Cactus flowers, June 2025

Summer is here, and everything is slowing down. This includes our cacti — there are far fewer flowers now than in previous months.

I’m finally getting around to posting these photos taken in June. I know it’s a bit late, but they’re too pretty not to share.

There isn’t much text in this post, it’s 90% photos. Lean back and enjoy!

Echinocereus rigidissimus var. albiflorus, the white-spined and white-flowering form of the Arizona rainbow cactus. The flowers are such a pure white, they positively glow.

Astrophytum asterias ‘Super Kabuto V-Type’

Astrophytum ornatum

Echinopsis ‘June Noon’

Mammillaria longimamma

Echinopsis ‘For Norma’

Echinopsis ‘Tondelayo’

Echinopsis ‘Southern Belle’

Echinopsis ‘Napaea’

Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’, third round of flowers

Unidentified lobivia hybrid

Acanthocalycium spiniflorum f. violaceum

Echinopsis ‘Flatty Cake’, 14 flowers open at the same time

Echinopsis ‘Flatty Cake’

Most of the cacti above have set fruit, which is now ripening. If I wanted to, I could collect thousands of seeds – literally. But what would I do with them? I have enough to do as it is.

I did, however, collect seeds from my two favorite echinopsis hybrids. They were pollinated by the bees during the May megabloom, and with so many other echinopsis in flower at the time, it’s impossible to know who the pollen parents were. In fact, it’s conceivable that each flower received pollen from a different echinopsis. You know those bees; they can be pretty frantic as they buzz back and forth.

Here’s the first hybrid I collected seeds from, Echinopsis ‘Super Apricot’:

Echinopsis ‘Super Apricot’

Echinopsis ‘Super Apricot’

And here’s the second one, Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’, my favorite out of all the cacti that have flowered this year:

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’ in the early morning shade

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’, same flower later in the day in full sun. It’s amazing how much the colors appear to change.

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’

I lightly fertilize all my echinopsis hybrids after each wave of flowers. I use an organic 3-4-5 bloom fertilizer (Espoma Flower-Tone), and I’ve been very happy with the results.

© Gerhard Bock, 2025. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.