My daughter-in-law Erin and I made a little road trip to East Austin Succulents back in May. She bought some foliage plants; I bought a succulent that was just about to bloom. But then we went into the greenhouse of another shop at the same location-Tillery Street Plant Company, and we found more plants to buy. What I found was this really nice, large, interesting cactus. I finally talked myself out of buying it- big and awkward to get home- really don’t need another big cactus-really don’t need another cactus, period!
I did look to the identification tag, however, and upon getting home and checking on my cactus, Bingo! There it was, a smaller Gymnocalycium saglionis right there in my collection. I was so glad I had talked myself out of that big, expensive one. And then, to make it even better, it bloomed this year, for the first time.
Gymnocalycium saglionis is native to northwest Argentina and is not cold-hardy, so it comes inside in the winter. It goes dormant in the winter, so watering less is called for to prevent rotting. This cactus can grow to three feet tall and sixteen inches in diameter, so someday it will get to be large like the one I almost bought.
Now, while I am happy that it bloomed, the flowers aren’t what’s so cool about this cactus. At least not to me. It is the fat tubercles from which the areoles and spines emanate that make the cactus such an unusual shape. The big one I didn’t buy had a very distinct look with very well defined tubercles and was a dark green color.
Because of the unusual shapes on the cactus, it is commonly called giant chin cactus. At home in Argentina it likes some shade in the hottest part of the day. If it doesn’t get enough sun, however, it will bloom less. so perhaps I need to re-evaluate its location and get it a bit more light. Or it may just now be old enough to bloom.
Time will tell.
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