BLOOMING marvellous! That's what Colleen Heaton, of Almondbury, thinks of her prize cactus, which has produced an impressive four flowers in one season.
Mrs Heaton, of Southfield Road, has had the pink Easter lily cactus - Latin name echinopsis eyriesii - for nine years.
At first it lay dormant, but then burst into bloom four years ago.
It has flowered every summer since, usually producing two or three flowers in July or early August.
This year it had been moved from its sunny spot under Mrs Heaton's front window into an even hotter position in her greenhouse.
Its flowers started to appear on August 26. So far, it has had four flowers and there are another two getting ready to unfold.
Mrs Heaton, who used to be a keen gardener, said: "It is very unusual for it to flower so often and so much. I think it's because we've had it in the greenhouse and they like to be hot.
"It doesn't take much looking after. I haven't done anything special with it, just given it a drop of water now and then.
"It looks gorgeous and smells lovely. I keep the shoots it sends off and pot them up because everyone wants them when they see the flowers."
