A cutting that's doing real well in spring 2007

      From southern Texas and northern Mexico, Echinocereus pentalophus ssp. procumbens is a pendant stemmed cacti with stems up to an inch in diameter and 16 inches long. it has thinner stems and is more prostrate than the type species. It branches readily and grows fast, so even a small one will quickly become a nice hanging basket specimen. For only a two week period in early spring it produces magnificent magenta flowers.
     My first one of these was missing the label and I had wrongly identified it as Echinocereus berlandieri. I thought it was a pretty plain Jane cactus so it was somewhat neglected over summer and left out in the cold for most of the winter. Then in spring it flowered! All I could say was WOW!!! I rushed out and bought another and they'll be pampered from here on in.

Flowers in March

Flower closeup

Even closer