Another blooming session has started.

This is a 24-hour Echinopsis flower that bloomed overnight.

My wife gave me an excited call to come and look, as she stepped out into our back garden and the glorious flower was waiting for her.

I posted their first blooming session some months ago, and now they have started to bloom again.

Echinopsis is a genus of cacti native to South America, sometimes known as hedgehog cactus, sea-urchin cactus or Easter lily cactus. As of November 2025, Plants of the World Online used a broad circumscription of the genus, resulting in about 80 accepted species, ranging from large and treelike types to small globose cacti. The name derives from echinos hedgehog or sea urchin, and opsis appearance, a reference to these plants' dense coverings of spines. Echinopsis species are native to South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay). They thrive in desert grasslands, shrubland, and in situations where the soil is sandy or gravelly, such as the sides of hills in the crevices of rocks.

They forgot to mention that it is also now found in South Africa.

If you click on the Wikipedia source below it will show you an amazing variety of the Echinopsis cactii plants, and all of them are beautiful, but they only flower for one day.

Source

At the left of the same plant, you can see two short grey stubs. That means that soon they will also start to grow and flower.

I also took some quick shots of some other new flowers in the garden.

This is the Portulaca, and this one has yellow flowers, and it comes from Mexico.

It seems that most of our cactii and succulents come from South America and Mexico.

And finally just two shots of some lion cubs at play.

I like the Albino one's smile, and the other one has a nice grin.

We are tired, as it has been a long and stressful year, and this summer holiday season, now in December, will not get any better, as many others feel the same way. I put a lot of effort into my Hive posts, as it is a bit of showcasing my passion for nature, that I always enjoy. It is a different world of peace and serenity during our short outings. But then it is back again to the grindstone of trying to sort so many other people's problems in the charity field.

The good news is that Papillon is planning a major effort in the new year to contribute to the problem of malnutrition in the poor areas. Some children only have one meal a day that they receive from the school feeding scheme and at night they have to go to bed hungry. Not only that, but malnutrition also causes stunting, meaning that the children's bones don't grow. It is not only a few children, but a few million. This is a great headache and worry. To make matters worse, a popular internet provider has decided to cancel all free licences to NPO's, and without proper communication systems we are facing a tougher year ahead. Donors have also become scarce, but we will simply just carry on.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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