BTW ... Those aren't flower along the leaf edges, those are small plantlets that, as you indicate, can be used to produce more plants. Don't know what variety of succulent you have, but I bet if you let one get tall enough, it will eventually send out a flower stalk.

Unfortunately there are many species of columnar cacti that fit your description. Your best bet is to post a photo. cd

Hello, The tallest plants in my hardy patch are: O. imbricata, it's about 2.5'. My shade structure fell on it last winter so it is a little stunted now. There is one in Reno growing against a south-facing brick wall and it is quite a bit taller. O. phaeacantha because the pads are large. But I have to get into my beds and clean them out. This plant is dying out on me. (good riddance it's like a weed and took over 2 of my cacti beds). At my old house I had some kind of Trichocereus (not a hybrid) that lasted several years, but I think I finally just took it out because the weeds were growing through the stems. I live in the high desert though, so my conditions are very different than yours. The plants stay very dry in the winter. We only get about 7" of moisture all year. We had more in the form of snow this year so maybe that's why the O. phaeacantha's are not doing well and that's definitely why the shade structure collapsed. DZ

Thanks farmerted361. Thanks a lot for the url with photo but I don't think this is it. The petals don't look quite the same but mainly the center of the flower looks different. Course it's been some time so I could be remembering it incorrectly. What would be more helpful would be to see the actual cactus itself. I think I could more easily identify that. I looked to the websites that you suggested but havent' had any luck yet. I'm going next to look at the night blooming cereus. I am amazed by all of the knowledge from people in this forum. What an amazing group of enthusiasts!!