2005 Cactus Flowers
All of these cacti bloomed in my own backyard after the exceptionally wet spring of 2005.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/06042005.jpg)
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/burst_o_blossoms.jpg)
On June 4, the stenocereus greeted us with two hand-sized blossoms.
The trichocereus pachanoi displayed nothing but a crown of fuzzy nubbins until one humid night in late August when it burst into a wheel of 10 large white blossoms.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/open_animation.gif)
Watch these Easter Lily cacti bloom before your very eyes!. This sequence was filmed by Dennis, with assistance from Caliche, the evening of May 4, 2005, when 48 night-blooming cacti popped their corks simultaneously.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/04072005_cereus_peruvianus1.jpg)
The Cereus Peruvianus Monstrosii produced its first blossom one night -- and only for one night!
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/04072005_cereus_peruvianus2.jpg)
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/echinopsis_04222005.jpg)
This exuberant magenta blossom sprang from a dried-up echinocereus pentalophus stump.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/coral_blossom.jpg)
A fabulous single coral bloom produced by a hybrid echinopsis.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/cherry_creek_cholla.jpg)
Opuntias are under-rated. This cholla grows along Cherry Creek north of Roosevelt Reservoir, and nowhere else have I seen these tomato-red blossoms.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/mammilaria.jpg)
Echinocereus reichenbachii, May 1, 2005.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/easter_lily2.jpg)
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/photographing_cactus.jpg)
My partner Dennis and his sidekick, Caliche, photographing cactus at night.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/readyaimfire.jpg)
Ready. Aim. Fire! May 4, 2005, 28 pale pink Easter Lily cactus blossoms ready for launch.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/soft_coral.jpg)
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/easter_lily3.jpg)
Coral-colored echinopsis at dawn, left, and Easter Lily in full sun, May 4, 2005.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/cactus/images/raging_sage_blossom.jpg)
This unusual prickly pear has pads with scalloped edges. I rescued a fallen branch from behind my favorite coffee shop, and this is its first blossom.