Echinomastus johnsonii

Echinomastus johnsonii is another Mojave desert plant. It comes from the area where some end of summer monsoons from the Gulf of Mexico are reaching, but summers are generally dry and hot. Plants have one distinct growth period and it is in the spring.

This picture is taken at Beaver Dam mountains, where Arizona, Nevada and Utah borders meet. The plants here have varied color spines, from very light colored yellowish to dark brown. Flowers are pink like in the picture. The plant grow in what appears to be pure sand, and that soil pH testes slightly alkaline at 8.5-9.

In 'traditional' culture plants are considered hard to impossible, but grow and bloom gust fine when planted in pure mineral substrate and watered in winter and spring, but never in the summer.