Rebutia Heliosa

At this time of year it is often the Rebutias that steal the limelight in any cacti collection.

While Mammilliarias and other cacti are showing off their beautiful and delicate flowers, it is the Rebutias, even the very young ones, who are displaying flowers that seem to exceed all expectations.

The picture above is my 2 year old Rebutia Heliosa with flowers that dwarf the main plant, and hide all of the small clusters that are appearing. It is such a joy to walk into the greenhouse and just admire this plant exploding with colour, despite its immaturity.

Rebutias are of the subspecies Aylostera. They are a very popular species for cultivation, and as you can see, are stunning in flower.

Heliosa is often described as solitary in the wild, although they tend to be clump forming in clutivation. My young plant is already forming a very nice cluster of small plants around its base. I am looking forward to the years to come when these are flowering too.

Rebutia Heliosa is relatively easy to grow. It requires the standard conditions for cacti (You can see my blog entry on Cacti Cultivation for more details), but can occasionally suffer from problems. The most typical (as with many cacti) is over-watering. Heliosa also tends to cause growers problems when it forms large clumps. Growers often find they have to start again with some of the younger plants, rather than continue with an old plant.

Anyway, I just wanted to introduce you to my favorite cacti at the moment. It obviously changes each week. But, at the moment, it is my little Heliosa and its amazing flowers!

Check out some more Heliosa's on Wikipedia!