Cactus Blog 

Tillandsia bulbosa clump in bloom.

Selby Gardens in Sarasota have a koi pond. Did you know? You do now. I would like to name this beautiful fish after my uncle Harry but I don’t have an uncle Harry. I do have a nephew Harry so maybe its named after him then.

While I’m traveling, I have a few more terrariums to share with you. This one is Ian’s favorite, a String of Pearls in hanging bullet shaped glass. And yet it hasn’t sold since Ian made it a few months ago. What is wrong with you people? Don’t you know quality when you see it?

Senecio royleanus

Great blue heron.

Bombax Ceiba at the Ringling Museum

Here’s another fancy pants terrarium with a toy gorilla. This one is an airplant terrarium, with 2 types of tillandsias, a stick, some moss, and a gorilla holding on for dear life. All in a glass carafe. How big is the gorilla? about 1 1/4″.

We’re in Sarasota where the statues are naked. Here we have a muscular Poseidon.

The latest in gorilla-themed terrariums, utilizing Ian’s latest tiny toy find.

Hi Peter,
I got this from you last year and after accidentally breaking off the flower stalk it grew another one.  This one clocks out at 46″ long and sideways…this plant has both amazed and disturbed my friends with it’s “babies from the inside” feature, to the “tentacle of satan” stem..here’s a pic. Thanks.
david

We made it to Florida and are at my parents condo where they don’t have a lot of plants.

Here we see they have a former tillandsia and an artificial echeveria.

Nice!

With help from Snoopy.

Science!

I’m away and the dogs are in Santa Cruz vacationing with their relatives. But here they were earlier this week on a cold but sunny afternoon only a little bit bundled up.

I’m off to Florida and so blogging will be light for a bit. But that doesn’t mean I’m not out working hard for you. I am! Cactus in Florida? Of course!

Maybe I’ll share photos along the way, you never know for sure with me.

And if you’re planning on being at the tropical plant show, I’ll see you there.

Arctostaphylos “Warren Roberts” blooms are one of the prettier of the A. pajaroensises. So rich, so full. Hold onto them.

Wet Delosperma bud

I promised I would post the Aloe thraskii blooms when open. Here you are, my faithful followers who were all, to a person, waiting for this photo. Now you can go ahead a leave this gentle blog and visit one of the sites on the right column.

The Golden Barrel (Echinocactus grusonii) was taken in broad daylight!

Ms Forster said she believed it had been taken by someone from the doorstep of the 62-year-old’s home in Waterhouse Lane, Millbrook…

The plant has been nurtured since it was given to Ms Forster as a present from uncle Alan Mortimer, from Bournemouth, who she was particularly close to and who died only five years later.

I hope the bobbies find the culprits.

Today:

• Cactus and succulents by UCCE Master Gardener Cheryl Vivas. 10 a.m. Free. Arden Park community center, 1000 La Sierra Dr., Sacramento. (916) 487-5120.

Never say I don’t provide practical information on this blog. I have thousands of readers in the Sacramento area. Well, one, to be sure.

The Angel Wing Begonias are cute. This one is called “Benigo”.

OK, so now I’ve gone too far. Cactus Medicine is a product that I should never be featuring on this blog, since I’m not a doctor, and this is not really medicine anyway but is a non-medicinal pill. And Freeze-Dried too!

Clearly I’ve gone too far. And they advertise it’s colon-cleaning power, oh the humanity. Someone should take the keys to this blog away from me. My fingers just won’t stop typing! Help me!

Meanwhile, in other news, the conservatives are in the middle of a schism over gay rights at their yearly conference.

It’s a plastic feeding dish with a plastic cactus attached. I suppose this is for your desert lizards, like Uromastyx, and not the forest lizards, like our own New Caledonian Crested Geckos who are a lot bigger now than when I took that picture.

Anyway, here’s the object in question, that I haven’t tried out, because I haven’t had any desert lizards in a few years. So once I again, I stand before you posting an object that I can not vouch for, that we don’t carry at the nursery, won’t ever carry, won’t ever buy myself, couldn’t tell you anything more about than you can see for yourself in this photo, and finally, wouldn’t have even noticed in this big world if not for the fact that I have this Cactus Blog thingy here that has a voracious appetite for entries.

Enjoy!

From the biggest Pistachio Growers in New Mexico, the Eagle Ranch. I’ll bet they have a really nice roadside farm stand.

It looks delicious, but all I know about it is the packaging, just like you. What you see is what we know.

I’d like to spread a little bit of this cactus jelly on my crackers. I’ll bet it’s especially delicious on crackers.

I think I’ll have to research these products a little more before I post them next time. Maybe I should buy one and taste it and then report on it? Maybe I should buy a case of them and sell them at the nursery. Maybe I should make my own prickly pear cactus jelly and share it with all of you. That would be nice.

It’s very exciting, the Cryptbergia “Red Burst” is getting ready to bloom. Will the flowers look more like the Cryptanthus part of the intergenic hybrid, or the Billbergia part? We’re all on a pins and needles waiting for the buds to open.

Of course, what makes this hybrid so exciting is that they took the hardiness of the Billbergia and added it to the shorter thicker leaves of the Cryptanthus. Hardy to 25 degrees! Deep red color in full sun! Multi-colored buds about to open!

This plant was left outside for some cold weather and only recently was brought back inside.

Hello Peter,

Thanks for spending so much time with me and my mother last week.  She is surely an opinionated woman!  As a world-renowned rosarian, she does know quite a bit about floriculture…just not everything.  Anyway, thanks again for being so gracious with us.

We talked about the possibility that my Euphorbia may have a virus, having been kept outside.  I took a picture of each side (it’s three sided) and then two close-up pictures of the discolorations.  It looks like only one side is badly marked.  What do you think?  Still a virus?  Should I toss it?  The top part that is unaffected is only about 1-2 inches tall – is that enough to bother?  It’s been inside since we talked.

Thanks for you opinion on this one.

~Karen

Karen,

The plant definitely has a virus or fungus. It may be savable, with aggressive treatment. You will need to isolate the plant, and try treating it for 3 months. If the wounds do not heal over by then you should dispose of it and the pot and the soil. (You can sterilize the pot if you prefer.) I recommend Neem spray on the plant and in the soil, every 10 days for 4 treatments.

Here’s a worse off plant that we advised on last year. And another one.

Peter

Who shall be crowned the Queen? Yesterday’s battle royale was quite the exciting time here on the Cactus Blog. Today we have the queenly entries, and we are right out the gate disqualifying any actual cactus, since there are many species that are known as the Queen, like this beautiful Queen of the Night.

CROWN!  QUEEN!

And the contenders, please…

Queen Cactus – She’s a pedigreed cow? Queen Cactus was a royal cow from the House of Windsor back in the 1890s, but she was famous in her time I’m sure.

Cactus Queen – now this is the most delicious of the cactus queens, I’m sure, being a beer. Cactus Queen IPA from the Yellow Rose Brewing Company in Texas.

So once again, you know what to do, click on the one you think is most deserving of the title of Queen of the Cactus.

King Cactus or Cactus King?

KING! CACTUS!

Let the Sunday morning battle begin, for the crowning of the royal cactus.

King Cactus is a cover band in Australia. Do you want to know what they cover? I didn’t think so.

[photo would go here]

Cactus King is a cactus nursery in Houston and they have a big green flaming cactus out front, thus appropriating for themselves the coveted honorific of Cactus King.

Now, you get to decide.

Crushed prickly pear seeds do not work as a grit in a gardeners type soap.

Now you know.

Echeveria “Flying Cloud”