Cactus Blog 

Jason is cold.

We went for a walk in Sonoma Valley Regional Park and all I got were these Arctostaphylos pictures.

And here come the blooms…

And they’re white!

There were other Manzanitas along the path too, but they weren’t as pretty as this one. We saw lots of ferns in the dark and dank corners along the dribbling water streams in the park. It wasn’t raining, but it was wet.

The Mayan Cafe in Louisville makes a very attractive and delicious looking cactus salad.

It’s not currently on the menu, but maybe they’ll bring it back for spring.

Besides a bit of grilled cactus, I see arugula and tomato and cheese, all tossed in a light vinaigrette. Am I missing anything in there?

I don’t know what Etsy is for if not for finding yourself a nice sweet moss necklace. This is the alpha and omega of handmade online jewelry. The bees knees. This is the truest use ever of technology. The bomb. This is the one of a kind find of a lifetime.

I am blown away.

I think I have a tear in my eye, excuse me…

From Nat-Geo’s photo of the day comes this really beautiful bee shot.

I don’t normally repost photos like this, although you can find links to them on my twitter feed, but this one seemed a bit more stunning than usual.

Photograph by Dev Banerjee, Your Shot

Dyckia “Black Gold” in bloom. It has yellow blooms! I thought they would be orange.

This terrestrial bromeliad is a bitch to repot, with all those marginal spines all up and down those sawblade-like leaves going off in all directions. Good luck. Although to be fair, not as bad as a Puya.

You can see in the photo that these have gone a bit green in winter, but they will get much darker in the summer sun, or if we had had a sunny winter they would have stayed a darker color. But the truth is that these plants will do just fine in shade if you don’t mind them being green.

Isaac sends along these before and after photos of his garden. It’s amazing what succulents can do with just a few years growth in the Bay Area, even if it is the South Bay.

Can you tell which one is the after picture? The subtle hints include the much bigger plants everywhere. Especially the Aloes.

I won’t botheridentifying plants for you since there are so many, but I do see a lot of Aeoniums and Aloes in there that have done really well. I think the Senecios didn’t do as well, which is odd since they can easily take over a garden if given the chance.

Nice!

I’ve got a whole bunch of blog posts I was working on that never came to fruition. Do you like that word? Anyway, I’ve decided to bullet-point all these interesting points that I was working on ’til I gave up on them. See if there are any there that you like enough to want to put together a full post on for yourself, on your own blog that is. You can have one or two if you want, free of charge.

• Thorny plants are generally shrubby whereas spiny plants are more often columnar.
• National Health Care may help make cactus-collecting a more acceptable hobby.
• The Pacific Rim is the future of Cactus Production, through 2050.
• If you dream of cactus you are likely to have an outgoing personality, whereas people who dream of roses are more likely to be [edited].
• Cactus fruit are delicious.
• I miss the local shop where I used to get pasties in Boston. Warburtons it was called. I wonder if they’re still in business?
• Oregon or Auburn? The game is in Arizona at the Cactus Stadium next week.

It’s a nice sunny day and the Delosperma floribundums are attracting the bees.

Aloe bloom stalks look like snake heads.

Aloe thraskii – This first one is after the buds have already started popping out of the stalk, but haven’t opened yet to release their sweet sweet nectar to the hummingbirds. We’ve had some of these bloom orange, but always they’re deeply striped.

Aloe arborescens is open throughout Berkeley, but this one is a bit behind the curve. Very snake head like, and yet you can see the buds at the bottom of the bloom spike starting to peek out.

Aloe speciosa is a snake head supreme. Still weeks away from blooming. Fortunately the hummingbirds have the Aloe ferox to feed off of right now.

NPR’s list of Top10 alt concerts of 2010 includes this cactus concert by Matmos and So Percussion. It’s very evocative music for cactus needles.

Albuca species “Augrabie Hills” succulent bulbs are back after a year. These are the smallest of any of the South African Albucas and when they sell out we have to wait another year for our parent plants to produce enough more.

This is the last of our Top Ten Lists for 2010, because it’s already 2011, if you  weren’t sure. Here’s where we go for the  prettiest pictures of the year. At least of the ones I took.

I took thousands of photos, of which exactly 563 were featured in the Monthly Email, added to the Cactus Jungle Facebook page, twittered, and finally then all added onto the Cactus Jungle website.

And here are the 10 or so bestest of all the prettiest of all the bloomiest of all the flower pictures (of cactus and succulents).

11. Schlumbergera x. orssichiana – Christmas Cactus

10. Sarcocaulon crassicaule

9. Leuchtenbergia principis

8. The elusive Haworthia reinwardtii bloom

7. Calandrinia grandiflora

6. Rebutia fiebrigii

5. Adenium obesum

4. Stapelia scitula

3. Astrophytum myriostigma

2. Kalanchoe grandiflora

And Number 1 for all of 2010 is… (more…)

Uromastyx princeps

The vet gave Benjamin a cactus on his splint. And then we took a walk in Sonoma Valley Regional Park.

Cactus, Succulents, Perennials, Grasses… Whatever.

Let’s start with a succulent that did not make the list of Top Ten Succulents yesterday.

10. Agave deserti is just too small to have been a Top Ten Succulent, but it is a native here, so what the hell. It will grow into a beautiful plant.

9. Opuntia prolifera (Cylindropuntia prolifera more recently) is a lovely native cholla with nasty spines, and a wonderfully full shrubby growth pattern.

8. Festuca idahoensis “Siskiyou Blue” – this year was our most popular native grass. Congratulations! That gets you #8 on our list. (To be clear, this is not a popularity contest. See some of the equations I use.)

7. Achillea millefolium “Paprika” is a pink-flowered cultivar of a plant that is native to many states, including the entirety of California. Close enough for my book. It’s in the Sunflower Family (Asteraceae) if that helps.

6. Lupinus arboreus usually makes the list, since the flowers are so pretty. I have lots of lupine flower pictures. This is the only species this year I took flower pictures of that we carry. That’s a complicated sentence.

5. Here’s Malacothamnus palmeri coming in at the bottom of the top 5. Is that pretty enough for you? Hairy leaves = Deer-resistant.

4. The Dudleya attenuatas are growing nicely. It has a ridiculous common name, Tapertip Liveforever.

3. Asclepias speciosa, the Showy Milkweed, is from all over Northern California, including as close to us as Marin County. I’ve never seen one over there, but it’s possible.

2. Abutilon palmeri – I would put this native mallow species #1, but our customers don’t like this plant. I carry it and they refuse to buy it. So I tabulated the votes (mine) and came up with #2. Is that okay?

And coming in below number 2, at the bottom of the page, but at the top of our hearts and minds… (more…)

This category contains some of the rarest of plants, some of the most common of plants, and some others too. It must hold a lot in those ten spots! Cactus are prohibited from competing in this category.

And the envelopes please. Coming in at Number ten…

10. Haworthia limifolia – when these are solid with lots of spiraling leaves they look fantastic, practically the best, but too often they lose more leaves than is attractively best for them, so number 10 it is.

9. Crassula muscosa is one of the most popular plants in the nursery, and yet it has never before won a top ten award.

8. Dorstenia crispa ssp. lancifolia is the first rare plant to make this list, and it comes in at a solid 8.

7. Dudleya hassei is the first California Native to make the list, and those chalky fingers are the reason why.

6. Tillandsia caput-medusae x brachycaulos – Airplants were very big this year at the nursery, and so these epiphytic bromeliads get to occupy one place on the list and it’s number 6. Congratulations!

5. Agave lechuguilla is a great agave that would score higher but our plants are too small at this time. Maybe it will score a higher honor next year when we bring out the 5ga. plants. Nice teeth, awesome stripe – this is going to grow into your favorite agave.

4. Our favorite new echeveria cultivar at the nursery this year was a red tipped one. Echeveria “Violet Queen” is the echeveria for me.

3. Graptopetalum pentandrum turned out to be a slightly difficult plant, but chalky, purple, and flattened is better than nothing.

2. Aeonium “Garnet” is the most amazing of the new Aeoniums we had for you this year. In fact, it’s better than the new ones we have ready for you for 2011. But be forewarned, we are growing a new hybrid that will be ready in 2012 that will blow your socks off.

And the Number One Succulent for all of 2010, here and elsewhere, and throughout the Universe, is… (more…)

Stunning is not the word.

Apparently this is rare, and worth a lot of money. Produced by Venini in the 1930s, they’re a current and respectable company producing very expensive art glass, and they do have a showroom in San Francisco.

In the meantime, you can oogle at this cactus glass.

The excitement is palpable. Let’s talk about it first, like we’re on a red carpet somewhere, OK? No? Oh. Alright, then lets dive right in.

10. Schlumbergera x orssichiana seems like a good place to start, also known as the Christmas Cactus.

9. Opuntia vioacea is always the most popular of the prickly pears, because it’s purple and the flowers are yellow.

8. Carnegiea gigantea is the well known Saguaro, very popular this year for some reason. Very spiny when young.

7. Echinocereus pectinatus v. rubispinus is always a fun cactus what with the red spines flattened out so that you can hug the cactus and not get pricked. But yet it was not very popular at all this year compared to previous years, hence the number 7 on this list. Hah!

6. Weberbauerocereus winterianus – god I love this little furry guy that actually grows into a giant tree cactus.

5. Cereus peruvianus babies were my favorite cactus for terrariums this year. So cute!

4. Eriosyce occulta is a perennial favorite around my house. Black barrels are so cute.

3. Astrophytum asterias is a lovely little plant that everyone wants a piece of. Button Spines!

2. Echinocereus viridiflorus ssp. chloranthus We only had a few of these small plants ready this year, but they are a stunning addition to the Hedgehog Cactus family.

And Number 1… (more…)

I have an aeonium that I bought there a couple years ago. In
the last week the center of the main flower has protruded out like a
nose. Prior to this the leaves laid flat.

Is this normal/healthy? Is this a growth spurt?

Thanks for your help, Michael

Michael,
Your Aeonium is about to bloom. Congratulations! Anyway, the rosette will extend and turn into a large pyramidal shape covered with little yellow flowers. This can be very pretty, but it also takes so much energy from the plant it can kill the whole plant.

You can enjoy the giant pyramid bloom stock, and hope the rest of the plant survives, or you can go ahead and cut off the blooming rosette right now, which will save the plant, and leave you with a low shrubby plant for now.

Cut the stem for that one rosette off down low, and you can place the large cutting in a vase and enjoy the blooms that way. Spray the cut end on the plant with household hydrogen peroxide to help it heal, and it should branch from that point later in the winter.
Peter

Here’s the final 5 of the Top 10 Top-Ten lists started earlier. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

5. Number 5 is the most explosive news story of the year, the Top Ten Wikileaks Revelations, indeed.

4. Four is the loneliest number you could ever know. Four is the one where NASA sends plants into space, also known as NASA’s Top Ten Plants to Remove Formaldehyde, Benzene and Carbon Monoxide from Indoor Air. I guess that doesn’t have to be in space, it could be in your office cubicle too.

3. This must be the one where I convince you that it should really have been #1 if not for the miscounting of the ballots. Top Ten Environmental Stories of 2010 is too important to be #3, what with the oil spill and global warming and obesity too. Oy.

2. For gods sake we’re all the way to number 2! And I forgot to include the Top Ten Sake manufacturers! Squidoo had a Top Ten Toys under $10 for 2010, and that’s made it all the way to #2 on our list of the Top 10 Top-Ten lists. Sake will have to wait until next year. In case you were wondering, I want #5 on their list.

And the Number One Top Ten List for 2010 was…. (more…)

The store is closed for the week, for a winter break because it snowed on the east coast of course, so it must be time for our week long top ten list extravaganza.

First up we have our Top 10 Top-Ten Lists.

10. Coming in at the coveted #10, a list to warm the hearts of many of our readers this holiday season. Top Ten Christmas Songs from Hell. I warn you not to click through for your own sanity.

9. Nine is the second most coveted of the numbers before 3, so make sure to click through to the Top Ten State Fairs with Livestock from 2010. California is on that list, so you know it has to be good.

8. Eight days of Christmas indeed! Top Ten Hanukkah Songs not including Adam Sandler. It’s from Israel National Radio, and really, you should be listening while reading the rest of this post, because it’s Awesome! And did I mention there’s no Adam Sandler at all, although it was a close call?

7. Seven Dog Days of Winter = the cutest whippet ever. Top Ten Whippet Photos from 2010.

6. Top Ten Sixes? No! Top Ten New Shoes of 2010! Well, that was weird to find on a cactus blog.

That turned out to be more work than I expected, so the next 5, the Top Five, will have to wait a bit. Coming soon!

We’re closed for the week, reopening on 1/3/11 at 9am.

Happy Holidays

Blogging will be light, but look out – it’s time for the years 10-best lists, and you know what that means…

Byron Street agave and echeveria.

Ian wishes you a merry Christmas I’m sure.

From our Czech reader Jaromír.

Did you watch that? What a ripoff – there’s no cactus in that martini. I don’t know what that crap is. Oh well, drink up and Happy Holidays.