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Mister Monster
Oct. 3rd, 2018 09:47 pmMy big Dutchman's pipe cactus was getting ready to bloom. At one point I counted seven buds. But then many of them disappeared. The buds don't always survive to flower, but I was disappointed that it was down to two buds. Then I found a third hiding underneath a leaf. Kinda bad of me to to have seen it, since the buds are huge.
The pot was on the ground in the shade garden in the front of the house. Since it's been cold I thought I might have to bring it inside soon, so I figured I might as well bring it around to the back of the house where we could see it, since it was supposed to be cloudy all week anyway (it doesn't like the sun). After I put it on the patio table, I realized there was a fourth bud, which I had just broken off. :-(
The temperature hasn't been above 70° in a week, and it's been rainy too. Today it was around 70 most of the day, with the sun peeking through, but then it shot up to 85 midafternoon when all the clouds went away. It's still 80° at 10:00 at night! But it's very windy.
The warmth accelerated the blooming schedule, and two of the blossoms opened up tonight. It's too windy to get a good picture in the dim light on the patio. Cindy was worried that the wind would damage it, and told me to bring it in the house. In trying to wash the mud off the pot I broke one of the two blossoms off. Then I realized the plant was so big I couldn't just carry it into the house, anyway.
So now there's one big blossom, and one smaller bud still waiting to open.
Here's last year's blossom:
The pot was on the ground in the shade garden in the front of the house. Since it's been cold I thought I might have to bring it inside soon, so I figured I might as well bring it around to the back of the house where we could see it, since it was supposed to be cloudy all week anyway (it doesn't like the sun). After I put it on the patio table, I realized there was a fourth bud, which I had just broken off. :-(
The temperature hasn't been above 70° in a week, and it's been rainy too. Today it was around 70 most of the day, with the sun peeking through, but then it shot up to 85 midafternoon when all the clouds went away. It's still 80° at 10:00 at night! But it's very windy.
The warmth accelerated the blooming schedule, and two of the blossoms opened up tonight. It's too windy to get a good picture in the dim light on the patio. Cindy was worried that the wind would damage it, and told me to bring it in the house. In trying to wash the mud off the pot I broke one of the two blossoms off. Then I realized the plant was so big I couldn't just carry it into the house, anyway.
So now there's one big blossom, and one smaller bud still waiting to open.
Here's last year's blossom:
