How to grow
Set out plants preferably early in spring in gravelly or rocky clay loam with good drainage and sunny exposures, giving just enough irrigation to keep the soil moist during the growing season. Plants grow easily from seed in sandy loam in flats or pots in part shade. Keep the soil lightly moist, never wet. The plants grow indoors and out and are not injured by a temperature of twenty-five degrees below freezing; in zero weather they require protection.
Pink Flowered Visnagita (Echinocactus Johnsonii—Ferocactus Johnsonii)
(Named in honor of Joseph Ellis Johnson, an amateur botanist of southern Utah)
How to identify and how it grows
The Pink Flowered Visnagita grows from single cylindrical stems one foot tall or less and three to four inches in diameter, with its ribs of pale green well hidden by the dense layer of interlaced spines which are so prevalent in the Ferocactus group. These dense spines are a gray rose-purple, or a light yellow. The bell-shaped flowers are about three inches long and are composed of quite small oblong petals, deep pink or red. This blending of colors in blossoms and spines gives the plant a very pleasing appearance. It grows best in sandy or gravelly soils and sunny exposures.
How to grow
Plant this Visnagita in sandy or gravelly soil, preferably early in spring in sunny exposures, water enough to keep the soil moist during the growing period. Sow the seed in May or June in a sandy loam in flats or pots with part shade, and water occasionally to keep the soil moist. The plants grow indoors or out and tolerate a temperature of twenty-five degrees below freezing; in zero weather they should be grown in dry sunny greenhouses or conservatories.
Golden Spined Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus Rostii—Ferocactus Rostii)
(Named Rostii in honor of E. P. Rost, who discovered the plant)