Friday, February 29. 2008
Aloe Link of the Day
Borrego's Aloe Blog in Los Angeles caught a neighbor's Aloe marlothii in bloom. It is a large and impressive plant.
Around the Photoblogosphere
Joseph Pobereskin likes to take pictures of urban succulents, which by his definition doesn't actually include any succulents.
Photo borrowed without permission, so go see the full size version at Eat at Joe's along with his other urban succulents.
Photo borrowed without permission, so go see the full size version at Eat at Joe's along with his other urban succulents.
Friday Whippet Blogging
Aloe Bloom in Closeup
Aloe arborescens.
This is a closeup of the same bloomstalk as yesterday.
They Get Questions
Ruth Bancroft answers questions about cactus soil.
They use a very different mix than we do. We don't use sand at all. And we don't start with a standard potting mix either since they all have either forest products or peat, and cactus and succulents prefer a more neutral blend while we prefer a more environmentally friendly blend. We start with coir fiber, some rice hulls. We add lots of pumice and lava rock (not perlite, which is a more energy intensive additive.) And nutrients, don't forget the nutrients.
Q: I planted a cactus using a standard bagged potting mix, and placed it on the porch in a sunny spot. Now it looks like it is rotting and I am afraid I have lost it. Could the soil mix have caused this?
A: Because cacti and other succulent plants require good drainage, it is best not to use a standard potting mix. Instead, use a mix with extra-good drainage. There are commercial cactus mixes available, but you can easily create one yourself by adding materials to promote drainage into ordinary potting soil. Sand, pumice, perlite or crushed rock such as decomposed granite can all be used for this purpose (do not, however, use sand from the beach, since saltiness may cause problems). At the garden, we use a custom blend that is about half sand and pumice, and the other half soil.
A: Because cacti and other succulent plants require good drainage, it is best not to use a standard potting mix. Instead, use a mix with extra-good drainage. There are commercial cactus mixes available, but you can easily create one yourself by adding materials to promote drainage into ordinary potting soil. Sand, pumice, perlite or crushed rock such as decomposed granite can all be used for this purpose (do not, however, use sand from the beach, since saltiness may cause problems). At the garden, we use a custom blend that is about half sand and pumice, and the other half soil.
They use a very different mix than we do. We don't use sand at all. And we don't start with a standard potting mix either since they all have either forest products or peat, and cactus and succulents prefer a more neutral blend while we prefer a more environmentally friendly blend. We start with coir fiber, some rice hulls. We add lots of pumice and lava rock (not perlite, which is a more energy intensive additive.) And nutrients, don't forget the nutrients.
Thursday, February 28. 2008
Aloe Arborescens
Aloe arborescens in full bloom.
These do really well in the Bay Area. They love our winter rains and can be seen in bloom around the bay for months on end. They tend to form large mounds up to 4 ft. tall, but sometimes single stalks will reach up to 6 ft.
Some people prune them into hedges, but I don't like that at all. Big puffy mounds with dozens of bloom stalks all at once is the ideal.
Poked by an Agave
Q: I've read your previous postings which indicate that cactus thorns are not poisonous. However, my mother had a run-in with our Agave Americana last year, getting poked in the arm. The vein swelled up and within a few days the swelling had gone down. She still has problems with pain. The same cactus got my finger today; 5 hours later it is stiff and sore and pain is radiating up my arm. I used peroxide immediately and an antibiotic ointment but it doesn't seem to be working. Is there anything you can recommend?
Thank you,
Sondra
A: Sondra,
Agave are not cactus, and there is an important difference. But first, let me insist that I am not a doctor, and any lingering pain should be seen by a doctor.
OK, so Agaves, unlike most cactus, do have a nasty sap in them, that many people will have a reaction to. Whenever you are handling them, transplanting them or pruning leaves, we recommend long sleeves, gloves and eye protection.
But I think the real problem with them is that the leaf tips - i.e. the spines - are huge and thick and very sharp. They can go in pretty deep and cause real wounds, nerve damage, etc. I know I can have lingering pain from getting poked that's probably caused by the time it takes for the nerve to heal. (I once had a pinched nerve and it's the same type of pain).
Whenever we get punctured by a cactus or agave or other sharp plant, we make sure to remove any spines left behind, wash thoroughly, use a local disinfectant and then we like to apply a topical pain reliever. It is a wound so we watch for signs of infection.
But if the pain does persist, we also have been known to go see a doctor.
Hope this helps, and you and your mother get to feeling better.
Peter
Thank you,
Sondra
A: Sondra,
Agave are not cactus, and there is an important difference. But first, let me insist that I am not a doctor, and any lingering pain should be seen by a doctor.
OK, so Agaves, unlike most cactus, do have a nasty sap in them, that many people will have a reaction to. Whenever you are handling them, transplanting them or pruning leaves, we recommend long sleeves, gloves and eye protection.
But I think the real problem with them is that the leaf tips - i.e. the spines - are huge and thick and very sharp. They can go in pretty deep and cause real wounds, nerve damage, etc. I know I can have lingering pain from getting poked that's probably caused by the time it takes for the nerve to heal. (I once had a pinched nerve and it's the same type of pain).
Whenever we get punctured by a cactus or agave or other sharp plant, we make sure to remove any spines left behind, wash thoroughly, use a local disinfectant and then we like to apply a topical pain reliever. It is a wound so we watch for signs of infection.
But if the pain does persist, we also have been known to go see a doctor.
Hope this helps, and you and your mother get to feeling better.
Peter
Around the Photoblogosphere pt.1
Mark Harmel takes pictures of succulents. Here's an agave mostly out of focus, but just the right parts just enough in focus.
Photo borrowed without permission, so go see the original and others too.
Photo borrowed without permission, so go see the original and others too.
California Native Manzanita
Arctostaphylos pajaroensis "Paradise"
This is my favorite manzanita. The soft grey-green leaves are beautiful year-round, while the large sprays of small pink flowers in winter are spectacular. The new leaves come in deep red!
Riding through Lesotho
Traveling in Africa for a plant enthusiast can be very rewarding indeed. There are native succulents of the most spectacular types. Some may prefer the animal safaris, but what can beat the sight of a forest of aloe trees?
OK, so the article from London was really about a trip on horseback across the highlands of southern Africa, where they did not come across any aloe trees at all. Still, I'm just saying, there are aloe forests in southern africa and they are pretty neat.
We pick our way along vertiginous, boulder-strewn ledges and down slick limestone slopes where only the tiniest indentations give hoof purchase. At one point, a succulent aloe cactus proves too tempting for Seputsoe, creating multi-horse gridlock around a hairpin bend. By the time we splash across the river, there’s no doubt which of us is best qualified to navigate.
OK, so the article from London was really about a trip on horseback across the highlands of southern Africa, where they did not come across any aloe trees at all. Still, I'm just saying, there are aloe forests in southern africa and they are pretty neat.
Wednesday, February 27. 2008
We Get Follow-ups
Follow-up to yesterday's question about barrel cactus, and how to tell if they're alive.
Q: It seems firm, here's two pixs. Thank you so much for your help! I lost my Mom, her plants are my daily visit with her.
Susan
A: Susan,
The plant is still alive. It is in desperate need of getting repotted into a larger pot with fresh cactus soil. There are also some spots of rot on the plant (the soft brown spots) and you should spray them with a fungicide, like Neem oil.
Good Luck,
Peter
Q: It seems firm, here's two pixs. Thank you so much for your help! I lost my Mom, her plants are my daily visit with her.
Susan
A: Susan,
The plant is still alive. It is in desperate need of getting repotted into a larger pot with fresh cactus soil. There are also some spots of rot on the plant (the soft brown spots) and you should spray them with a fungicide, like Neem oil.
Good Luck,
Peter
Continue reading "We Get Follow-ups"
Threatened Species and Poaching
Poaching is a problem throughout the world. Many countries may have tough laws against poaching and yet lax enforcement. Many of these countries are far far away. Others, not so far.
more after the break....
Cactus poaching is booming in Mexico, helping to make wildlife species trafficking the third-largest smuggling industry in Mexico behind drugs and guns.
The trade is fueled by private collectors and the burgeoning xeriscape movement in the U.S. South and Southwest.
Rare cacti species can fetch hundreds of dollars on black markets from the United States to Japan.
Mexico's deserts are so ravaged by cactus poachers that researchers no longer publish the location of new species they find, lest eager collectors plunder the newfound cacti....
The trade is fueled by private collectors and the burgeoning xeriscape movement in the U.S. South and Southwest.
Rare cacti species can fetch hundreds of dollars on black markets from the United States to Japan.
Mexico's deserts are so ravaged by cactus poachers that researchers no longer publish the location of new species they find, lest eager collectors plunder the newfound cacti....
more after the break....
Continue reading "Threatened Species and Poaching"
Yale Cactus
An interesting exhibit is up at the Peabody Museum at Yale University in New Haven Connecticut. That's a lot of places in one sentence. Anyway, the Danbury News Times has a good story about the tree of life.
There are other surprises in the article, and presumably at the exhibit. Now I haven't been to New Haven in years, except passing through driving between New York and Boston visiting family and all, so I don't know anything about this here Peabody museum and its evolution exhibit, but it sounds like a nice place to visit in the late stages of winter.
"We have more in common with fungi than plants," said Michael Donoghue, director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven. "Our ancestry with mushrooms is more recent than our ancestry, say, with corn."...
Donoghue said that some of the new discoveries are highly surprising. The stars of the show are two giant elephant shrews on loan from the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington -- a rare species that's hard to see live in the United States.
With long skinny snouts, the two look very much like rodents. But in recent years biologists have, through DNA analysis, grouped them with real elephants, as well as manatees....
It has two desert succulents -- one a New World species from Latin America, the other an Old World species from Africa. They look very much like two species of cactus. In fact, the Latin American cactus is more closely related to flowers like carnations, while the African cactus' cousins are orchids.
What this illustrates, Donoghue said, is that if you place very dissimilar species is the same environment -- in this case, a desert -- they will in time evolve into plants that can best survive a hot dry world. They will become cactus-like....
Donoghue said that some of the new discoveries are highly surprising. The stars of the show are two giant elephant shrews on loan from the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington -- a rare species that's hard to see live in the United States.
With long skinny snouts, the two look very much like rodents. But in recent years biologists have, through DNA analysis, grouped them with real elephants, as well as manatees....
It has two desert succulents -- one a New World species from Latin America, the other an Old World species from Africa. They look very much like two species of cactus. In fact, the Latin American cactus is more closely related to flowers like carnations, while the African cactus' cousins are orchids.
What this illustrates, Donoghue said, is that if you place very dissimilar species is the same environment -- in this case, a desert -- they will in time evolve into plants that can best survive a hot dry world. They will become cactus-like....
There are other surprises in the article, and presumably at the exhibit. Now I haven't been to New Haven in years, except passing through driving between New York and Boston visiting family and all, so I don't know anything about this here Peabody museum and its evolution exhibit, but it sounds like a nice place to visit in the late stages of winter.
Berkeley Berkeley Berkeley
Oxford Street
In amongst the weeds we see an Echeveria, an Aeonium and an Aloe peeking through. It's definitely weed season here - the oxalis are in bloom!.
Tuesday, February 26. 2008
Link of the Day
Beth at Capturing the City, in San Francisco, has an obsession with photographing green plants. In this entry, green, green everywhere, she features succulents, with some artful cropping and compositions.
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