Desert 'Alpines'

A common differentiation for woody plants is: does it bloom on old wood (when flowers are initiated the season before they bloom) or does it bloom on new wood (when flowers are initiated the same season as they bloom).

When viewing all these wonderful photos of cacti, I see the distinctness of flowers originating from the sides of the plant, or flowers emerging from the tops. Is this necessarily due to the same phenomenon? In other words, are flowers on the sides because they are initiated the previous season, and flowers at the top because it is the current season's growth?

This squat dark green, nearly spineless cactus is found growing at over 6,600' (2000 m )in elevation. It's native habitat is the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains of Mexico. It is found growing in semi-shady sights, at the base rocks and pines. The root is thick and tuberous. In the heat of summer this root can pull the plant down into the soil as protection.

While still in the throes of winter here in New England, I took a virtual tour through American desert wildflowers, and not just photos, but embedded videos. I've watched this one several time through, full of beautiful plants which seem so much more alive with the blooms waving in the strong breeze, all set to a soft jazz soundtrack.

Echinocereus dasyacanthus is a yellow flowered cactus from NM, TX and Northern Mexico. It's cylindrical stems grow in multi-headed mounding clusters, covered in very dense short ridged straw colored spines, that tend to vary slightly in tone from year to year. This gives the plant horizontal banding in muted colors. Hardy to 0 F(-17C) but very rot prone and requiring sharp drainage with only occational modest watering.

Echinocereus triglochidiatus is found growing various habitats of the Mojave Desert, in the states of NV, UT, CO, CA, AZ, and TX also into northern Mexico. Look for it on rocky slopes, hill country scrub lands, open forest lands, rocky outcroppings and cliff faces.

This is one the only Echinocactus I have found to be hardy for me so far. Echinocactus texensis is found in west TX, and south eastern NM.
Echinocactus texensis, grows as a stout, ribbed, barrel cactus,2-8 inches tall and can get 12 inches in diameter(8 inches in diameter is more common.) It is protected by heavy claw shaped spines. Flowers are are pale-pink to off-white, with red centers, and feathery edges. I have read that they can be orange but have never seen that variation.
Hardy to 0 Fahrenheit.

The Echinocereus reichenbachii complex consists of five basic varieties/sub species. (note depending upon the source) The varieties are ; ssp. reichenbachii, ssp. albispinus, ssp. armatus, ssp. baileyi, and ssp. fitchii. (However many synonyms abound) -These are small cylindrical cacti from the Southern Great Plains states. They can have a single stem or form small clusters of upright stems.