Cactus Blog 

So you know, it’s always a good idea to search for random phrases, because you never know, you might come up with something worthwhile. So I searched for “blue cactus drink” and this came up.

Blue Cactus Margaritas
by Angela Dawn

It’s not technically a margarita. I made this drink up all on my lonesome. It’s great at BBQs or with spicy Mexican food. I’ve been making cactus pear margaritas for a long time, but I added a little blue.

Ingredients
* 1 liter margarita mix
* 2 small prickly pears (otherwise called cactus pears)
* 16 ounces gold tequila
* 5 ounces blue curacao
* 4 fresh limes
* kosher salt or margarita salt

Directions
1. To make Prickley Pear Margarita Mix:.
2. In a blender add your bottle (1 liter) of Margarita mix. I usually just cut the cactus pears in half and scoop out the pink flesh. Add the fruit’s flesh to the blender and blend until smooth.
3. Strain mixture through a fine sieve or rice strainer. Press the pulp down to get any remaining liquid out.
4. I usually pour strained mix back into margarita mix bottle and use the little left in the bottom of the container to make my first drink.
5. For each drink:.
6. Fill shaker half full of ice.
7. Add 2 oz tequila, 3/4 oz blue curacao and the juice of half a lime.
8. Shake well and strain into a 12 ounce glass that’s been dipped in margarita salt and packed with ice. Pour Prickly Pear Margarita mix to the top and serve.
9. Garnish with lime.
10. Should make about 8 drinks.

I don’t have all the ingredients right now, so I won’t be able to try this tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

From the Telegraph, if you can get the link to work, as it’s a bit wonky this morning, comes a story about home offices – separate small buildings in the backyard.

Some even have a sedum roof, planted with succulents and herbs, to blend in with the surroundings.

Well, that’s enough to create a blog post out of. Now if only they had pictures, then it would be an interesting blog post. Oh well.

To the google!

And I see we have a very exciting Home Office with Green Roof right here on Inhabitat.

Drought tolerant gardens from the 60s in Arizona were a bit more sparse than today’s fine upstanding cactus and succulent gardens.

Green Gravel Lawns, Arizona
Photograph by James P. Blair

Images From the National Geographic Archive

Green gravel lawns dress homes in Sun City, a retirement community that opened in 1960 near Phoenix. Arizona’s 65-and-over population rose 104 percent between 1950 and 1960.

I see the Ruth Bancroft Garden has declared Aloe greenii their Plant of the Month.

I don’t like Aloe greenii. I think you can see why in their photo.

Actually, it’s a Euphorbia, but who’s counting?

You helped us with our cactus about a 2 years ago and he is growing,
growing, growing!

Can you please take a look at these pictures? Currently he is in a 20″
diamater pot and is just over 10′ tall. He is now leaning pretty heavily
against our window/wall. We are wondering if he needs a bigger pot. We
also noticed he still has big brown spots at the base.

If so, we are interested in a quote to re-pot.

Thanks for your help.
Cheris

Cheris,

Wow. It has grown! It does look like it is time to move it up to a bigger pot, however it is the wrong time of year to do it successfully. It is about to go dormant for the winter, so it would be best to wait until spring, early March or later. If we repot now it could lead to problems since it will be under stress for the winter due to low light levels. Given it’s leaning towards the light of the windows it might be best to repot on top of a turntable or wheeled dolly so it can be given a quarter turn once a month so it grows straighter. The brown spots just look like age spots and not something to be worried about. Over time the base will get bark like an oak tree, it is natural and adds strength.

Let’s touch base in late February and I will get you a bid then

Take care,

Hap

The Burbank (CA) Leader has some simple advice for combating drought conditions.

plant succulents

Hurrah!

No photos, though.

…of Cactus Costumes on the blog, and by then you will have chosen your own special cactus costume to make and wear on Halloween. If you send me photos, I will be able to extend this costume fetish of mine for another week.

I was sitting around thinking of a great idea for a costume and remembered my boyfriend telling me… (h)is mother had a Cactus ornament on her antenna of her car.

You can imagine where the rest of this story goes.

I thought you might like a picture of a real cactus to go with this one, so we can compare and contrast.

Well… I had no idea, but it turns out that costume is quite realistic. Scroll up again and take a look. You can practically feel the spines sticking into you. Now scroll back down again, and just add some sunglasses there, and that hat too, and YES! They are practically identical. Such artistry, such hyper-realism.

No, I am not nuts, stop saying that. Photoshopping sunglasses on a cactus is perfectly normal. And I stopped talking to myself years ago. Stop pestering me to go see a doctor. I did not. No. No. OK, I concede that, but must you be so aggressive when you make your points? I’m feeling a little put upon right now, I think I’ll go take a nap. No. NO! OK, maybe on Monday I’ll call and make an appointment; will that satisfy you?

There are a lot of cactus growing in Jamaica, so the Jamaica Observer has an article about cactus in Jamaica, so they say….

The exquisite cactus Euphorbia Lactea, native to India, is commonly called Mottled Spurge, Frilled Fan or Elkhorn. The bloom of this plant is called a Cristata. The cactus with its fan-shaped crested branch comes in an assortment of colours.

Just like many in the cacti family, the Euphorbia Lactea needs sun and warm temperatures to survive.

So much that needs correcting. The joys of blogging are being a pedant in public. I can’t correct people like this at the store.

1. It’s not a cactus. It’s not in the cactus family (cactaceae) but in the Euphorbia family (euphorbaceae).

2. Lactea is the species, so it should be lower case, i.e. Euphorbia lactea.

3. The bloom, should it bloom which it usually doesn’t, is called an Inflorescence.

4. The cristate portion of the plant is the plant itself, the E. lactea, the thing you see in the picture above the leaves. It’s grafted to a different Euphorbia base which grows the leaves because a ghost crest has very little chlorophyll.

5. Nowhere in the article does it say anything about these being beautiful, and this must be corrected, because these are beautiful.

6. The photo above does not do justice to these crests. Here’s my photo of one of them. Justice will be served.

Nice graft.

Hi,
I am hoping you can help me out. I recenlty moved into a home in Southren California that has 50 large golden barral cactus. The problem is that I am not sure when they were watered last – before we moved in (the house was vacant). We moved in around June and I did water two or three times until someone told me not to water at all. Now all of them are turn dark brown at the base (even the thorns) plus they are also wrinkley at the base. Not sure why this is happening and if this is normal – a few have holes in them. The good things that they have babies.

Please let me know what to do, do they have a disease/ bugs, do they need to be watered, what to do with the babies….?

Thank you for your time,
Heidi

Heidi,

The plants look fine. The bottom being brown is age. They do look a bit stressed, and could use some water and fertilizer. I would recommend liquid kelp this time of year, and more nitrogen in the spring. The hole looks like old damage that will probably not be a problem. Make sure that water doesn’t pool in it during the winter – if it does, then cover it through the rains and you may need to do some repairs in the spring.

Peter

It’s a student in recycled materials cactus costume in Marin. That’s local!

Halloween is coming soon, so I better pack in a few more cactus costumes for fun before it’s too late. I wonder if you’ll notice next year if I reuse some of these?

This one is frightening, indeed. A cactus head in a buffet! What, no sausages?@?!

And I see that Misty Garrick Miller has uploaded her cactus costume photos onto flickr finally. Who’s Misty? Why, she’s the one in the costume below. A very clever use of yarn to simulate cactus flowers.

And in case you were wondering, here’s a picture of Misty at work in her costume.

You know, it might be easier if you just googled cactus costume images yourself. You know, cut out the middleman. Hey, wait, that’s me! I’m the middleman in this transaction. Maybe I shouldn’t be giving away my secrets that easily. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone about the magic search engine called google, OK?

Dani sends along news that Jaxx is back home in Santa Cruz, recovering from his surgery, wearing a T-shirt (no cone!) while Amica cuddles.

In San Diego, only 1 in 20 have replaced water-intensive lawns with drought-tolerant gardens.

For every 20… front lawns… one homeowner… has put in something different — succulents, cactus, native shrubs….

I love picking quotes out of context from articles to prove my point. I mean, will you click through to the article at the Union-Tribune and check my math? I think not.

Wow! And what was San Diego like when first settled by Europeans in the 19th century?

“It was a most desolate looking landscape. The hills were brown and barren; not a tree or green thing was to be seen. Of all the dilapidated, miserable-looking places I had ever seen, this was the worst.”

Here’s the picture that went with the article.

The article included a caption that explains this dual photo, but I prefer to leave the impression that this is a before and after picture. It makes me feel naughty to recontextualize text and images so blatantly.

Hi,
Im trying to identify this plant.. i
don’t know what it is, and I really need
to find out for a school project.
I live New England (I live in southern mass.) if that helps.
The picture is attached.

– -Eana

Eana,
It looks like you have a Sedum telephium.

It can handle winters down to 20 below zero, so they’re a good choice for New England (except up  in Northern Maine.)

Peter

The Robot Show is coming to the nursery November 6.

The other nurseries got nothing on this.

It’s my random photo of the day, so please excuse my shouting in the headline. I don’t know anything about this. I don’t know where it’s from or what it means.

If it’s your photo, congratulations are in order.

I see we have here an Opuntia ficus-indica and some aloe and a yellow hydrant, among the many things here.

Have you ever been to the Artichoke Capital of California?

The World’s Largest Buffalo of Jamestown, ND?

Wandered into Pekin, IL the Marigold Capital?

Anyway, whatever, they got nothing on Sanderson, Texas, the Cactus Capital of Texas.

Suggested slogan: “Eat more cactus”

And as if that’s not enough going for it, they are also the Gateway to Big Bend National Park. I love Big Bend!

By the way, here’s me in front of the World’s Largest Buffalo in Jamestown, ND. I think this is from 1986.

The Des Moines Register has the cutest photo ever.

First-grader Kael Carr carefully paints his Crazy Line Cactus. Students drew cacti to practice drawing their lines. (THANKS TO BETH COWELL FOR SUBMITTING THIS PHOTO)

My partner has an Euphorbia cactus which is growing “out” rather than “up”.  How can he cut or trim it down do that it is not growing wild?

Kara

Kara,

The Euphorbia looks like it needs more light for more robust vertical growth. With it being so floppy and “stretched towards the light” it is hard to be sure which species but I think it is Euphorbia trigona or one of the close allies.

Yes you can prune for shape, but please note that Euphorbia sap which looks like milk, is both a contact irritant and toxic. Do not get it in your eyes or lips! Think cayenne pepper pain and a trip to the emergency room if it gets in your eyes. So wear safety goggles! Gloves and long sleeves. It is generally best to prune off the whole branch rather than just part of it, but you can do cuts where ever you want, it just scares so cuts in the center of branch will always show. Before you cut cover the floor under with newspaper of a disposable drop cloth so you can get rid of the sap drips easily. After cutting spray each cut with standard hydrogen-peroxide to stop the flow of sap. This is sort of messy, so make sure you have your drop cloth or newspaper well deployed.

The branches you cut off can be saved and re-rooted if you want to clone your plant. Let them dry out and heal up from being cut for a week or two and then pot up in dry cactus soil. Do not water for three or four weeks. It the branches look thirsty you can mist them in the evening. Keep them in a warm sunny location and they should have roots by spring.

Good luck,

Hap

Seedbyte has a whole bunch of photos of a spectacular series of mixed succulent pots in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. Good stuff.

From the New York Times, we find out that California growers are no longer being unfairly targeted by the Feds.

From the Sun-Times.

Succulents: Because these plants store water in their leaves, stems or roots, they can survive the winter with once-a-month watering as long as they are watered generously during the summer. Succulents favor bright spots, so place them in a south-[f]acing window. Aloe, agave and cacti are some of the more well-known succulents that make particularly great display plants.

Also, if you live in Chicago, don’t forget to take a vacation to a warmer spot. February is a good time of year to be leaving Chicago. And then you can leave your succulents behind in a sunny window while on vacation in a warmer climate and not have to worry about watering them. At that point, the real problem is the person you’ve got looking after your home will want to over-water them, and you’ll come back to some dead succulents. You can’t win. Pessimism will take hold in winter if you live in Chicago. So maybe you should think of moving to California. Preferably Southern California. Now that’s the ticket.

And all that from a tiny notice in the Chicago Sun-Times telling you to water less in winter.

Heavy rain at the nursery. There’s been a lot of early rain so far this season, so I am officially declaring the drought over. East Bay MUD, move over. Thank g-d, and just in time, too. Now let’s all have margaritas.

Details: Our average rain for October is 1.37 inches. We had 2.41 in. last week, and a couple more today. Yay!

I’m not sure what to make of this. I received this in an email from a wholesale distributor of toys. There is no link on the email, and no catalog online, so I don’t really know what this is. They call it “Brilliant Quiff by BLUW” but it looks like a cactus hat.

I wonder what it really is? To the google!

I see it is actually an Giant Inflatable Elvis Wig. How disappointing.

Clay Thompson at the Arizona Republic answers questions about cactus in Arizona.

This is actually similar to a lot of questions we get, so it seems appropriate. I’ve edited out most of Clay’s humor to get to the nub of the question, so click through to get the full feel of Clay’s personality as he answers cactus questions.

Q: I have a large, mature saguaro that bloomed in September. I have lived in Arizona for 40 years and know that they always bloom in May or early June. There are dozens in our neighborhood, with only this one blooming now. What’s up?

A: (M)y guess was that it had something to do with the cactus being under some sort of stress, like from drought or something….

Lenora Stewart, a master gardener with the University of Arizona… told me… that plants, like people, sometimes do odd things….

Maybe it was stress of some sort — “Stress is a (saguaro’s) middle name,” she said she — or maybe it wasn’t. Or maybe your cactus just took it in its mind to confound you or just didn’t happen to feel like blooming when all of its kinfolk did.

For us in the Bay Area, our bloom season is later in the summer than theirs, so cacti are more likely to bloom at odd times for no reason.

Hello,
I send you two pictures of three cacti that I’ve found abandoned last year. In the past month the big one developed some spots (maybe fungi? maybe a virus?), and both of them have also excrescences growing up from their bodies (same fungi or other parasites?).
Can you please give me some suggestions on how to treat them?
Thank you,
Gualtiero, Liverpool (UK)

Gualtiero,

It looks like your plants need more sunlight and less water. The tall bluer cactus (Pilosocereus) has a bad infection and should be treated with a fungicide (like Neem Oil, a natural treatment that works and is not resorting to chemical warfare) and then kept dry for a month or two. The smaller green cactus (Echinocereus) has aerial roots, which generally occur if kept too moist and humid. I think you should try finding them a sunnier location and perhaps re-potting in a soil mix that has more “chunky grit”, we use pumice and lava to make up the bulk of our soil, but I do not know if you have access in the UK, but perhaps you can get a gravel based soil mix for alpine plants at your local nursery. Stay away from soils heavy in sand as it retains too much water.

Good luck and take care,

Hap

Have I given you enough ideas yet for your halloween cactus costume yet? Here’s another homemade idea from flash: did not fire‘s Flickr photostream.

One of these dancing cacti is flash:did not fire, the other is Susan.

I give these costumes a rating of 5. They are quite convincing, and they look like you can really get down and boogie in them. So in all, they are a masterful projection of the collective id on the form of the individual, lost and parched in the desert.

Happy Monday to you too.