Cactus Blog 

From seed vendor Jaromír Dohnalík in the Czech Republic comes a blooming cactus photo for the holidays.

A cactus formerly known as Lobivia, and now more correctly called Echinopsis. I haven’t bothered to look up the species – any suggestions?

I have a couple of large cactus plants in my back yard (there before I moved in), and I would like to identify what type they are.

Larry

Larry,

#1 looks like it is Opuntia cochenillifera and #2 is either Myrtillocactus geometrizans or Myrtillocactus cochal, all though I am leaning towards M. geometrizans.

Happy Holidays,

Peter

kaowinston in London needs help identifying a cholla, possibly a Cylindropuntia, but I think it’s an Austrocylindropuntia, A. shaferi even. What do you think?

Hi, Cactus Jungle,

I am hoping you can help me! My 18-year-old 9 ft. tall, historically
healthy Euphorbia Trigona has been in shock since I moved. It has
dropped all of its leaves and the limbs appear to have “given out”.
It happened during the 10 minute drive to my new house, so I think it
was just shocked by being jostled around so much on the move. The
biggest problem is that the entire plant is limp and can’t hold itself
up from leaning in one direction. I have had to splint it to the wall
to hold the plant upright. Otherwise, the entire HUGE pot would
topple over. It is winter, so there is no bright sun to help it to
“perk up”. Should I buy a plant light? It has been this way for two
weeks now. I hate to prune because it will leave brown tops where the
cuts were made. What to do?

Ruth
Charlotte, NC

Ruth,

A bright light would help, you might just want to get a “shop-light” and use full spectrum bulbs in for the winter. You can also try giving it some liquid seaweed in it’s next drink, it has growth stimulants as well as nutrients and vitamins that will help the plant recover from its trauma. If you email us a few photos, we can try to give more detailed recommendations.

Good Luck & Happy Holidays,

Hap

I don’t know why Bromeliads get their own list. And yet, the demands of the trade are such that here it is, in all its flaming glory – Top Ten Bromeliads of 2009. On the other hand we don’t actually carry that many species and I don’t photograph most of the florist bromeliads, so we’ll see if we can get to 10. Hey – it’s the best I can do.

10. Vriesea imperialis – some would say this is the greatest of all the terrestrial bromeliads, and so should be number 1.

9.Tillandsia stricta “Stiff Gray”

8. Neoregelia “Sarah Head”

7. Cryptanthus bivittatus

6. Dyckia platyphylla

5. Neoregelia “Rubra”

4. Cryptanthus “Black Mystic”

3. Puya berteroniana

2. Tillandsia bulbosa

And coming soon to a theater near you, it’s the number 1 hit terrestrial bromeliad of the year… (more…)

It’s a cactus bowl, from JT.

I see a Euphorbia obesa in there too, so I hope JT is being careful to water the cactus parts of the bowl, and less water near the Euph.

I hope that scorpion is not real…

Here’s another one too.

Lots of lower water plants in there.

The Chron has some crazy ideas sometimes.

Dress up your holiday gifts with frosted succulent “bows” that can be replanted in dirt or sand after the presents are opened.

Photo: Stephen Lam / Special to The San Francisco Chronicle

Now that’s what I call classy.

10. First, for the Shade category, we have Heuchera “Santa Ana Cardinal”

9. For the Sunflower Family category, there’s Aster chilensis

8. For the Fried Egg category, I like Romneya coulteri

7. For the Even More Delicious than a Fried Egg category, I see we’ve reached agreement with a Mallow, Malacothamnus palmeri

6. For the Tops in Shrubbiness category, there’s always Ceanothus “Tassajara Blue”, a classic Cal. Lilac for your enjoyment.

5. For the Most Beautiful category, Dudleya attenuata, but of course.

4. I see Manzanitas have their own category this year. Arctostaphylos pajaroensis “Warren Roberts” was a strong contender in the past, and has come through with the win this year with their big juicy berries!

3. For the Most Blooms, Dudleya cymosa – we seem to have our 2nd Dudleya on this list. It’s an outstanding performance by the Dudleyas this year!

2. For the Bay Area Favorite Award, Salvia “Allen Chickering”

And the #1 California native plant for your garden of 2009 is… (more…)

McGee Street

Opuntia ficus-indica and a large Agave americana v. marginata.

Twinings Red by Lipson Robotics, at the nursery through the end of the year.

The eyes, the eyes….

I wonder what it’s looking at?

Senecio rowleyanus

Small pots of this are pretty darn cute. Usually we only have them in large hanging pots, but so many people asked for smaller, we brought out some that we were growing, and they are kinda nice as is. Maybe I was just never partial to the long strands of string-opearls hanging off the edge of a pot. Mostly contained within a little swaure makes it even interesting.

McGee Street

I have a new Droid I got for Hanukkah and I’m very excited to be able to mobile blog.

Let’s see how a photo works on this new platform.

Agave attenuata in my front yard with rain drops

This photo is labelled “1972”. I don’t know why.

I don’t know where it came from or what it is doing here at all. If it is yours and would like to claim copyright, email me at mycopyrighthasbeenstolen@somebodywhocares.com

That was a little harsh of me.

If you haven’t seen this yet, I recommend it.

Octopuses use coconut shells.

The rain is coming down hard, so now is a good time to remember all the best of the succulents we had this year, through all the sunny days we had.

10. Pachyphytum longifolium

9. Sempervivum “Lavender and Old Lace”

8. Sedum makinoi “Ogon”

7. Dischidia ruscifolia

6. Echeveria agavoides “Ebony”

5. Aeonium subplanum

4. Jovibarba heuffeli – actually, I was thinking this may have been number 1, but it was a tough call to place it at #4, but that’s what I’m here for – to make the tough calls.

3. Astroloba foliosa

2. Aeonium decorum “Tricolor”

(more…)

It’s the 5th in our series of Bird’s Nest Sansevierias. This one is special to me, because we have a few hundred of them growing, so please if you were thinking of buying one I’m absolutely sure that this is the one for you.

Sansevieria “Zeylanica”

This one should be called S. stupendousii or maybe S. “Happy Good Time”.

My favorite name for this would have been S. “Jingle Bells” if only I were the one who had named it. Oh well.

Our fourth and penultimate Bird’s Nest Sansevieria of the Day is named after Lawrence Olivier.

Sansevieria laurentii

Wow, that’s pretty.

I wonder how he got a plant named after Olivier? I think it should have been named after Lawrence Welk instead.

Sansevieria “Jade” is neither made of jade nor looks anything like a jade plant. And yet someone got away with this horrific naming of this beautiful plant. I wonder what they were thinking? I thin k they were thinking something along the lines of “Hey, how about ‘Jade’? Yeah, that’s the ticket.”

On the other hand, it is a beautiful specimen of the Bird’s Nest sansevierias as seen on TV.

Our second Bird’s Nest sansevieria we’re growing this year at the nursery.

Sansevieria “Gold Star” is a lot like the “Black Star” but gold instead of black. Actually, neither one is gold or black. I wonder how they got those names  then? I suspect it was a plot by Glenn Beck to sell more gold (and oil i.e. black gold?)

We are growing new Bird’s Nest sansevierias this year.

Here’s one of them.

Sansevieria “Black Star”

A Sahuarita man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving…. The car hit a street sign and crashed through cholla cactus before coming to a stop. No one was injured.

What about the cactus? Was it damaged?

I love Top 10 lists! And now I realize I haven’t ever made one myself. That seems odd. So here to rectify this egregious lapse is my first ever top 10 list.

Top 10 Cactus of 2009

10. Mammillaria elongata

9. Echinocereus armatus

8. Opuntia santa-rita

7. Echinopsis peruviana

6. Oreocereus trollii

Oh, that’s cute.

5. Pereskia lychnidiflora

4. Mammillaria bocasana ssp. multilanata

3. Eriosyce esmereldana

2. Rebutia krainziana

And the number one cactus of 2009… (more…)

And the Baboon wins!

Baboon feeding on Opuntia fruit, photo by Dr. Shirley Strum

I wonder what the article has to say about it?

Dr. Strum (a professor at the University of California, San Diego) has been studying baboons in Kenya for some time. She reports that one Opuntia species has invaded one or two of her studies areas in the past years–she’s observed baboons eating the fruit (and elephants eating the fruit too).

From Aunt Rachel in Arizona is a giant Saguaro and some Jumping Cholla.

Carnegiea gigantea and Opuntia bigelovi

Cactus Blindness. Can you help?

We may not be the favorite local nursery of the SF Chronicle, but apparently the L.A. Times likes us. From the Saturday Home section:

…an elegant tillandsia wreath. Made-to-order by Cactus Jungle Nursery & Garden in Berkeley, the 14-inch design contains hundreds of tiny living air plants…