The time has come.
After... I don't even know how many years (5? It could be 5...) after sowing I get to see the tiny, pink flowers. And I mean - TINY! I though mammillarias have small flowers. This one beats them! They the smallest of all the cacti I own.
I did not even expect to see them as the cactus itself is also tiny, but yay! We have a progress :)
Epithelantha micromeris
It had 3 of the little flowers in total, but it doesn't change much. They were still barely visible from a distance (and I can see all the cacti while I drink my morning coffee though the balcony door). I just notice some more action at the top of this one, while the other two (I have 3 in total) didn't show any.
Look at this little thing! The petals are so delicate and translucent protected by also tiny spines. The whole flower is about 3mm across and last only a couple of days. I hoping there will be some seed pods, though I did not try to pollinate it. Maybe the wind did the job.
I am also hoping to see the berries, cause they are way more showy than the flowers. I could have waited with this post until then, but then again I have no idea how long it is gonna take some cacti grow the pods only the next year after blooming) and if there is gonna be any. I will just make some update when that happens. And I will make an exception - I will pick the seeds and sow them, though I said I will not sow anymore :p Because I like this one.
Look how small the whole cactus is. The other two are about the same size.
I am pretty sure it could be bigger for a 5 year old if I took better care of them. I am just glad it is alive.
When I was sowing them and the year after I had a whole filed of them. And then year after year they were dying.
This photo is from 2019:
It is one of those cacti where the flowers don't even matter that much (to me at least after seeing them), though are a lovely addition.
Just look at the amazing spines:
A quick shootout to 
Lastly there are some ore buds coming up so I will get to enjoy some flowers this year. There is more, much smaller ones on other plants as well, they are just not as photogenic, so I'll wait for the flowers.
Gymnocalycium Bruchii with one bud only. And as I am writing this it already bloomed and the flower died and I missed shooting it. Pretty pink thing. Pity it was just one. But last year there was none :p
Notocactus mueller-melchersii - the weed not a cactus!
I sowed some seed of this one (not the one that will bloom, but the same type) together with the Epithelantha above an few other types and they all died throughout the years (one of the reasons I will skip sowing... I just kill them) and they grow no matter how harsh I treat them. I do not want to exaggerate, but I probably have over 30 of them now all in a nice size. It will be cool to see them all bloom in the same time. They have gigantic yellow flowers!
My other blooming cacti:
Click on the image to view full post.
Chamaecereus hybrid | Sulcorebutia Canigueralii | Mammillaria camptotricha | Mammillaria Glassii |
Gymnocalycium baldianum | Mediolobivia mudanensis | Lobivia Arachnacantha | Rebutia hybrid |
Mammillaria Bombycina | Mammillaria Gracilis Snowcap | Mammillaria haageana | Mammillaria backebergiana |
Chamaecereus silvestrii | Mammillaria prolifera | Rebutia Fabrisii var. Aureiflora | Lobivia Wrightiana |
Aylostera Flavistyla FR756 | Parodia concinna | Mammillaria Copper King | Gymnocalycium Bruchii |
Mammillaria backebergiana | Gymnocalycium damsii | Echinopsis subdenudata | Rhipsalis pilocarpa |
Mammillaria Prolifera | Lobivia arachnacantha v. vallegrandensis | Mediolobivia atrovirens | Mammillaria magnimamma |
Sulcorebutia langerii | Sulcorebutia frankiana | Chamaelobivia no ID | Rebutia Albiflora |
Mediolobivia atrovirens var. ritteri | Gymnocalycium damsii var. tucavocense | Notocactus Ottonis | Gymnocalycium Friedrichii |
Turbinicarpus Viereckii | Rebutia neocumingii | Notocactus Rubrigemmatus | Lobivia no ID |
Sulcorebutia albissima | Lobivia arachnacantha II | Notocactus mueller-melchersii | Mammillaria Prolifera |
Aylostera heliosa var. condorensis | Frailea pumila | Lobivia arachnacantha | Lobivia no ID |
»«
Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.