Opuntia 'Claude Arno'

The second installment in the I-wish-it-would-be-summer-soon photo series features a flowering Opuntia 'Claude Arno'. The flowers are a distinct rosy red with a pearly sheen.


Opuntia 'Claude Arno' flower close-up

I bought the plant as a cutting from Bennys Kaktus a couple of years ago and it flowered for the first time last summer. According to Benny this cultivar is a hybrid of Opuntia fragilis and Opuntia polyacantha var. rhodantha.


Flowering Opuntia 'Claude Arno'

The pictures can also be seen as a fitting celebration of today’s vernal equinox ;-)

Cylindropuntia viridiflora in the snow

My Cylindropuntia viridiflora seems to be coping quite well with the cold and damp Danish winter. The plant pictured below is seemingly weighed down by snow, but the drooping form is common for plants in winter dormancy (as illustrated in the previous post).


Cylindropuntia viridiflora covered by snow

My plants are growing unprotected in a natural “raised bed” on top of a dune close to the north-western coast line of Denmark. Evidently the heap of sand is supplying sufficient drainage for the plants to survive the wet winters.


Cylindropuntia viridiflora


Opuntia sp. hidden in snow

Christmas Cacti

I can’t exactly say my cacti are basking in the sun – rather they are striving to endure the wet and cold Danish winter. The pictures below were taken December 25, 2005.


Drooping Cylindropuntia viridiflora


Opuntia humifusa hugging the ground


Opuntia 'Claude Arno'

My cold house grown Lophophora williamsii aren’t doing as well as the Opuntias – some critter ate large bites out of them.

Opuntia in the snow

This weekend Denmark was hit hard by a snow storm. The attached photo shows one of my Opuntias before being completely covered with snow.



Opuntia in the snow