Flowering Cacti (from Texas)

Yay! This is the first time this cactus has bloomed in the almost seven years I've had it. I bought it in Austin, Texas at the spectacular cactus show held at the Zilker Botanical Garden. It seemed happy — but flowerless — growing in my Austin yard near a big-ole boulder. Then it was in a pot for the move. Looked fine but lacked flowers. Then it had a super-sunshiny spot in my California backyard. Still looked fine. Still no flowers, though. It wasn't until I moved it to its current, shadier spot near the rhubarb and fennel that it was happy enough (or stressed-out enough?) to flower. I didn't even know what kind or color of flower to expect! These big red ones are very cool (in my book). There were three altogether. I'm very pleased, very pleased.

The other cactus I bought at Zilker back then just finished blooming. Its flowers are modest, but it lets 'em rip every year. This is what it looked like on April 3.

(I wish I could tell you the names of these cacti, but I had posted them to my old garden blog, which no longer exists. If I figure them out, I'll update this post.)