Something new . . . . .

every day . . . . . !

I few weeks ago a few of us went up to the site of a proposed housing development on behalf of the Oban Community Council to have a look at a number of trees which would have to be felled. Quite by chance we came across an elderly gentleman out walking with his blind collie and stopped for a chat. 

He explained how the wooded site was used by local families for walking, dog exercising and playing and when he heard that I was a retired gardener he invited me into his garden. He showed me a barrel cactus some 15" in height and told me that it had sat outside under the eaves of his bungalow all winter with no damage. He showed me a picture hanging in his sitting room of the cactus in full flower and promised to let me know when it flowered again, which he did yesterday. I came away that day with a young plant which he'd rooted from an offset.I posted a picture on a cactus forum and was told that it was almost certainly Echinopsis oxygona, from South Brazil, Uruguay and northern Argentina.

I popped in this afternoon and was amazed at the sight of the 12 beautiful pink flowers and thought it would make a good Blip.