Cactus Blog 

I did some research and found Jason’s parents.

It’s exciting!

This is Rion, also known as CH Karasar’s Orion at Jaama JC, also known as the “Dad”.

This is Dotty, whose longer and more formal name is Windsong JJ Stars in my Eyes, aka “Mom”.

Man, these are some beautiful parents that Jason has. Who knew? He could have been a champ, he coulda been a contenda.

We’ve had him a year now. He seems to have settled in nicely.

The Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center is having their 6th Annual Cactus & Succulent Festival.

Can I come? It’s in Fort Davis, Texas, so I guess not. But it is on the road to Big Bend, so maybe some day I’ll get back there and visit the gardens.

This really has nothing to do with anything, but this slide show of fishing changes, from treehugger.com (from Discovery), over the centuries is fascinating.

Science!

Othonna capensis is also known as Little Pickles. It looks like an ice plant, until those vibrant yellow flowers pop up, and then we can see it’s a daisy!

These are very short lived flowers – one day only. They need a lot of sun to open, and then by the 2nd day, the petals are already curled back away. All gone!

Here, have another angle… (more…)

Farming the former freeway in San Francisco.

Idora Design is featuring a pink echeveria hybrid in the garden. Any ideas what c.v. it may be?

From customer Juergen, we get this great closeup shot of some naked and very slender buds on what he is identifying as a Cereus spegazinii.

Nice!

80,000 year old “trembling giant” tree colonies from Wired Science.

Image: “Clonal Quaking Aspens #0906-4318 (80,000 years old, Fish Lake, UT)” / Rachel Sussman

I should google that phrase and see if I can come up with any succulent sculptures in the shape of a buffalo.

In the meantime, that headline refers to the city of Buffalo, which has finally discovered the succulent. From Artvoice: Buffalo’s #1 Newsweekly:

What we’re excited about:

The succulent trend has gone from a slow-burning fire to smokin’ hot! From container pots on porches to green rooftops, vertical garden walls and wire topiaries to outdoor carpets of succulents, these water-wise plants are sure to be the gardener’s must have plants of the season. They thrive even in the most difficult soil conditions and are very forgiving to the weekend gardener who might not have time to water and fertilize regularly. Succulents, which include aloes and cacti… will make great potted and seasonal transplants in the sunny areas of our gardens.

Alright then. Now, back to the google, and the other kind of buffalo succulents, after the jump… (more…)

10. From lels
Hello, Andrey!
Thanks for your game!
I would like to know whether you like cactuses.
Thanks in advance …

Andrey Arshavin: They are prickly; I remember we had them in kindergarten. We also had some at home. I didn’t like them then and I don’t like them now.

Why, that no good rotten bastard.

Our Pottery sale starts this weekend. Did I mention that you get 30% off all terra cotta pottery? That’s a pretty good sale! And we bring in pallets of new pottery every year, so it’s very exciting. Our new employees are going to enjoy this…

Here’s our ad running in today’s SF Chronicle. A little bit on the peach side, on the web, but less so in print.

In case you were wondering, that’s a Dudleya cymosa.

We’ve got a whole bunch of new birdfeeders at the store. I don’t know why – our plants attract enough birds and bees and butterflies and hummingbirds too. But, we’re a nursery, so people expect birdfeeders.

Pictures of an older birdfeeder after the jump…. (more…)

Cactus Candy.

Lara, at enidlifestyle.com has been collecting vintage pots to fill with succulents. See the results, on enidlifestyle.com. There’s some really nice vintage glazes.

I’m not so sure about the owl, though.

Benjamin and Jason are famous! Paula Wirth has posted their photos on her flickriver stream.

Sutera cordata “Snowflake” is really the first herbaceous groundcover we’ve carried. Pretty little flowers, good in containers, hanging baskets, and even indoors! Regular watering is nice, but it is actually quite heat resistant and can be ignored for awhile once established.

Yes, we’re expanding our selection once again; more flowering perennials in smaller, quart and liter sizes.

It’s the end of a Bay Area landmark.

In this case, we’re talking about a cactus chandelier. Only on twitpic. By iizLiz

My backyard aloe is in full bloom. Plus, the Bambusa “Alphonse Karr” is filling in nicely.

Aloe plicatilis

Oxalis vulcanicola “Coppertones” is a vibrantly colored, wide-splayed cultivar of a tight clumping species. We’ve grown them in both little quart pots and in hanging baskets. The quarts have been, by far, the more popular.

For some reason, hanging baskets are not selling well this spring. And it is spring! What a busy weekend we had.

Oh my g-d these are cute. I don’t read German, so I don’t know if these are one person’s personal stock of knit cactus, or if they’re for sale somewhere, or even what they’re for.

Wow!

A remarkable relationship between a shrew and a Montane Pitcher, from the Guardian.

Oy, don’t bother watching this terrible episode from Spike TV.

You can blame Captured! By Robots for sending us this.

Euphorbia amygdaloides “Purpurea”

The foliage changes color throughout the year: Green in spring, deep burgundy in summer, ruby-purple in fall. Lime-green bloom sprays start showing up in spring and last through the summer.

And thus concludes Spurge Week at the CactusBlog.

You know I am often amazed what one can find on the web. Here we have a balloon cactus.

Now what does this mean? I mean, you know, like, 500 years ago someone in Rome first got a sample of a cactus from an explorer who had recently returned from the Americas. Maybe from Columbus himself. And now look what happens; google, twitter, and balloon cactuses. Oh my.

An Australian thriller called “Cactus”

Finally, Dogs 101 has done a segment on whippets, and it goes by fast…

Unfortunately they don’t let you embed the video, so you’ll have to click the link.

And an older Animal Planet video on whippets from Breed All About It.