If You Like Orange...

Trichocereus in full bloom! I wait for this one with anticipation. The flowers only last a day or two so if you're not there...poof and they're gone.

Messing Around With Effects

I've been waiting for the Trichocereus to bloom. As with the rest of my cacti, I get gorgeous flowers for a couple of days, once of year. (What's with that anyhow?) Anyhow, it has these big, fat, colorful buds that just keep you in suspense. But then, who wants to look at buds? So, here they are with a little bit of electronic dunking.

Serious about Tricocereus

Trichocereus species. This may have been lumped back into Echinopsis. I'm guessing Echinopsis smirziana (=Trichocereus smirzianus). If you're a cacti lover and know the nave of this huge flowered, apical blooming columnar cacti (quite a mouthful), please let me know.

In any case,this cacti appears to bloom late at night through early morning, only to close by mid-day. The 4 gorgeous, white, apical flowers lasted a few days (3-ish) and then closed up for good. They are amazing, especially in the early morning sun.

Most times the cactus stores carry the more common Trichocereus pachanoi (San Pedro Cactus) which is rumored to be mildly hallucinogenic. It amazes me that anyone would be willing to risk all those spines but someone obviously did. I found this really cool cactus as Exotic Gardens, a local cactus and succulent shop.