Cacti are amazing

I have two cacti blooming right now, and a bunch more about to pop.  This is so exciting, because I've only been playing with cacti for about a year, and I'm so THRILLED that they are doing well enough to bloom!

This first one was sold as Mammillaria denudata, though the accepted name is now Mammillaria lasiacantha var. denudata.  This is native to southern Texas/New Mexico/Arizona and northern Mexico, and is a beautiful little plant.



I love how flat the spines are to the body. The flowers have to push their way through that thick lattice of spines to bloom, and while they aren't very showy, they have a certain charm.  If my basement were warmer, they would open wider. 



When I first saw these flowers starting to poke out a couple weeks ago, I couldn't believe it. When I got this plant last July it was completely unrooted, without even a hint of a live root to be seen.  It looked like a perfect little ping pong ball.  I set it on the surface of some dry soil and ignored it for several months, without watering it at all.  When I gently peeked underneath in October, I was thrilled to see three little roots, so I gave it a tiny spray of water, then another in November, December, and January.  And now it's firmly rooted and blooming! Yay plant!

This next cactus is Mammillaria hahniana, native to central Mexico.  Mine is from Home Depot, an impulse buy in August that Emma tried to talk me out of ("You already have cactuses that look like that, Mom."  "But I don't have this species!  Be quiet, child.")

Isn't it pretty?



Like many Mammillaria species, the flowers are small and pink.  As with the one above, they would open wider if my basement were warmer.



It's so fancy, with its brown spines and white spines and woolly hairs.  The flowers are really just a bonus.