The huge spiny cannons from Sitio Grande, Bahia in Brazil finally produced flowers on more than one stem, and close enough together in time that I was able to gather and freeze the pollen from one plant and tap it on another flower, yielding my first fruit. Tonight I did another and might have a seed factory going shortly. I germinated these in August 2018 and have enjoyed their rapid growth to dizzying heights. Someone collected seed of this species in 2009 and listed it as CS140 but it was misidentified by that collector as another in the genus. Luckily, a famous cactus botanist/explorer pointed it out as wrong and…

This past week four have opened so far, and many more are budding on the aboriginal prickly apples. The mahogany and rose colors on the hypanthium and sepals distinguish this species’ flowers. I’ll be mesh bagging others now that both species are in bloom at the same time, to avoid possible hybridizations. Here are the largest of both species of prickly apple and the mama Royen’s in their new “cactus cairn” raised stone beds. I’ll add onto the sides of this large round one a couple of smaller satellite beds with Consolea moniliformis, to make it a habitat garden.

One year later, the other Florida Harrisia species I’m growing has finally come into bloom! The aboriginal prickly apple cactus, Harrisia aboriginum, is sporting flower morphology true to description and with luck will produce bright yellow fruit. Because of habitat destruction, this endemic cactus is critically endangered and almost went extinct in it’s Southwest Florida coastal hammock range. The dedicated species tent, now called the Aboriginarium, will have to be built up higher as these are reaching 7-9ft tall and potentially twenty feet. It is quickly gaining popularity with Florida gardeners who can grow it in their yard sanctuaries. Last year’s Harrisia fragrans yielded a lot of the bright red…

The downside of mega propagation of cactus is where to put them all come Winter. The last couple months of Fall bring worry over preparedness, then ideas and effort prevail. I am getting closer after setting up and securing cactus greenhouses #5-8. Now comes the heavy work of building doorjambs and insulated doors on all of them. Heating the greenhouses to keep temps at or above 43f over the nights until March will not be fun or cheap. I’m already moving our army of spiky green things into the shelters as the weather changes. The Outsunny plastic and metal greenhouse kits, when modified with improvements, have worked great. The warm…