My Big Payoff

Four years ago, I discovered the most gorgeous red cactus bloom I had ever seen and every spring for the past four years, I've watched that cactus carefully for it to bloom again.  I've missed it every time. On Sunday when I walked at the garden I noticed buds on the cactus, the first sign I'd seen in four years that it was going to bloom.  I went back on Monday to see the blooms but, they still hadn't opened. They were closer to blooming because I could see streaks of bright red peeking through the bud.  So, on Tuesday morning I took some time off from work and headed back to the garden and was rewarded with three gorgeous blooms.

Here is a view of the cactus with all three blooms.  It is some variety of Echinopsis but, it's much larger than the more common "red torch" and the blooms are much bigger.

I'm so glad I made the effort to go back again.  I checked the date on those photos four years ago and they were taken on May 29th.  So now I know that this one blooms at the end of May.  I'll mark my 2016 calendar to start looking for them in late May.  You can see my post from four years ago on this link.