Is it typical for a cactus to have small plain flowers in the fall, and big showy flowers in the spring?
My friends originally found the cactus pictured below in a ditch in San Diego. They have grown it in a pot in North Carolina for decades (but they bring it indoors in the winter). Last summer, they gave me a 4 inch tall offset from their 2 foot tall mother plant. They told me it has magnificent flowers, but it wasn’t flowering at the time.
Last fall it bloomed - a homely dime-sized yellow flower on the top. I thought it was a stretch to call this modest little flower “magnificent," but maybe it would be impressive if the whole cactus were covered in them.
This spring it produced three more flower buds, this time on the sides of the cactus. One bud finally bloomed last week, and this time it was magnificent.
My friends had never seen the small yellow flowers on their plant before, only the large and impressive light pink flowers.
