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LEFT: Apricot Glow (orange) and First Light (pink) are among the varieties of hybrid Trichocereus growing in the Bowersocks' yard. RIGHT: Epic Star, front, and Cherry Red varieties also adorn the yard.

Northwest

Readers' Corner

Bountiful cactus blooms

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.26.2008
Editor's note: Reader Melissa Bowersock submitted several photos of her cactus flowers, which bloomed in her and her husband Bud's Oro Valley yard May 24. Here's what Melissa wrote in a series of e-mails about the plants.
We have collected hybrid Trichocereus for years, separating the plants when they get too big and then planting them other places, so now we have many, many plants. We have no idea why, but they all choose to bloom on the same day, and this time we had more than 700 flowers open at the same time.
The pictures (believe it or not) do not do the real things justice, and the sight of our yard is incredible. We have many people stopping their cars in front of our house, and joggers stopping dead in their tracks to look.
(They bloom) only one day if they are in full sun, maybe two or three (days) at the most if they are sheltered and have shade.
They're actually night bloomers, but have been hybridized to bloom during the day. You'll also hear them called torch cactus. They're pretty amazing.
Go to Bach's Cactus Nursery on Thornydale (8602 N. Thornydale Road); that's where I get mine, and they have all the colors.
They take zero care; (they) just like a little bit of filtered shade more than full sun, but you do nothing, and they just do their thing. What's funny is that after this big bloom, we had neighbors coming over and asking, "What do you do to get them to all bloom on the same day?" We said, "nothing!" They don't believe us!
● To contribute to Readers' Corner, call Regional Editor Tiffany Kjos at 618-1927 or e-mail her at tkjos@azstarnet.com.
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