Cactus Blog 

It’s a cactus wildflower photo – my g-d that’s a vibrant pink.

Opuntia basilaris – It’s a beavertail cactus with lot’s of subspecies. Anyone want to guess at a subspecies? I have Anderson’s “The Cactus Family” here and I prefer not to make any guesses. However, we do find out that the stems of this plant were used by the Shoshoni for medicinal purposes, “The Shoshoni make a poultice from the inner part of the stem and apply it to cuts and wounds for pain.”

We have found this to be a very difficult species to grow in the Bay Area – too much rain, even with our very fast draining soil mix. So we keep them indoor, and then they only rot out every 2 to 3 years.

Hi,

I was looking for some help about my coral cactus. I received it as a gift a month ago. I’ve only watered it two or three times and I leave it by the window with the most light. Today I noticed the plant browning between the stem and white fan. I don’t know if it can be saved or not…any advice on how to care or save the plant? I also attached pictures.

Thank you so much!

Debbie

Debbie,

I am afraid to say from your photos that the graft looks like it is infected and well on the way to failing. The plant should be allowed to dry out completely and treated with a fungicide. We use Neem Oil, a natural easy to use and non-toxic (to people or pets) product which is an effective fungicide and insecticide. It is not as aggressive as synthetics, but much safer to use. If you use a more aggressive fungicide, read and follow the directions carefully and make sure to wear chemical resistant disposable gloves.

Sorry I do not have better news. Good luck and take care,

Hap

Lupinus arboreus

I’m back from Boston and I see we’re in for thunderstorms today. Thank g-d I got back just in time! It would have been terrible to have to have missed thunderstorms on the last day of the pottery sale.

So what did we do in Boston? Besides the nephew’s bar mitzvah and the giant seder? Flower and Garden Show!

There were a lot of succulents at the Boston Flower and Garden Show. And they were expensive too, compared to California prices. But most of all the show was small, very commercial and crowded. The show gardens were different than we are used to. Out here, they are designer’s show gardens; in Boston they are nursery’s show gardens. The difference is immediately obvious – showing old product rather than inspiring with new designs. I was amazed that they all had clumps of evergreens on display. I mean, really, evergreens at your spring garden show? That’s what you use to inspire new customers?

I didn’t take any pictures, and I think that says it all. Since we missed the SF show; anybody know a good source for SF Garden Show pictures?

Fremontodendron “Pacific Sunset” surrounded by the terra cotta sale.

It must be spring. While we’re out of town, Ian sends along this photo of the first Evhinocereus grandiflora bloom of spring.

I bought this as a little plant from you guys two years ago an it’s grown an insane amount! What is this? I’m so curious about it.

Thanks,
Geoffrey

Geoffrey,
Wow! That’s a very happy Opuntia (Austrocylindropuntia) subulata monstrose. Really a beautiful specimen. It probably has another year before it needs to be pruned back in that pot.
Peter

We’re in Boston and got to see the latest Lipson Robotics installation, at Tripadvisor headquarters. Wow!

We finish up this series of photos sent to us by Dan with desert wildflowers from the La Quinta Cove near Palm Springs. However, I refuse to ID them for you. I do all the hard work around here, maybe you could contribute your fair share today?

Maybe?

OK, that was harsh of me. One of them is an Indigo Bush. I just won’t tell you which one. That seems more fair of me.

Alright, I give up, you win. From what I can see in the picture, the other one looks like a Desert Lupine. I won’t guarantee this though.

Heading to Boston today, so blogging may be light, although with my Droid phone, I can blog from anywhere, except on the flight, unless Virgin Atlantic has wifi.

They do have wifi!

We think we might have found some of Benjamin’s progenitors.

Teddy is a grandfather.

As is CH Surrey Hill’s Strike the Gold, or as he’s better known, Striker.

Penny is Teddy’s Mom, and thus is Benjamin’s great grandmother.

And here we have the irrepressible Timmy, Benjamin’s Uncle. Uncle Timmy!

He’s a cutey.

Part 2 of Dan’s photos of Desert flowers in bloom at La Quinta Cove near Palm Springs.

I see now we have some cactus flowers in bloom. That is nice.

I could ID these for you, but then what fun would that be? I think you should be IDing them for me.

Tomorrow we finish up with a few more wildflower blooms.

It’s our first verbena we’re carrying.

Verbena tapiens

“Cactus & Cowboys: The Art of William Spencer III.” is opening April 2 at the Turquoise Tortoise Gallery in Sedona.

You might think it is a traditional art, with a name like “Cactus and Cowboys” but you’d be wrong. There’s a lot of color in those desert paintings – it’s not muted.

From reader Dan, we have these amazing wildflower shots in the desert near Palm Springs, at a place called La Quinta Cove. First we have the overview shots.

More of these great shots tomorrow.

Oh, all right, one more now.

Can be purchased in New Hampshire. Probably Texas, too.

I’ve decided that today is goofy cactus photo day. Come along!

The boy appears to be named Gaston. Probably the french would know what this character is about, and why he has a cactus falling out of his hand.

A: Cut the wire.

Hi,
I’m hoping for a little help regarding an issue I have with a very large and beloved peruvian apple (cereus) cactus. This cactus is probably 20 ft tall with a large trunk (about 2-3 feet in diameter) and many, many, many branches. The previous house owner bolted a wire to the house and then wrapped it around the cactus trunk (about 3 ft up from ground) and back to the house. The issue is of course… the cactus has grown and the rubber tubing around the wire has disintegrated allowing the wire to begin cutting through the cactus. Probably 1/4 to 1/2 inch divot into the trunk. So my question is… should I cut the wire and pull it out of the cactus? And is there anything I can put on the damaged area to prevent infection? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
MJC

Yes, cut out the wire ASAP! It can girdle the cactus and eventually kill everything above the wire by strangulation…. Any injury to the skin can be painted or sprayed with standard hydrogen-peroxide to disinfect and help seal up the damage. If the green “Skin” is cut all the way around you may loose the top so make sure to take your time and remove the wire carefully so not to do any additional damage. If you can email us a photo we will try and give you more complete advice.

Good Luck,

Hap

Wow! And it’s solar, no less.

Well, it’s not really a dancing cactus as the video will show. It’s more of a slow rocking back and forth. (more…)

And the San Diego Union-Tribune takes you into the heart of the wildflowers.

The heavy rainfall this winter has given us an outstanding wildflower bloom in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park…

Nothing is as exciting to me as the bright fuchsia blooms of the beavertail, and they’re sticking out all over now. Besides the barrel cactus, you’ll also see the blooms on the fishhook cactus, as well as the cholla.

Among the amazing discoveries in a spring desert wildflower season are the tiny blooms that cover the sandy desert floor. You have to look closely for these little wonders. See if you can spot the yellow and pink sand verbena, the bright yellow gold poppies, and the tiny white rock daisies.

What? No pictures? I’ll find some for you.

From the State of California, no help from the SD Union-Tribune, we have a brand new wildflower map (pdf)! Now that is awesome.

And they have pictures too.

I must say I haven’t appreciated the State as much as I should. I went looking for wildflower photos and the private enterprises, like the local newspapers in San Diego, failed me. But the State came through. Good stuff.

DesertUSA also has good wildflower updates, right up to the minute.

Water When Dry is also a good place to find out about what’s blooming in the cultivated deserts of Arizona. Todays blooms include Mammillaria and Baileya.

Hi,

I just found your blog today off Plants are the Strangest People Blog.

I had stopped at a garage sale one day looking for pots. I saw an unusual plant and asked the lady if I could have a cutting. She couldn’t find the cutting she thought she had, so she ended up giving me a pot of the plant. She said she did not know the name of it but it has a red flower when it blooms.

So, I have looked thru books and on the internet. I think it is a Epephyllum, but I cannot find one that has a red flower. It looks like Epiphyllum anguliger, but the book says that has a white flower.

Can you tell me what it is? I have attached pics of it.

Thanks for any help you can give me. I looked through your blog all the way back to last May in hopes of finding my plant posted.

Jan

Jan,
What you have there is a Cryptocereus anthonyanus, which is an epiphytic cactus from Mexico, much as the Epiphyllums are, however unlike the Epi’s, there are not 100s of cultivated varieties.

It looks like you have a beautiful specimen with lots of healthy green growth. In general you can treat it like an orchid. They prefer bright indirect light, and we would grow them indoors here in Northern California. Water about once per week, no more than that, and add bloom food in the spring to get those big red flowers.
Peter

This is a great idea – taking over a little piece of urban blight and turning it into a farm. And it’s going to grow food that they will then give away free. Hence the name, Free Farm.

“We’re going to grow food here, and then we’re going to give it away to people who need it.”

The 1/3-acre lot, known unofficially as the Free Farm at the Corner of Gough and Eddy Streets, will soon provide free food to anyone who wants it. It’s being built and cultivated by a group of people who decided the unused parcel, on a particularly busy Western Addition intersection, was a great place for a peach tree to grow.

in Joshua Tree, they’ve got a good amount of wildflowers this year, what with a wet winter and all. Plus they’ve found the first cactus blooms of the year.

Ample winter rains and gradually warming temperatures are stimulating the annual desert wildflowers at Joshua Tree National Park, naturalist Joe Zarki reports.

While the great carpets of wildflowers seen in 2005 and 2008 have yet to develop, concentrations of up to 50 species are starting to appear in some park locations, Zarki stated in a news release….

The season’s first cactus blossom in the park, the lovely orange-red Mojave mound cactus, was found in the Lost Horse Valley area.

Wish I could get out there, but not this year. It’s still a little early for us, though the buds are forming…

Fargesia robusta is our newest bamboo introduction. We don’t add new bamboos very often – they have to meet our strict standards for being locally climate appropriate and drought tolerant. So here we go!

This very green clumping bamboo is a mid height 12 to 15 ft. tall, very full and leafy for screening in the ground or in containers and is good in full sun, moderate shade, below 0°F and even above 95° over across the hills into Walnut Creek and such places. Truly it’s the perfect privacy screen for all occasions. I wonder why it took us so long to carry it?

For the 10th year, Buck and Yvonne Hemenway will open their now-extreme drought-tolerant gardens in Indian Hills free to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 27 and 28….

“This is why we do the open house every year, to educate the public,” said Buck Hemenway.

Cercis occidentalis – This specimen we have in a 15ga. container is the most perfect specimen I have ever seen. It is a perfect vase shape, branches evenly spaced, in full bloom and with luscious new young leaves. It has been in this perfect condition for over 2 weeks, and yet hasn’t sold.

Look, I’m not trying to sell you a redbud, I’m just saying that this one is perfect for you, that’s all.