Cactus Blog 

Auntie Rachel was near Vulture Mine Rd. NW of Wickenburg, Az when she took these last week.

Opuntia basilaris

Ferocactus wislizenii with the less common yellow blooms.

We call this color Lemonade. Echinocereus grandiflora “Lemonade”.

Ian took the picture yesterday between the storms.

We saw Euphorbia Characias ssp. Wulfenii and Euphorbia x martini on your blog. Are they evergreen plants? Since they’re listed as perennials, we’re worried that they would die back or be half-dead in the winter. Our project is in San Jose, where winters can get down to 24 degrees F.

Thank you,
Carrie

Carrie-
Both of these are hardy and evergreen in San Jose, and we do have E. martinii in stock (as well as a bunch of other evergreen spurges). We do have some other Euphorbias that are deciduous, but not these. Perennials here in California are often evergreen; we use the designation perennial (survives year after year) in distinction to annual (survives only one year), and we also refer to whether plants are evergreen or deciduous.

Actually, we don’t use the label “annual” on any of our plants, since this is California where lots of plants that are annuals elsewhere are perennials here and we choose not to grow any outdoor plants that don’t survive the winters.

Peter

From Aunt Rachel, NE of Hyder, Az up in the hills.

Any guesses as to the Opuntia species? I think we can eliminate the Mojave Grizzly Bear cactus, since it’s not in the Mojave. And yet, it’s almost certainly one of the Opuntia  polyacantha’s, and the spination does look most like O.  polyacantha v. erinacea. I’ve only ever seen it with yellow flowers, but my copy of Anderson says it can have pink flowers. Thus I think we can determine that this is a Grizzly Bear cactus, just not a Mojave Grizzly Bear. Since it’s found in the Sonoran Desert, I think we can call this a Sonoran Grizzly Bear, also O.  polyacantha v. erinacea, and chalk up the flower color to natural variation.

Science!

So here’s the story.

Our customers demanded Tuesdays be added to the schedule, so we complied. We’re now open 7 days. And here it is our first Tuesday open and it’s pouring. Fortunately for me it’s my day off, but the rest of the crew is at the store all alone and wet and no customers, so will you do them all a favor and stop by today – the rain should be stopped between 10 and 2 if weather.com is correct – and give them some love?

Thanks.

You are all welcome come over to see our beautiful bloom! Only 24 hrs!
There are 7 more on this plant and several more on ajoining one!

Sent from my iPhone. Shelley
Aloha!

I think there are more than 7 coming, I see some small buds just getting started there.

I purchased this lovely little variegated agave (Tag just said Agave ‘mediovariegata’) on a recent trip to California. One pup was visible at the soil surface. When I pulled it out of the pot, I found half a dozen more pups trying to grow out the drainage holes (see attached photo). How is best to handle the subterranean ones? Can I separate them now, or should I put it in a bigger pot and let them make their own way to the surface?

Much thanks,
Joseph

Joseph,

The name is Agave medio-picta “Alba” and it will eventually get 6 ft. across. Congratulations on all the hidden babies. You can go ahead and separate them all now if you want, and get each pup into its own pot with a fast draining cactus soil. Gently pull them off, and they should separate without needing to cut.

Peter

It’s a tequila agave, a variegated tequila agave, going out the door.

Agave tequilana variegata.

Even with the development crash in Nevada, the edges of Las Vegas are still growing. This time into protected cactus territory.

A state-protected cactus may become a thorny snag for a developer with plans to build a subdivision near Red Rock Canyon….

But growing on the hillside land is the Blue Diamond cholla, a stubby, big-needled cactus that is among 24 plants the state considers “critically endangered.”…

Public opposition to Rhodes’ plan is growing among those who want to protect the cactus.

Well now that is a first – a group of Nevadans trying to slow development encroaching on the desert!

Blue Diamond Cholla is Cylindropuntia multigeniculata and the picture is from Bird and Hike, plus they have a dozen more photos including bright yellow flower pictures of the Blue Diamond. Nice!

Another day, another cactus flower opens. This time it’s white. And not just white, but the most fabulous white flower you’ve ever seen. It’s enormous too. Add white to the bright pink and peach colors so far.

Echinocereus grandiflora hybrid.

And then they were all open.

Maybe it’s not the google that got me here; maybe it’s the imagination of the American People, as reflected on the google.

Whatever it is, I went to the google and searched for photos using the phrase, “cactus horseshoe”. Really, I couldn’t be more random than that.

Amazing. It is a cactus horseshoe lamp. I bow down to the power of the google and the unbounded fruitfulness of the American imagination.

Yes we can!

First, we have the preliminaries:

Hello,

My name is Liz and I had been looking on your site for awhile to find out the type of wonderful cactus that I have. I have had this cactus for a long time but never knew what type it was. I have looked into books and browsed around I have seen many that look similar but can not pin point it. I was wondering if I could email you a picture and you could help me identify it?

Thank you,
Liz

Hello Liz,

We would be happy to try and ID your plant, email a photo or two and we will do our best.

Hap

Now we have the main event:

Good Afternoon Hap,

Thank you for taking the time to do this for me! Here I sent a couple of pics!

And finally, the ID:

Hello again Liz,

It looks like you have a nice Echinopsis aurea or commonly known as “Golden Easter Lily Cactus”. Native to Northern Argentina. It can be a bit rot prone so watch so be careful not to over-water and next time you repot I would suggest a chunkier cactus blend that is mostly 1/4″ lava or pumice, since these guys will often turn to mush if they stay too wet.

Take care,

Hap

And it’s peach.

Echinocereus grandiflora hybrid, with 4 flowers open all at once. As it’s early, and still pretty cool out, they could last 4 days!

Yesterday I posted a pathetic and sad photo I took with my cell phone.

From one of our customers, Andrea, here’s a much better picture of a Salvia microphylla “Hot Lips”.

With bonus cat, Calli.

PHOTOS BY JEFFRY SCOTT / ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Visitors talked with a master gardener in the cactus demonstration garden Saturday during the Master Gardener Home Garden Tour.

What they forgot to tell them is that cactus make good protection from robberies. For instance, if you have a cactus underneath your window, it makes it harder for the thief to get in, and if he has gotten in, it makes it harder for them to get away when they bolt out the window to make their escape and land in a patch of cactus.

Ouch.

We just got in this new geranium, Pelargonium hortorum “Vancouver Centennial” and I couldn’t be happier. We may have to start growing it. In general, aside from the citrusy scented geraniums, they’re ehhh. But this is spectacular.

The first salvia bloom of the year award goes to Salvia micrphylla “Hot Lips”. Congratulations to all who helped contribute to the success of this hot sage.

Too bad the cell phone doesn’t take better pictures. Oh well, live and learn.

We’re working on growing more agaves. This here is an Agave “Blue Flame” which is an A. attenuata hybrid but about 5 degrees hardier, so it is a very good choice for the Bay Area. Last year we brought in 15 ga. plants and they were quite popular, so we got tissue-culture babies and have been growing them, but all we have so far are 1 gallon size plants. And at this size they’re not as pretty, hence the closeup picture. I guess this means we’ll have lots of 5 gallon plants available next year.

It must be summer. The green zebra tomatoes are in!

With their lavish collection of succulents, cacti, vines, and hanging plants are Wilton Garden Club members, from left, Patty Angione, Mya Smith and JoAnn Overton. All the plants were grown in the club’s greenhouse for its annual plant sale May 7-8.

The Wilton Garden Club’s greenhouse at Comstock is now in “high season,” brimming over with aloes, aeoniums, echeverias, agaves, kalanchoes, sedums, haworthii, and dozens of other succulents, cacti, vines, and ferns, all cultivated by garden club volunteers to be ready for this year’s 2010 Plants’ Sale on the Wilton Village Green, Friday, May 7, from 4 to 7, and Saturday, May 8, from 9 to noon.

I wonder where Wilton is; what state we’re talking about here?

To the Google!

Connecticut, our favorite Nutmeg State. And yes, those people refer to themselves as “Nutmeggers.” I don’t make up the news, I just report it.

Sensational Succulents

Endlessly fascinating in their range of color and form, cacti and other succulents satisfy beginning gardeners with their easy-going nature and inspire seasoned gardeners to grow them into sculptural works of art. Learn the basics as well as the finer points that will enable you to produce your own masterpieces with author, lecturer and plantsman extraordinaire Ray Rogers, Monday, April 19, 10:30 a.m. to noon at the Haggerty Education Center, The Frelinghuysen Arboretum, 53 East Hanover Ave., Morristown. Cost: $20. To learn about other events at The Frelinghuysen Arboretum, visit www.arboretumfriends.org.

Hi Hap,

Hope you’re doing well.
I had a couple of aloe vanbalenii that had root rot. I trimmed off as much as I could to expose some white/green flesh. Can I just plant them into the ground now (the soil is well draining and dry).

Thanks
Zac

Zac,

Yes, replant in fresh fast draining soil and keep on the dry side for the next few weeks. They should reestablish pretty quickly if the weather turns back to be warm and sunny… if it stays stormy and cool they would likely prefer to be potted and under a rain shield of some sort for the next month.

Take care,
Hap

But wait! There’s more! (more…)

Opuntia violacea buds. They’re ready to open any day now, into beautiful yellow flowers, if the sun comes out. These tend to bloom for months, even in pots!

Echeveria derenbergii blooms are staying open in the rain and storm and wind. Cool!

I thought it was record breaking April rains. I was wrong.

He noted that although Sunday was wet, it wasn’t a record-breaker. On April 11, 1884, San Francisco recorded 1.41 inches of precipitation.

Good to know that over 100 years ago there was more rain.

OK, since we’ve had a relapse in winter, and the storm is ferocious, this just means the cactus blooms will last a  few weeks longer! Yay!

Echinocereus grandiflora hybrid bloom as it will look in a couple weeks when the buds open.

Here’s what the buds looked like last week. They won’t be opening today, that’s for sure. If the sun finally comes out, and it warms up, they might start opening this weekend, but probably the following week.