Cactus Blog 

From @back40feet there’s this remarkable picture of a blooming Fremontodendron californicum in Sacramento, CA.

That’s a lot of blooms. Thanks Chuck for letting us use it!

I need to blog more cactus on this here cactus blog. So here, have a cactus.

We call this Echinocereus grandiflora hybrid. Such hairy buds. Never know what color those flowers are going to be, mostly because we always forget to keep track of them. It’s actually an Echinopsis/Echinocereus hybrid, and probably more Echinopsis than  Echinocereus, but who cares? If those people on Dave’s Garden get ahold of one of these, they’ll probably tear me to pieces for my ID.

Someday I’ll tell you the strange story of the odd fellow who challenged an ID we provided to one of our customers, on Dave’s Garden, without our knowing about it, and then emailed us…. but that’s a story for another day.

Saturday!

Just one more week and then we’re open 7 days!

The wildflowers are in bloom at Organ Pipe NM in southern Arizona.

I see chollas and organ pipes amongst the poppies.

I’ve never made it all the way down to Organ Pipe NM. Add it to the list of places I need to visit…

Bonus: Don’t miss @djeffs’ little ball of whippet today.

Connecticut

The Connecticut Cactus and Succulent Society will hold its 27th Show and Sale at Naugatuck Valley Community College this weekend. The show will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. This is one of the largest shows of its kind in the Northeast, drawing close to a thousand attendees. Signs will direct visitors from Exit 18 off I-84 through to the free parking under the college building. Admission is free. www.ctcactusclub.com.

San Jose

Cactus and Succulent Society of San Jose has its annual sale of rare and unusual cactuses and succulents this weekend at Buscher Middle School, 1111 Bellomy St., Santa Clara. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. www.csssj.org

Fort Worth

Fort Worth: The Fort Worth Botanic Garden’s spring sale features native and adapted plants that thrive in North Texas…. Specialty plant societies also will sell begonias, cacti, succulents, roses and tropicals. 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. 3220 Botanic Garden Blvd., Fort Worth. 817-871-7686; www.fwbg.org.

Allium unifolium is the most beautiful of the ornamental onions. That’s not just my opinion, it’s pedantic fact – I mean just look at the flush of those pink blush flowers with the little striping in them. Sometimes they’re more of a lavender color.

Native to coastal California all the way up to the Oregon border, they are a productive herbaceous perennial, producing lots of new bulbs every spring, and popping up pretty early with large swaths of flowers.

I recommend planting it among a garden filled with native grasses, and every spring you’ll get this little surprise of pink flowers poking out.

After complaining about the quality of the photos from the Droid, you might be surprised that I’m still using it to blog. That’s because it’s so easy. Take a picture, upload!

Cleistocactus strausii

Only $5 on Amazon, from Casa Cordova Imports by Creative Ventures

I guess this works out if your house number is 4.

Well, checking further, it appears you can get any number you want, however Amazon wants you to know that 4, 5 and 1 are frequently bought together.

Lupinus arboreus, blogged last week with photo from cell phone, reblogged this week with photo from camera.

I suppose I should now say something about this plant.

First we should describe those leaves, those luscious green with a hint of silver glistening in the garden light leaves that are the heart of this perennial shrub. These are Peltately palmate leaves, indeed a classic of the form. Here’s a link to some Lupine Leaves at Bartlett Cove, Glacier Bay NP., Alaska.

Well, that has tired me out. Should I continue to the flowers? Should I describe the color as lavender, or would you argue it is more of a powdery-violet? No, it’s not bright enough to be violet.  If I had it in me, I might call it mauve, but that’s as far as I would take it. We thought we were getting yellow lupine blooms, like this, but not.

We feature a lot of drought tolerant plants on the cactus blog. Cactus, for instance. But it turns out there is another solution for plants – becoming a nomad; getting up and going where the water flows.

It’s a nomadic plant from Mexican artist Gilberto Esparza. (via good blog, images from plantas nomadas)

Since I got the Motorola Droid a few months ago, I’ve been taking more photos around and about, but the quality isn’t as good as I’m used to. So now I have to go back and rephotograph everything.

i.e. the Verbena tapiens at the nursery.

Droid photo (previously blogged):

New Panasonic Lumix photo:

Much better! I’m sure there will be more of these rephotographed plants. You never know when.

Apparently we’re not the only ones to get this question; the email was also sent to Berkeley Hort, Magic Gardens and Westbrae. I hope we gave the best answer.

Hi,

I recieved a plant with flowers that look like the picture attached to this email. I don’t know the plant’s name so I am not sure how to care for it. I was told it was a dancing orchid but most the care sheets I found online for dancing don’t look remotely like the flowers in the attached picture. Do you know the name of the plant in the attached photo? Most of the flowers along its long stem are dying now, should I be cutting the stems?? Could you maybe direct me to a website with information on how to care for the plant in the attached photo?

Thanks,
Joanna

Joanna,

You orchid is a Brassia, or commonly known as a “spider orchid”.

Brassia pretty much just takes standard orchid care… here is a link with specific information.

You can trim off the spent bloom-spike after it dries out, but don’t cut it off until then as they can occasionally re-bloom from the same spike if they are really happy.

Take care,
Hap

And succulent. Darin sends along a link to giddyspinster’s shop on etsy.

reclaimed stiletto heel succulent planter (Aloe “Green Gold”)

more after the break… (more…)

Our Clusia orthoneura parent plants are finally branching! This is good news because it means we may finally be able to get some more plants cultivated and out at the nursery.

Cheeky bastard.

Hi-

Several years ago, I purchased the succulents in the attached photos from you, and they’ve done beautifully. These plants are on the patio in the full sun – and cold temperatures.  They flank patio steps – one on each side. This past winter, one survived and is doing well, and the other looks terrible, yet has new growth at the base and a bloom and some new growth emerging from what appears to be dead stalks.  Here are photo descriptions:

IMG_483 = Healthy Planting

IMG_485 =Nearly all dead (freeze) Planting. Note new growth and Blossom

My questions are:

Given the new growth, should I do any trimming back of dead growth or just allow the new growth to continue?  I feel no trimming will leave it leggy and very different from the other one in appearance, size, etc.

What is this plant’s name?

Is it still correct to cut the stalky blooms once they’ve been around a while?

Thank you!

Lynn S.
Alamo

Lynn,
First, what a lovely and happy Aeonium c.v. “Whippet” you have in the first photo.

OK, on to the 2nd plant. Aeoniums can be frost sensitive, and we had a hard freeze this past winter, so it looks like it took damage then. The good news is that the plant is still alive, and has already started growing out of the damage. However, the rest of the plant is dead, and can be trimmed back whenever you’d like, now that spring has arrived. After all the cut branches have healed over, you may want to replant it into a smaller pot for it to grow back.

If you’re unsure about how much to cut, you can always bring it in to the nursery and we can trim it back for you.

Peter

First up we have the 1940s Disney version.

OK. Now I wonder what the Urban Dictionary has to say about this?

Tasteless dance moves used to: a) completely ruin a friendly gathering, b) scare off predators, and c) summon demons.

Oh, that’s not good.

Leucodendron blooming on 4th St.

Mr. Subjunctive has a blooming Stapelia gigantea. They stink.

We loved visiting your nursery last month, one of our favorite stops in Berkeley. I am from the St.Louis area and have a nursery here. Can you identify the succulent in the photo for me? I am having trouble finding a name. A lot of our stuff from San Diego comes in without i.d. tags.

Many thanks for your help!
Chris Kelley

Chris,
You have a very healthy Pachyphytum oviferum, also known as Moonglow. Make sure the plant is not overwatered in the teacup, which I assume has no drainage.

Hope your spring is going well; we’ve had a relapse of winter this weekend 🙁
Peter

Hap decides to spend Easter morning in the garden.

Roy, on twitter, has a Mammillaria blooming, and I can’t ID the species. Any ideas?

Keith is now obsessed with cats trying to eat cactus. He has been searching youtube for more videos for your enjoyment. Send us your videos!

(more…)

Bad Astronomy Blog on Discover has come around to the Cactus Way of looking at things.

Aliens!

From spydermonkey22‘s flickr stream, tipped off by PASTP.

Jason enjoys a beautiful day at Pt. Isabel.

In keeping with the theme of animals that eat cactus, I did a google search for rhinoceroses eating cactus, and came up empty. I did find this, though.

Big 10/Rasta Chat (Cactus CT77)

Nice graphics. I may steal them for a new t-shirt.

Besides deer, what other animals eat cactus?

Why, tortoises of course. From Rivenrock, a good source of cactus pads for your tortoises:

And cats, too, since cats are naturally curious, and not too bright.

Don’t try this at home.

Reader JBOT sent along a link to this photo, proof that deer do eat cactus. And what’s not to like? They’re delicious.

I have no photo credit for this.