Cactus Blog 

…for fun and profit! These you can actually find available for sale these days, even if they are 50s style classic plastic terrariums designed to kill all your plants within a year. They make a good way to get the plants started, but it’s not too long before they’ll need to be moved to real pots.

First up is this Dunecraft Cactus garden available on eBay.

It doesn’t look like real plants in the photo. I think they put graphics inside the plastic dome for the photo shoot.

This next one is also from Dunecraft, and is only $3! I think they must include seeds.

As we found out yesterday on this blog, everyone loves egg terrariums.

Nickelodeon sells cactus kits for kids (the ones above are clearly meant for adults, what with the 50s nostalgia styling).

Diego and Baby Jaguar at their desert garden. Awesome! Not really a terrarium, but who can resist.

Finally, this one is from Carolina Scientific and looks like it could really work. It’s meant for teachers to bring into the classroom.

Look at that vent in the top! Now that’s what I call a proper growing environment. We might have to carry those at the store. They also carry live geckos.

Happy Holidays!

It must be the Holidays!

From HannahsCloset on Etsy, although she seems to be sold out at the moment.

It must be the Holidays!

Succulents Terrariums How-To.

…..

2. Water the terrarium every two weeks.

3. The water should freely drain to the bottom. After watering, there should not be more than an inch of water visible in the gravel at the bottom.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Succulents Terrariums – Martha Stewart Television

I’ve been so busy featuring all the cactus and succulent and airplant terrariums we’ve been making, I forgot about all the good ones out there that others are making.

This one appears to be a bunch of cacti stuffed into a plastic egg. I don’t think it’s available anymore. It’s hard to figure out how big it is. I guess 8″ across by 15″ high.

This one sure seems bigger than the last one, and it also has photo images of extra cacti on the sides of the plastic container. Plus, it’s not an egg. But it also does not appear to be available anymore.

This one is from a florist in Joplin, MO, and it features some moss and rocks and a whole bunch of mirrors to make it look like a bigger section of the desert in your home.

Which one do you like best? I like the egg terrarium best of all.

…At Plants are the Strangest People.

Mr. Subjunctive has gone overboard this time, with the little paper party hats… on the cacti….

Even the Leuchtenbergia!

This terrarium has everything.

A little bit of charcoal at the bottom, of course. A small amount of soil for the Cryptanthus to grow in. Big smooth rocks fitted out with bits of green moss and preserved reindeer moss too squeezed between the rocks. Wild Tillandsias, and some other stuff too. All fit in rather easily through the big gaping front hole in the hanging glass terrarium.

(That Robin, he was such a scamp.)

Today we see the Aloe thraskii blooms are about to open. The hummingbirds must be so excited.

hello,
for my birthday, i was given this beautiful little cactus plant. it had no tag or name on it so i did some research and i think it’s an echevarria or a sempervivum. it’s starting to grow a pink line on the leaf edges. I’ve been trying to care for it as such (little water, good drainage system, in light) and it’s lower leaves seem to be wilting away. i think there’s a little plant sprouting from the main stem and the most top buds seem to be pretty firm, but the leaves below are literally limp and feel like they will fall off in a week or so. i dont know what to do! i’m scared it’s going to die.

attached are two pictures. it looks healthier in these photos than it does now.

any ideas on what i can do to save this little guy?
sk

Sarah,
You have an Echeveria, probably E. subsessilis. It should look like this.

It looks basically OK, but probably needs more light, which is why its growing upwards looking for light.

All succulents lose bottom leaves, and yours will do so soon; this is normal and not a problem. It will only look unusual because of the stem that has developed.
Peter

Protea flower about to open up, if its not too cold today.

You will be a terrarium too.

Now these two were more difficult. Ian made the one on the left, and I made the one on the right.

I used a bottom layer of charcoal with a layer of sand filling in around it. Cactus soil, packed tight. Then I make a bit of a hole and added the taller cactus, the Cereus, and used the back end of a small paint brush to get the roots fully into the hole, and then push the soil over it.

Then another layer of sand, and the paintbrush to spread it out evenly.

Then I added the sempervivum cuts right through the sand and the crassula cut too. Make sure you take off the bottom leaves of the crassulas so that there is a good piece of stem to go down into the soil.

I added the seated smoking lady figure, and then brushed all the sand back into a level playing field. Ian added the bee because he likes bees.

It snowed in Albuquerque, according to Good To Grow. Liza included photographic evidence of the snow on an Opuntia and it is pretty good evidence, indeed.

Any ideas from the best readers in blog-land?

Dear Cactus Jungle,

I love your blog. It’s so entertaining just to see all those interesting plants, and also great to be up to date on the latest cactus news. Thanks!

I was hoping you can help me identify this vagina looking little guy I picked up at our local nursery. After preliminary googling, I wanna say its some sort of Crassula? It sort of has those triangular leaves like the other ones, but a bit more baroque I guess. Does it grow tall like little towers, or does it stay fairly closed to the ground? It’s in a community pot now with bunch of other succulents. I’m kind of hoping it spread a bit and won’t get too tall. Any ideas? I really would appreciate your help.

Thanks,
Ben

Ben,

I have to admit I have not seen this plant before, at least looking like it does in your photos. I agree it looks Crassula-esque but without seeing a flower, I am leaning that it is more likely to be one of the succulent Tradescantia (or close relatives). They have the stacked, alternating leaves that your plant has. I will post it on the blog and see if any of our readers has a better idea. Regardless, cool plant and when it blooms it will be easy to decide what it is.

Take care and Happy Holidays,

Hap

Now Hap has gone too far.

I just can’t get enough of these very small airplant terrariums with tiny holes to shove little things through.

A couple Tillandsias, a mix of mosses and some lichen to round it out. No room for anything more than that.

Beekman Boys have a goat cam! Nobody told me.

Broadcasting Live with Ustream.TV

Night shot.

Hap made a square shaped Tillandsia wreath.

Just thought I should provide the obvious caption to a photo of an object, no matter if it’s unique, that would be quite self explanatory without a caption.

I got a million of these things. I can post terrarium pics for the next year. Although, with the expected rains, I think I will post only a 1/2 million of them.

That’s some layering – rough gravel and then raffia and then a smooth gravel and then a larger smooth gravel and then some preserved reindeer moss and finally 2 lovely airplants – Tillandisa bulbosa and Tillandsia recurvata.

St. Augustine, a bicycle friendly community, has a cactus collector who has had a cactus for over 20 years. Now that’s dedication.

Jack McDaniel shows this barrel cactus he’s had for some 20 years. Photo: FRED WHITLEY

Congratulations Jack on a job well done!

Local news stories, oh what would we do without you?

I try not to repeat myself.

We have a Cryptanthus, a Peperomia and a Crassula, plus the biggest colored gravel I could fit through that tiny hole on top. And a shell or two.

Yes, there is soil under those rocks. And some charcoal under the soil.

I’ll bet there aren’t too many restaurants in Illinois that serve cactus. There’s one in Plainfield, which is only 40 miles from Chicago. Pretty far outside the city for such urban fare as cactus.

La Adelita Mexican Restaurant, Plainfield

The revolucionario de asada, priced at $15, is offered in the molcajetes section and contains grilled skirt steak, shrimp, grilled cactus, mushrooms and shrimp. A treat to be sure as the combination and flavors were amazing.

Count me skeptical.

…in Duxbury. Have you ever been to Duxbury? It’s near Plymouth, where the rock is. They have a photography exhibition up and it’s all about photogrpahing things at night, including this Aloe dichotoma with colorful uplighting.

The glass is only about 6″ across, a small globe with legs and a hole on top. These things are hard to photograph. I hope you can see everything in there.

The succulents are planted in soil. A small bit of charcoal at the bottom, sand on top, and then I push the tiny cuts through the sand and into the soil, using my tiny fingers. I mean using long thin tweezers.

Tiny sempervivum cuts will love it in here, but the crassula cuts will eveually outgrow the sphere.

Hello!

I’m wondering if you can help me. I have a Moonstones plant that has been sort of sickly ever since it got jostled during my move a few months ago. A bunch of its leaves turned blue and shriveled and fell off — I assumed they had just been bumped loose. But now the main stem is turning this sickly blueish gray and becoming shriveled too. Do you think it’s possibly sick? I attached a picture. I’m hoping I don’t lose the little guy! 🙁

Love,
gina
Chatham University MFA

Gina,

I’m sorry to have to inform you, but your plant is not going to make it. You can try to rescue some of the top leaves that haven’t started to rot yet. Pull them off and plant the tip end gently in fresh cactus soil, and they might form new plants in about a year.

Peter

The Huffington Post has a feature on what to buy in New York. I wonder why they’re focused on just New York? Bastards.

Anyway, they feature these cute succulent things, and claim they’re only for hippies. Hippies in New York! What about Berkeley hippies? Don’t we like small glass objects with unrooted plants in them?

Litill terrariums — handblown glass filled with sand, succulents and objects by a local gal in Brooklyn — are plant porn for the home or office.

Haven’t the Huffington Post people seen my recent terrarium posts? Don’t worry, there are more to come, and ours are just as cute as those Brooklyn ones. New York!

I recognize rebutias and tillandsias in there. The other stuff is more mysterious.

And finally, please note that the next recommended New York gift in line after this one on the Huffington Post is cheese. Cheese in New York! What about San Francisco??? Don’t they like cheese too??? Shall we ask Iowa to chime in here? Does Portland want to let everyone know if they like cheese? They like tillandsias for the holidays, maybe they would like cheese too.

By the way, my friends have a very nice cheese shop in Portland, in case you wanted to stop by and tell them Peter sent you. That’s Tim behind the counter on the front of their website.

This blog entry has gone far afield. Enjoy!

Well, it’s more like a hummingbird question, in the Contra Costa Times.

Dear Gary:

I haven’t seen my morning hummingbird visitors for a few days.

They were going at a cactus flower outside my living room. I live in Redwood City in a flat area. I’d appreciate your response. Thank you.

Camilla Rosos,
Redwood City

Dear Camilla:

…They’ve probably moved to a warmer spot until the weather improves….

I’ve excerpted the response for you, so you can click through if you want to see the rest of it, but the gist of it is that it was cold. Cold. And then the hummingbirds left. Maybe they’ll return as it warms up, like yesterday. Did they return yesterday? I don’t kno9w. Someone should check with Camilla and find out.

Hap has taken a whole lot of airplants, all lined up like a line of little ducks, and wired them into a Tillandsia Wreath to prevent them from blowing away.

Since we’re almost sold out of the succulent wreaths, and it takes a couple months for them to root, Hap decided to try a smaller tillandsia wreath and see how that works.