Flowering Escobaria sneedii

Last summer my Escobaria sneedii (SB 173; Doña Ana County, New Mexico) plants flowered for the first time.


Flowering Escobaria sneedii

The E. sneedii plants are heavily branching, eventually forming large clusters. The stems are obscured by a dense cover of bright snowy white spines, and the flowers are a pale rose-pink with slightly darker midstripes.

The plants are grown in a coldhouse and are exposed to temperatures well below freezing during winter. They are allegedly very rot-prone, so I grow them in an inorganic, mineral soil with extremely good drainage. The plants are kept bone-dry during winter but watered rather freely during their growing season.


Flowering Escobaria sneedii – top view

I bought the plants from Mesa Garden during a visit to the US a couple of years ago.

Escobaria sneedii is also known as Coryphantha sneedii.