May 2025 echinopsis megabloom

Last month, Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’ produced a spectacular flower show. Check out this post if you missed it. Since then, I’ve been anxiously watching the flower buds on many other echinopsis hybrids get bigger and bigger. There were a few sporadic flowers, but no grand spectacle. Until Thursday, May 8. That’s when not two, not five, not ten, not fifteen, but eighteen different hybrids burst into bloom.

Southern California cactus breeder Brent Wigand, my source for many of these hybrids, posted videos of his 2025 May Day Megabloom just last week (you can watch them on his Instagram page, here and here). It looks like I finally had a megabloom of my own.

Most of the action was on May 8, but a few (like ‘Flying Saucer’ and ‘Pink Stripes’) stayed open for a second day or produced additional flowers on the second day. Others (like my second specimen of ‘Super Apricot’) didn’t flower until May 9.

I took a lot of photos, starting in the morning when the cacti were still in the shade, and continuing into the afternoon. Some flowers look noticeably different in the shade vs. full sun. In the shade, the colors tend to be much softer, with pastel tones dominating. In the sun, they get a lot punchier. I was trying to represent the flowers as accurately as possible, which isn’t always easy because each display is a little different. But none of the photos below are filtered or artificially saturated; all I did was increase the contrast when the lighting was too flat.

Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’ on May 8

These hybrids flowered in our garden on May 8 and 9:

1. Echinopsis ‘Apricot Glow’
2. Echinopsis ‘Celeste’
3. Echinopsis ‘Diehl’s Hybrid’
4. Echinopsis ‘Dream Catcher’
5. Echinopsis ‘First Light’
6. Echinopsis ‘Flatty Cake’
7. Echinopsis ‘Flying Ice Cream’
8. Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’
9. Echinopsis ‘Flying Serape’
10. Echinopsis ‘For Norma’
11. Echinopsis ‘Napaea’
12. Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’
13. Echinopsis ‘Salmon Queen’
14. Echinopsis ‘Sex on the Beach’
15. Echinopsis ‘Shades of Bourne’
16. Echinopsis ‘Super Apricot’
17. Echinopsis ‘Tondelayo’
18. Echinopsis ‘Wessner 368’

I decided to present them in alphabetical order, just because.

Note on taxonomy: There’s a lot of confusion/arguing/griping about Echinopsis vs. Trichocereus. Technically, Echinopsis (and Echinopsis hybrids) are fairly small globe-shaped cacti, while Trichocereus (and Trichocereus hybrids) form tall columnar stems. Trichocereus was lumped into Echinopsis in 1974. In 2012, genetic analysis found that the two genera have divergent lineages, meaning they’re not as closely related as once thought. As a result, Trichocereus was restored as a genus, and it would be more correct taxonomically to refer to hybrids like ‘First Light’ and ‘Flying Saucer’ as Trichocereus. But often the parentage is murky and most likely involves both Echinopsis and Trichocereus (or even other genera), so for the sake of convenience I continue to refer to all of them as Echinopsis hybrids.

Echinopsis ‘Apricot Glow’

Hybridizer: Mark Dimmitt, USA

Flower size: 4-5 inches

Note: to 2 feet in height

Echinopsis ‘Apricot Glow’ in the back on the right, ‘Flying Saucer’ and ‘Flying Serape’ (bloomed out in front

Echinopsis ‘Apricot Glow’

Echinopsis ‘Apricot Glow’

Echinopsis ‘Celeste’

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 3-4 inches

Note: See https://media.huntington.org/Schick/hybrids/celeste.html

Echinopsis ‘Celeste’ in the shade

Echinopsis ‘Celeste’ in the sun

Echinopsis ‘Diehl’sche Hybride’

Hybridizer: Diehl, Germany

Flower size: 4-5 inches

Note: Echinopsis candicans × Echinopsis eyriesii var. grandiflora

Echinopsis ‘Diehl’sche Hybride’

Echinopsis ‘Dream Catcher’

Hybridizer: Brent Wigand, USA

Flower size: 6 inches

Echinopsis ‘Dream Catcher’

Echinopsis ‘Dream Catcher’

Echinopsis ‘Dream Catcher’

Echinopsis ‘First Light’

Hybridizer: Mark Dimmitt, USA

Flower size: 5 inches

Note: Echinopsis ‘First Light’ was created by Tucson plant breeder Mark Dimmitt. It’s a cross between two other hybrids: ‘Diehl’sche Hybride’ (Echinopsis candicans × Echinopsis eyriesii var. grandiflora) and ‘Newlands Orange’ (Echinopsis huascha ‘Gold’ × Echinopsis huascha ‘Red’). My ‘Diehl’sche Hybride’ also flowered (see above).

Echinopsis ‘First Light’

Echinopsis ‘First Light’

Echinopsis ‘First Light’

Echinopsis ‘First Light’

Echinopsis ‘First Light’

Echinopsis ‘First Light’

Echinopsis ‘Flatty Cake’

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 4 inches

Note: See https://media.huntington.org/Schick/hybrids/flattycake.html

Echinopsis ‘Flatty Cake’

Echinopsis ‘Flying Ice Cream’

Hybridizer: Unknown 

Flower size: 5 inches

Note: hybrid with ‘Flying Saucer’

Echinopsis ‘Flying Ice Cream’

Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’

Hybridizer: Hans Britsch, USA

Flower size: 6-9 inches

Note: ‘Flying Saucer’ is a hybrid between an unidentified Soehrensia species and Trichocereus schickendantzii. It was created by Hans Britsch at his nursery, Western Cactus Growers, in Vista, California. ‘Flying Saucer’ is by far the best known and most popular Echinopsis/Trichocereus hybrids.

Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’

Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’ in the shade

Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’ in the shade

Echinopsis ‘Flying Saucer’ in the sun

I think they flowers end up being smaller when there are multiples and they’re squished together. But they’re always impressive.

Echinopsis ‘Flying Serape’

Hybridizer: Brent Wigand

Flower size: 6-7 inches

Note: ‘Flying Saucer’ × ‘Serape’

Echinopsis ‘Flying Serape’

Echinopsis ‘Flying Serape’

Echinopsis ‘For Norma’

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 5 inches

Note: See https://media.huntington.org/Schick/hybrids/for_norma.html. For some reason, the flowers on ‘For Norma’ didn’t open fully. Last year they did (see here).

Echinopsis ‘For Norma’

Echinopsis ‘Napaea’

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 3-4 inches

Note: See https://media.huntington.org/Schick/hybrids/napaea.html

Echinopsis ‘Napaea’

Echinopsis ‘Napaea’

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’

Hybridizer: Reinhard Liske, Germany

Flower size: 6 inches

Note: ‘Wörlitz’ × ‘Cantora Gelb’. It took a few years, but it finally flowered. Definitely worth the wait and my favorite echinopsis hybrid at the moment.

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’, day 1, with ‘Sex on the Beach’ to the right

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’, day 1

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’, day 1

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’, day 2 (3 flowers)

Echinopsis ‘Pink Stripes’, day 2

Echinopsis ‘Salmon Queen’

Hybridizer: Harry Johnson, USA, USA

Flower size: 3-4 inches

Note: The specimen below had 30 (!) flowers open at the same time

Echinopsis ‘Salmon Queen’

Echinopsis ‘Salmon Queen’, with Clarkia amoena behind it

Echinopsis ‘Salmon Queen’

Echinopsis ‘Sex on the Beach’

Hybridizer: Klaus-Peter Mügge, Germany

Flower size: 5-6 inches

Echinopsis ‘Sex on the Beach’

Echinopsis ‘Sex on the Beach’

Echinopsis ‘Shades of Bourne’

Hybridizer: Southfield Nurseries, UK

Flower size: 3-4 inches

Note: Southfield Nurseries in Morton, Lincolnshire has created dozens of echinopsis hybrids named after the nearby town of Bourne. I have just this one, ‘Shades of Bourne’. The Southfield hybrids not only have spectacular flowers, they’re also spectacularly difficult to find in the U.S.

Echinopsis ‘Shades of Bourne’

Echinopsis ‘Shades of Bourne’

Echinopsis ‘Shades of Bourne’, with ‘Tondelayo’ on the left

Echinopsis ‘Super Apricot’

Hybridizer: Anton Maas, Germany

Flower size: 5 inches

Note: A hybrid between ‘Apricot’ × ‘Super Gelb’. The flowers are spectacular and have serrated leaf edges – sometimes more pronounced, sometimes less.

Echinopsis ‘Super Apricot’, specimen 1 – the flower is darker and doesn’t have a lot of serration

Echinopsis ‘Super Apricot’, specimen 2 – the flowers are lighter and beautifully serrated

Echinopsis ‘Super Apricot’, specimen 2, shade

Echinopsis ‘Super Apricot’, specimen 2, sun

Echinopsis ‘Super Apricot’, specimen 2, with a native bee

Echinopsis ‘Tondelayo’

Hybridizer: Bob Schick, USA

Flower size: 4 inches

Note: See https://media.huntington.org/Schick/hybrids/tondelayo.html

Echinopsis ‘Tondelayo’

Echinopsis ‘Tondelayo’, with ‘Shades of Bourne’ on the right

Echinopsis ‘Wessner 368’

Hybridizer: Andreas Wessner, Germany

Flower size: 3-4 inches

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

Echinopsis ‘Wessner 368’

I also put together a five-minute video of my megabloom:

Be sure to watch on YouTube in the highest resolution your Internet connection allows.

Whew, that was a lot of cactus flowers. There’ll be more waves of flowers between now and early summer, but none of them will be quite as intense.

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