13 Cactus Plants With Pink Flowers

For much of the year, we appreciate cacti for their low-maintenance nature. They add texture and interest to waterwise gardens and houseplant collections alike. Once a year, most of these prickly plants do something remarkable: they bloom. Well, maybe it’s not remarkable in the sense that most plants do it. But for some reason, a blooming cactus just hits differently. 

The contrast of sharp, pointed spines with the soft beauty of a colorful blossom makes these a favorite of mine. The unexpected juxtaposition of danger makes them intriguing. There is suspense in waiting for those buds to break open and reveal themselves as beauty amongst the thorns.

Though cactus flowers come in an array of colors, there is something about pink that tickles my fancy. Certainly, yellow, orange, and red are beautiful in their own right. Pink just has the connotation of softness and femininity, and so, for me, it contributes more to the contradiction of softness against the nettles. Here are some of my favorite cacti that produce perfect pink flowers. 

Echinopsis are small plants with a major blooming habit. ‘First Light’ is a hybrid of this genus, known specifically for its flowers. They all bloom, but this one has uniquely striking blossoms. Ecinopsis are eye-catching and large compared to their host. They open in the morning, and catching one is an incredible start to any day. The plant has a columnar growth habit and has many spine-covered ribs. 

‘Carnival’ doesn’t always produce rose colored flowers, they can also be orange, red, or yellow, but the pink is perfectly lovely. These starlike blossoms are large compared to the plant, with a ring of darker petals topped with a ring of paler ones. They have a crown of pale yellow stamens that reveal themselves when they open completely. 

Powder puff is a winner of the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. It gets its common name from the soft, fine, white hairs that appear as a tangle spread over the spiny surface. The hairs partially obscure the spines, but make no mistake and handle them with care. Those thorns exist, and they will bite.

At the top of the small, green globes, this cactus forms pink buds in a crownlike circle. They open into small starbursts of pale and dark pink petals with a small spray of stamens in the center. While some are frost tolerant, powder puff is sensitive to cold. Be careful about leaving this outdoors when freezing temperatures are possible.

Prickly pear is a more striking cactus with large, flat paddles marked by small, uniform clumps of small, yellow spines. These are easier to handle because the spaces between the spines are large enough to avoid them. Large branching clusters of these paddles grow to about 15 inches tall, sometimes more. 

The paddles are bluish-green, and in winter, when exposed to cold temperatures, they take on a purple blush. The most common color for prickly pear flowers is yellow, but ‘Black Knight’ is unique. This variety is bred to have bright magenta blooms with a distinct, full crown of yellow stamens in the center.

This tiny cactus is simply adorable and makes an excellent houseplant. It’s also a winner of the Award of Garden Merit from the RHS and is exceptionally lovely. The small, rounded stem is a soft blue-green with wide, segmented ribs. The spines are few, long, and sharply pointed. 

These little mounds have a reputation for their diminutive stature and their wonderful flowers. The blossoms are large, growing from the ribs on stout stems. They are substantial in comparison with the rest of the plant. The pink ones are a soft shade that stands out beautifully against the bluish-green of the body.

This one sounds intimidating. Devil’s Tongue is a tough cactus with incredible heat and drought tolerance. It also has large, imposing spines all over its barrel-shaped stem. Some of them are wide and flattened, resembling a pointed tongue. Some of them are red, and others are yellow, making this a colorful cultivar. 

The blooms are not always pink, but when they are, they are a positively glowing shade of magenta. After flowering, small fruits follow, which provide a great food source for birds and other small animals. This also is a winner of the Award of Garden Merit. 

This is one charming pincushion. It earns its name with thousands of long, sharp, stiff spines that cover the small globes. These globes will mound over time, forming a small cluster. The offsets are easy to remove and use for propagation, making this a nice one to share. 

In the spring, a ring of perfect pink blossoms forms a crown on the rounded top. I love the look of this one with its crown; it looks like it could just open its eyes and come to life. 

Another cactus with a unique personality is Rainbow. Rings of different colored spines decorate the cylindrical body, giving credit to its name. It earns an Award of Garden Merit, and it’s not hard to see why. As cacti go, this one is striking and stands out in a crowd.

Some older plants will create offsets, but they are typically solitary for many years. They can produce several flowers at the top of their single stem, though. The blooms are large, funnel-shaped, and magenta, with a bright white throat and pink-tipped stamens. 

This might be the most adorable cactus I’ve ever seen. Snowball pincushion is cute as a button. The mid-sized globe can grow up to a foot tall. Sprays of white spines are stiff, but they are dense, so they give the appearance of forming a soft cushion over the sphere. It is, of course, a winner of the RHS Award of Garden Merit. 

The blooming habit of this one is just wonderful. A ring of soft, powder-pink blossoms forms a crown on top but can also appear on other parts of the body. The color combination is delicate and lovely. 

Old lady is another pincushion cactus and has tons of fine, soft hairs that mingle with its sharp spines. They start out globe-shaped, but they grow taller, eventually forming cylinders. This Mexican native is not frost-tolerant like some cacti, so it needs to come in for the winter. 

Old lady is a great bloomer. A large crown of bold, reddish-pink flowers forms a distinctive crown around the top of the stem. After they fall, red fruits form in their place that are edible and a food source for birds and small animals. 

You may remember the hedgehog from my first entry above, which is another name for the Easter lily cactus. This is in regard to the non-hybrid parent plant of that one. Easter lily forms a mound of small, globular, bright green spheres. They have distinct ribs dotted with sprays of hard, sharp spines. 

The flowers are exceptionally large compared to the plant as a whole. The tubular blooms range from white to blush, with a mass of white stamens in the center. This one is a bit more cold-tolerant and will typically withstand a light frost. 

All of the holiday cacti are beautiful plants with large, flashy flowers. Easter makes the list because while they all have different colors as options, Easter mostly produces different shades of pink. A fountain of flat, segmented stems makes the body of this one, and the flowers appear at the ends. It is a tropical epiphyte rather than a terrestrial plant. 

Easter is distinct from the others in that it blooms in spring rather than fall or winter. The name says it all. The blossoms are substantial but proportional, and tubular opening to a starburst. In the center is a small star-like cluster of cream-colored stamens.

Fishbone is also called zig-zag and is not a traditional spiny cactus. Rather, it has long, zigzagging stems that hang downward like a holiday cactus. There is another plant that goes by the same name, that is similar in appearance, but there are differences in the stem structure. You may also know this one as Orchid cactus.