Cactus Blog 

I used to live in Venice. Not on the canals, but close enough to the beach.

Venice Garden & Home Tour

Studio City designers Carol Plotkin and Janet Hoskins helped Balaban rethink the minuscule landscape and incorporate a slim border filled with irises, roses, succulents and Mediterranean plants.

I see an Echeveria and some Kalanchoes too.

How about another home on the tour?

The rooftop view: sand, sea and sky.

And here we see Echinopsis, Agave, Aloe, Cereus, Opuntia and more.

What a strange common name for a plant.

What a beautiful plant.

Dudleya attenuata, native to Southern Cal., but grows like it was meant to live in the Bay Area.

In Olympia, they ask the following question,

Did you know one of the newest gardening trends is growing exotic indoor plants, like orchids, ferns and succulents?

Well? Did you? I wonder which succulents they consider exotic.

Oy, that’s big.

Hi Peter,

Nice talking with you today about cacti. Here is a photo of the one I mentioned in San Leandro. It really is quite spectacular. If you want to see it in person its right next door to the Starbucks as you come off highway 580 at Dutton Avenue. If you know where to look you can see it from the freeway. Enjoy. If you want a higher resolution image let me know.

Thanks

Tom

Ceanothus griseus “Kurt Zadnik”

Was cultivated here in Berkeley at the Botanic Gardens from a Sonoma County plant.

So, we want to know, who is this Kurt Zadnick, and what did he do to get this plant named after him?

Kurt Zadnik took over the (UC Botanic Garden California) Area in 1979 and stayed through 1996…. By the late 1980s Kurt Zadnik’s responsibilities changed to focus more on the greenhouse succulent plants.

Good enough, indeed.

Clayton Homes has just launched a line of green prefab homes (called the i-house) that start at under $75,000 (or about $105 / square foot) excluding site costs and shipping. 

Well, what about the green roof? Where’s the optional green roof, I wanna know. I’m a bastard that way.

From the San Jose Mercury News comes this stunning suggestion.

If you thought growing succulents meant dealing with spiny cactus that could literally be a pain, think again. Succulents are a great choice for creating an outdoor water-wise garden.

Anything more specific they can recommend?

Aeoniums… have leaves that range in color from green, yellow and deep burgundy to tri-colored options….

Echeverias… are moderately fast growers….

Another favorite are the Euphorbias….

Why, go to a succulent gardening class at the Botanic Garden, of course.

A Flower Moment: Noon-1 p.m. at the Memphis Botanic Garden. Fee $30 ($20 for botanic garden members). Price includes lunch. “Sedums & Succulents: On the Edge of Chaos!” by Paul Little of Little Hill Nursery. Preregistration recommended; call 636-4115. Dates: May 15, June 19, Sept. 18, and Oct. 16.

I’d like to know what level of chaos these fine little plants are on the edge of. But I don’t think I can make it to Memphis.

Benjamin and Jason

It’s Suzanne Long‘s art at the nursery, on Joe Mud’s photostream.

We’re having an opening night party tonight for new work by Mexican Folk Artist Irma García Blanco. Come on by and we’ll have food for you. Wine too, from 3-6pm.

And just in time for Mother’s Day, Hap tells me I have to say.

It all started with a packet of seeds from Woolworths more than 40 years ago….

Grown out of a hobby, they can be viewed at Eau Brink Cacti Nursery in the grounds of his house in Eau Brink, near King’s Lynn…. Contact Mr Bowdery on 01553 617635 for confirmation.

Derek Bowdery from Kings Lynn with his huge Cactus collection.

Oops, it looks like this may be another travel suggestion. What was I thinking earlier today making the claim that I was only going to be giving one travel suggestion all year long? That was clearly ridiculous. You should never trust me again. I’ve lost your trust! I feel terrible. Well, anyway, Derek’s collection looks pretty interesting.

A cactus diuretic.

BRAM, France— Developed from prickly pear cactus fruit (Opuntia ficus indica), Cacti-Nea™ first revealed original antioxidant and diuretic properties.

Press releases can be so much fun, and informative too.

Penstemon “Firebird”

This species’ flowers are usually a very bright red, and these are clearly not. So I wonder if this is a natural variation, or if we have them mislabeled. They’re certainly not Margarita BOP’s, which is the other penstemon we’re growing right now.

If I knew more about them, then I could decide to be the expert, and then I could make a grand pronouncement about this color, and the nature of penstemons in general. That’s the great thing about having a blog.

The Sun-News has this travel suggestion for you if you have an RV.

Pancho Villa State Park is a popular place to stay which is were we are tonight….

The park is landscaped with native cactus ,which is beautiful at this time year. Volunteer Sandra Anyanwu sees to that…

Anyanwu also rescues cactus that have been damaged and nurses them back to health.

That’s my travel suggestion for the year. An RV park in a state park in New Mexico  or somewhere. I wonder why I would suggest this for you? I wonder…

From the Canary Islands, it’s the Dracaena draco, also known as the Dragon Tree.

Photo: P. Schonfelder from Universität Regensburg Institut für Botanik in Regensburg.

Parodia ottonis, formerly known as Notocactus acutus, more commonly N. ottonis.

The Huntington has this to say about this little gem:

(T)his is one of the most variable in the genus. It has a wide range in southern Brazil, Uruguay and adjacent Argentina. Most forms are globular, eventually branching to form clumps, with relatively sparse spination that does not hide the bright green epidermis.

I love it when they talk like that. And then they question the whole Parodia genus.

The notocacti have recently been combined with Parodia. This is supported by the DNA research of R. Nyffeler that reveals that Notocactus in the strict sense is closer to Parodia than it is to other segregate genera that are widely accepted as notocacti: Brasilicactus, Brasiliparodia, and Eriocactus. One is left with the choice of calling them all parodias or resurrecting the segregate genera; a third choice is simply to ignore the research and call them what you will.

Now that’s what I usually say!

Golf courses are, of course, one of the worst water wasters (users) around. And they use a lot of chemicals to keep the greens green. And then all that water washes the chemicals somewhere else.

Palm Beach has water problems, and new solutions.

Other conservation measures recommended by the civic association committee include installing drought-resistant grass, as the town is doing at the Par 3 Golf Course, and using drought-resistant vegetation, such as the hardy succulents planted last year.

Succulents are the hot plant for their architectural look, and now they’re also the hot plant for their drought resistant properties. Plus, they’re the hot plant for their fire-resistant properties too. Oy, that’s a lot of reasons to plant succulents.

If you’re looking for more cactus bloom photos, Water When Dry always has some really nice ones throughout the Arizona spring season. Nice Parodia.

First, it’s all about growing your own veggies this year, as we’ve found out at the nursery.

Many Nantucketers can’t wait to start planning their garden even this early in the season…. “We anticipate vegetable gardening to be very popular this year…” said Hilary Newell of Bartlett’s Ocean View Farm. “People are staying home and trying to grow their own stuff.

Very good. But it’s a bit early for most vegetables off the cold New England Coast.

Succulents are increasing in popularity, she said. They are thick, vibrant and gummy and almost look unreal, which is fitting given how little watering and care they require, Slosek said.

If you’re feeling optimistic about a hot summer, you could set your sights on planting a melon.

Personally, I find all this talk about Nantucket makes me want to share a limerick. Yay! Join me after the break for what promises to be a really bad thing… (more…)

Echinopsis chamaecereus

These come in many various shades of red and orange. Some nurseries will have named varieties, but not us. I find they vary so much and so naturally that names would ruin the fun for me. Except for this one. This one I’ve named “Pal Joey”.

It turns out that you have to keep your chickens away from your succulents. Good thing we found this out before Hap got chicks.

Bottom line:
You can have a maximum of four birds in San Francisco… Birds on roofs are okay and you can even have a dairy cow in San Francisco.

Wow, good to know. If anyone has a picture of a dairy cow on a roof in SF I’d love a copy. For research purposes, you know.

Free in the yard birds:
Chickens like to eat succulents and anything red like strawberries. You will have to sacrifice a part of your yard for them.

What about free on a green roof birds? What then?

Florida has many types of storms.

Storm-proofing begins with landscaping

Take a long, slow walk around your property. Notice how rainwater flows through the yard. Ensure that any runoff moves well away from the house…

If the threat is wildfires…. Succulents are a good choice, because they retain water in their fleshy leaves, stems and roots.

Succulents are always a good choice, even if you’re not expecting a wildfire.

Hello,

I have a lovely little potted succelent (an echeveria, I believe) that I purchased from you some time ago and it has started to behave oddly. The best way I could describe it is to say it has started “rooting”. Or rather one limb has been sending out root-like shoots for a month or so. At first I thought it would stop when it failed to find land or water to “root into” but it has persisted. I’ve attached photos in order to clarify my poor attempts at describing this. You’ll notice it is only one segment of the plant that is doing this, the other is acting quite normally.

My question: Is the plant begging to be repotted? And if so, should I separate the rooting segment from the main one and transplant it? Or should I just leave it be?

Thanks very much!
Ally

Ally,

Your plant is sending out a huge number of aerial roots! Odd, perhaps that side of the plant is more humid than the other?. just kidding. Basically you can do any of the options you asked about. If you repot it will get bigger faster, or cut off the root crazed part, let it sit a few days and then pot up in a new pot in dry-ish cactus-succulent soil and don’t water for a week or two. If the roots bother you in a freakish alien sort of way… you can also just cut them off. It won’t hurt the plant.

Take care,

Hap

People ask us.

Arctostaphylos pajaroensis “Warren Roberts”

Did you ever wonder who these people are that got plant varieties named after them?

Well, Warren Roberts is the Superintendant of the Arboretum at UC Davis.

He comes from a long line of Kern County cattle ranchers and says he inherited some of his plant know-how from a Gold Rush-era great-grandmother who was well respected for her knowledge of herbs.

The Westridge Upper School Sustainable Science Building is the first independent school in the San Gabriel Valley to build a LEED-certified green building…

Among the green features are… a green roof that will be planted with succulents.

Always with the succulents, never with the cactus. Cactus would make a very good green roof planting material, but people seem to prefer them some sempervivums. And in Pasadena, no less, where cactus would thrive in the hot sun. Maybe if we started a write-in campaign they could add in some prickly pears, and get some delicious tunas out of it in the long run.

From the San Jose Mercury News, they’ve created a tip sheet on “Creating a water-saving landscape” and they’ve come up with this idea for you:

Select succulents.

Did I pay them to write that? Maybe. But you’ll never know.