Nice pic and the flower is very pretty too.

Steve,

I wish you would share some of your secrets on getting all these lovely plants into flower. You have been posting all these photos that both give me hope and send me into despair.

Such beautiful blooms! Not just this but all the others that you have been posting.

I recently got a plant that I wanted to ID - looks kind of like this but then I thought maybe it could be a turbinicarpus. Your thoughts?

{{gwi:462417}}

In any case, it was looking so fat and happy and then it just got soft and died (baby too). So the photo is just a memory of the two short weeks we had together. But I'd still like to know what it was.

It reminds me of C. esmeraldana, although I only have experience with the plants that I grow.
I have no secrets to growing. I repot once a year in spring and don't fertilise at any other time. Water when dry and keep an eye out for pests. I do think it is important to find the best position for some genera in the greenhouse, as some may not like full sun (my Gymnos are in part shade). Many people comment on how much time I must spend looking after my plants. Reality is different. Once the repotting is done, sometimes I only get out to do work in the greenhouse once a week. Good light conditions are essential for the production of flowers and good growth. So often, I see photos of plants grown indoors in poor light. Not only do they look etoliated, but there is little chance of them flowering. If you don't have good light conditions in your house (and don't have a greenhouse), then you have to reconsider the plants you ought to grow.
HTH.
Steve

Steve,

I don't grow any plants indoors and I am still working on a greenhouse. My plants are in various locations in the garden with varying degrees of full sun and shelter from the rain, and I am still trying to figure out how to estimate winter when the temperature rarely drops below 70 degrees and the "short" days are 11 hours long.

My plants generally grow well but I don't have that much success with blooming. Last year many of my plants had less water than usual from September through December and I will see if that approximated for the "winter" dormancy period and if I get more flowers this year.