PlantFiles: Desert's Blooming Jewel, Red Torch
Echinopsis huascha

I live in a zone 8a climate in Sc. Could this cactus live outside here, perhaps with a little winter protection from the rain and maybe wrapped in frost cloth during the 2 or 3 days of 11 - 16 degree weather which we get most winters??? I have a greenhouse but would love to put it outside??

In AZ, the bloom begins around sundown. By 6 a.m. the huge flowers appear to almost glow in the sunlight. It's a very striking cactus that grows fairly quickly. Also does well in planters.

The "macrantha" variety has much longer reddish spines with flowers that are reddish orange or yellow that are born near the tops of the stems.

Trichocereus grandiflorus was included into E. huascha during recent classifications and has much shorter reddish spines on top. It has now become a cultivar of E. huascha. The main E. huasha (not variety or cultivar) is reported to have spines over 2 inches long.

The 'rubra' variety apparently has ruby-red flowers and might be a synonym of 'rubiflora' variety. It also has very long spines, 1 to 2.5 inches long.

Here are more synonyms, some of which in the future 'might' become a variety, cultivar, subspecies or forma of the species.:: Echinopsis pecheretiana, Trichocereus grandiflorus, Lobivia hyalacantha, Acanthocalycium hyalacanthum, Helianthocereus hyalacanthus, Echinopsis hyalacantha, Pseudolobivia pelecyrhachis var. lobivioides, Trichocereus lobivioides, Helianthocereus pecheretianus, Trichocereus huascha var. pecheretianus, Lobivia purpureominiata, Echinopsis rowleyi, Chamaecereus grandiflorus, Echinopsis lobivioides, Trichocereus andalgalensis, Pseudolobivia lobivioides, Lobivia huascha, Cereus andalgalensis, Helianthocereus andalgalensis, Lobivia andalgalensis, Helianthocereus huascha var. auricolor, Trichocereus auricolor, Trichocereus andalgalensis var. auricolor, Trichocereus catamarcensis & Helianthocereus huascha.

Mine was from a litle potted arrangement which I "stuck" in the ground without regard for anything. Mistake! It has never bloomed in five years. With full sun, it might not have grown to its ten foot height, but would almost certainly have bloomed. It is terribly brittle, so moving it would prove disastrous. A thorny problem.

I have had wonderful success in growing this plant here in Florida. In one year it has doubled in size. If growing in the ground, please make sure you give this cactus a wide space to grow since in time dominate arms will lay down and grow in a sprawling manner.