are substantially larger than pincushions’.
Saguaro Flowers
Saguaro flowers are typically found close to the apex of the cactus’ stems and arms. They have a diameter of around 3 inches (8 cm) and are white in hue. They smell strongly, somewhat like ripe melons.
Flower pollination
The Mexican long-tongued bat and the lesser long-nosed bat pollinate the blooms at night. Bees and birds like the white-winged dove fertilize the flowers during the day.
Saguaro Fruit
The blossoms develop into brilliant crimson fruit after being fertilized. The fruit splits open to reveal luscious red pulp as it ripens. Up to 2000 tiny black seeds can be found in each berry.
Uses of the fruit
Many desert animals rely on ripe fruit as an excellent source of nutrition and moisture. Finches, woodpeckers, doves, bats, tortoises, javelinas, and coyotes are a few of these creatures. People consume saguaro fruit as well. Since they have inhabited the desert, Tohono O’odham Indians have been gathering the fruit.
Quick Fact
Less than a day is spent in bloom on saguaro flowers. They start operating at night and are open all day the following day. They only have that brief period to entice an animal to pollinate them.
What best describes the blossom of a cactus?
Opuntias (subfamily Opuntioideae) and “cactoids,” two groupings of “core cacti,” make up the majority of the 1,500–1,800 species of cacti (subfamily Cactoideae). The majority of these two groups’ members are unmistakably cactus. They have squishy succulent stems, which are important photosynthesis-producing organs. They lack, have tiny, or have temporary leaves. They produce blooms with ovaries that are submerged deeply into a fleshy receptacle under the sepals and petals (the part of the stem from which the flower parts grow). All cacti feature areoles, which are short, highly specialized branches with incredibly short internodes that produce blooms, spines, and regular shoots. [10]
Only two groupings of cacti remain: the relatively smaller Maihuenia and the three tree-like taxa Leuenbergeria, Pereskia, and Rhodocactus (all originally included in Pereskia). Since these two groups differ significantly from other cacti[10], they must frequently be excluded from general descriptions of cacti. The species of the first three genera resemble other tropical forest trees on the surface. When fully grown, they feature long-lasting leaves that serve as the primary source of photosynthesis, along with woody stems that may be covered in bark. Their blooms may have areoles that produce additional leaves and superior ovaries, which are located above the sites where the sepals and petals attach. The two varieties of Maihuenia have pronounced succulent leaves and succulent stems but not photosynthetic ones. [10]
Growth habit
Cacti have a wide range of development behaviors that are challenging to categorize into distinct, straightforward groups.
Cacti can resemble trees (are arborescent), which means they usually have a single, more-or-less woody trunk that is topped by a number of branches. The branches of the genera Leuenbergeria, Pereskia, and Rhodocactus are covered in leaves, making it difficult to identify the species of these genera as cacti. As with Pachycereus pringlei or the larger opuntias, most other cacti have branches that are more like regular cacti, devoid of leaves and bark and coated in spines. Some cacti, like larger specimens of Echinocactus platyacanthus, can grow to be tree-sized without having any branches. When many stems emerge from the ground or from branches that are very low to the ground, as in the case of Stenocereus thurberi, a cactus is often referred to as being shrubby. [11]
Columnar is a good word to describe smaller cacti. They are made up of upright, cylinder-shaped stems that may or may not branch, with no obvious distinction between the trunk and branches. It is challenging to draw a line between columnar forms and forms that resemble trees or shrubs. For instance, Cephalocereus senilis has smaller, younger specimens that appear columnar, and older, larger specimens may resemble trees. The “columns” might occasionally be horizontal rather than vertical. Stenocereus eruca can therefore be characterized as columnar while having stems that grow parallel to the ground and root at regular intervals. [11]
Cacti with even smaller stems could be referred as as globular (or globose). Unlike columnar cactus, they have stems that are shorter and more formed like balls. Globular cacti can grow alone, like Ferocactus latispinus, or their stems can group together to form enormous mounds. A cluster’s stems may all or some of them share a root. [11]
Other cacti look very distinct from one another. Some plants develop as forest climbers and epiphytes in tropical areas. Their stems often lack spines and are flattened, resembling practically leaves in form. Large climbing cactus are common; one Hylocereus specimen measured 100 meters (330 feet) from root to farthest stem. When growing in trees high above the ground, epiphytic cacti like the Rhipsalis or Schlumbergera species frequently hang downward and group together in dense groups. [11]
What kind of cactus bears pink flowers?
Include these types with your cactus:
Conical Euphorbia Most species of cactus look beautiful with a crest of euphorbia.
Rosary Vine This simple-to-grow rosary vine grows from cactus baskets and prefers comparable environmental conditions to houseplant cactus species.