Cactus Blog 

Garden Adventures has a photo of the inner working parts of a Cereus peruvianus flower. Hard to tell what it comes from in the photo, so we’ll just have to trust the ID.

A Christmas Cactus is also popular, though it blooms closer to Thanksgiving than Christmas. Remember that a Christmas Cactus is not a true cactus. You water it much more often and don’t let the soil dry out.

Well that’s not true. It is a true cactus, and you do want to let it dry out between waterings, even if we do water it more often than desert cacti. And this was on a news show! Don’t they have editors?

A Vermilliad is a tropical plants that provides Christmas color. The leaves act as water cups.

OK, so this is the editors problem. On the video he clearly says Bromeliad. If you google it, it does appear to be a common mistake.

Here’s the video proof.

In Folsom, CA, with pictures.

Debbie shows the group you can put plants in anything.

That’s a boot.

Don’t miss the pointy high-heel shoes in the background.

From the OC Register we get dozens of pictures of what they’re calling the Umbrella Garden by the Quans.

The back yard is a complete departure, packed with eye-candy at every turn. Potted succulents sit on every flat surface, Danny’s Spanish Moss Tree decorated with umbrellas is other-wordly, and the orchid house pops with fascinating bits of pottery and plants.

There’s a whole photo gallery at the link. Beads, umbrellas, succulents, tillandsias and even a cat. Well, maybe not a cat.

Aloe ferox blooms are fully ready to start opening.

Anigozanthos “Bush Ranger”

Normally the blooms look very red, but up close you can really see the orange highlights.

Must I comment on every thing I post? No! No I must not.

via.

It cleared for a minute. Long enough for a rainbow. And now the storm is back. Come visit!

Everything seemed to have weathered the freeze up here. I did cover them with a sheet – so that helped. Now, my mother arrived for dinner tonight with this cactus she picked up at the grocery store(!) I has yellow flowers on the top and lots and lots of little sprouts all over the larger trunks. Now, the flowers are glued on paper – which elicits a big OMG!! Is this thing even real at all? What do you make of it. J Hehe!!

Thanks, Karen

Karen,
You have the Fairy Castle Cactus, Cereus hildmannianus monstrose, with glued on paper flowers. Grocery stores often glue on paper flowers. I don’t know why.
Peter

(Here’s the earlier email.)

I assume this will be a very slow day at the nursery, even being the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Tomorrow should be sunny so I think we’ll see a lot more people then.

Come by today if you want a lot of really personal service.

I like the Miltonia orchid hybrids. This one has a long name.

Beallaria marfitch “Howard’s Dream”

The newest and bestest Lipson Robotics robots are finally out at the store. And just in time, I might add.

They cost a bit more than 10¢, OK? But I guarantee you this robot will fix your cough. And any bursitis you may have.

I see that Debra Lee Baldwin has a new Succulent Calendar for 2011, through Zazzle.

I just thought you might need to know. It is “Black Friday” after all.

Did I mention that we carry her 2 books at the nursery? They are the most popular books we carry. I just thought this was an important addition to your personal store of knowledge. Now you know.

I wonder if there are any other good succulent calendars out there? Probably not.

Karen and Mike live in the foothills where it’s been below freezing this week. It’s a good thing they brought small plants inside and used a frost blanket over the outdoor ones, because it was cold enough here in Berkeley where it is 37F right now!

Here we see they have a late blooming Astrophytum asterias.

Nice!

It’s hard to find just the right cactus stuffing or cactus relish recipe for Thanksgiving. Here’s one I found a couple years ago.

Have a safe and happy holiday, and don’t let the TSA feel your junk.

Here’s one more cactus centerpiece for your table. It’s paper.

Don Steele, 91, has only lived on Vashon five months, and he has already grown a small but successful business.

The former nurse manager and ceramic artist’s small succulent gardens — buckets, dishes, baskets and even old Jell-O molds filled with sedums and sempervivums — are now sold at both Thriftway and Blooms & Things, and they are catching customers’ attention.

It turns out that the succulent business is an opportunity for all. Come join us! Just go do it somewhere else; Vashon Island is taken.

Another one of our brand new spectacular Lipson Robotics robots that will be out and available Friday morning.

I wonder what all these robots have to do with Thanksgiving and Black Friday? Oh, and what do they have to do with Cactus?

Nobody knows. Go figure!

…in Mt. Waverley. Turns out that’s in Victoria, near Melbourne, so well within distance of a moderate population density to justify the expense of bringing out your cacti.

Here’s the community centre that will be holding all those cacti.

Here’s one of the people showing off his collection.

Heinz Staude with some of the cacti in his own garden. He’s looking forward to the Cactus and Succulent Society of Australia’s annual show this weekend. Picture: Paul Loughnan N19WG206

That’s not a garden. And what else can you tell us about this exciting show?

Society membership secretary Jill Abbott said she expected a crowd of at least 800 over the two-day event.

That’s a lot of people, for an event in Australia which is a very low density country.

“It’s very popular, people are absolutely amazed at what they see and find it hard to leave without buying something.”

I bet it is.

The show will be held at the Mt Waverley Community Centre, corner Miller Cres and Stephensons Rd, from 10am-5pm on November 13, and 10am-3pm on November 14.

Oops. It was 2 weeks ago. Never mind. I hope it went well.

It’s our 10″ Succulent Wreath.

Another one of the Lipson Robotics smaller robots we’ll be having for you.

I see between the rains that it’s getting down into the 30s tonight. Since everything is wet, that can be a damaging cold, even if it’s not below freezing. Bring in all the Madagascar plants – Adeniums and Pachypodiums. Frost blankets over all the frost-sensitive plants like Kalanchoes and Aeoniums.

Any other plants you’re not sure of? Let us know what you have, in the comments, and where you are.

Here are 2 of my favorite cactus centerpieces that I’ve found while googling on the intertubez for the last 20 seconds.

It’s a cactus… AND an Ice Sculpture!

What Thanksgiving dinner wouldn’t be improved by this stunning display of frozen water? Chip off a piece of the ice for ole’ Uncle Hamish who’s going to want a few more scotches, if you know what I mean!

Or, if spending money on water that’s just going to melt in a few hours seems like a waste, here’s a cactus centerpiece that will last for years.

This piece of colored paper is a 3-d cactus family heirloom in the making. Every year you and your cousin Ashley will fight over whether this is an appropriate centerpiece for the Thanksgiving table, what with all the work that Ashley put into the turkey and stuffing, that cheap piece of crap sullies her good table. But you know better – this is the perfect complement for any family gathering where nobody can stand each other – a symbol of everything that’s wrong with the American family on this most wondrous of family holidays!

The Evansville Courier and Press says you should throw away all your temporary thanksgiving and christmas plants, and replace them with a more permanent and very modern cactus.

Indeed.

Modernists love cactus. These living sculptures bring life to our winter days, becoming a bold focal point within the simple lines of minimalist architecture…. the conversation piece of any room….

Avoid buying temporary holiday decor or short-lived seasonal houseplants. Consider cactus as a decorating accent that just gets better with time.

Hello Peter,

I just visited the Garden Gallery in Morro Bay – which is the only other place I will buy cacti or succulents – other than Cactus Jungle J and I found these three plants. You can see that one, perhaps a “Stapelia” or “Huernia” will be flowering soon – I will send a picture of the flower when it happens. This nursery is bad at naming or identifying their plants but he looked up that one in a book. The one with the long leaves had no name on it but I don’t think it’s that unusual. As for the thorny guy, they had no idea what it is called or where it came from. It looks like the base trunks were broken off as they branched from that area…perhaps to propagate the plant?

So, if you would, please…what are these called and what if anything special do I have to do for them. Thanks!

~Karen

PS… My Astrophytum asterias is blooming again!

Karen,
1. The first one is hard to ID without seeing the blooms, but it could be Stapelia variegata or one of the Huernias. It doesn’t look like that’s a bloom coming – it looks like a horn, which will have lots of seeds. They’re in the milkweed family, and so they have milkweed horns with seeds that can float away on the wind. Best to grow indoors with a little bit of morning sun.

2. This is Aloe plicatilis, the Fan Aloe. Here’s a big one in my backyard. Winter-growing and hardy in the Bay Area.

3. Alluaudia procera from Madagascar is a shrubby plant that will lose its leaves in winter. They are often cut to try to induce multiple branches. Don’t let it get below about 45. Water every 2 weeks when it has leaves, and every 4-6 weeks when it doesn’t.

Send photos of the blooming astropyhtums – it’s always very exciting!
Peter

More Lipson Robotics at the nursery by Friday. This is the last batch we’ll be getting.

Another shot of the large Aloe ferox coming into bloom. Any day now those buds should start opening, and the hummingbirds will go wild. There’s a lot of nectar in those buds.

Aeonium “Kiwi” is an A. haworthii hybrid, although people think it looks a lot like “Sunburst” which is an A. decorum hybrid.

It’s Aeonium season the past month, as the temps have dropped a bit and the rains have started too much, these winter-growing succulents are really taking off. It’s time to move the 4″ to gallons and the gallons to 10″ clay. So much to do around here to get ready for winter.

We’re gearing up for Black Friday with newspaper ads for the local “Holiday Gift Guides”. Here’s the one in color for the SF Chronicle.

And this one is running in black and white in the East Bay Express.

We’re featuring terrariums, I think.