A lot of succulents and cacti have yellow flowers which don’t particularly excite me.  So I am always on the lookout for species or cultivars with red or orange or purple flowers.  One cactus genus I have admired in photographs is Rebutia which tends to have bright red or orange blooms so over the years I picked up a few.

What a disappointment my supposed Rebutia deminuta turned out to be. Instead of the red flowers I was promised they were a rather insipid white.  Either a white form or a mislabeled plant but a big disappointment either way. This year my Rebutia sanguinea bloomed and I am thrilled that it is the real deal!

Cacti are one of those worrisome plant families with a dormant period. In winter they are more than happy to take a break and any watering could lead to rot.  This is a problem for California gardeners growing their plants outside as we tend to have a lot of cold rainy days in winter.  I was told that the plants could be overwintered in a dark garage which I have to  admit sounded a bit daft to me. But since I now am living in a house with a garage I decided to throw caution to the wind and when I moved in this past December my cactus collection when right into the garage where I promptly forgot about them until late April.

Seems to have done the trick as this is the first time this plant has bloomed for me and the rest of my plants look unharmed as well. I think I may need to start expanding my cactus collection a bit.