Cactus Blog 

I had one more photo from Costa Rica that I was saving, and it’s a cactus, of course. I wouldn’t end this series on an orchid. That would be silly.

Hylocereus costaricensis

We found this while driving through mountainous farm country. These are a good fruiting cactus, so it seem like a good plant to plant along your horse-pen fence. They’re usually epiphytic, but this one does have a root into the ground, and lots of air roots holding it onto the fence post.

Now this is a cactus to end a series on.

Tara sent along this very interesting Echeveria photo from the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek.

Cleistocactus hyalacanthus, aka C. jujuyensis

Did I mention that the hummingbirds like the cleistos? After all, these plants have a huge number of blooms in the spring and through the summer, plus a few blooms all year round. What more could a hummingbird want? Well, I suppose they could want a mate.

Mammillaria bocasana

Bristly cactus. Beautiful crown of flowers. Layer upon layer of crowns. If you look closely, you can see there was already a previous layer of blooms this year. Also, the small new stems at the base are getting bloom crowns. Now that’s impressive.

It’s my last photo from Costa Rica.

That’s a good 3 months worth of photos from one short trip into the jungles and coastal regions and cloud forests and volcanic plateaus of one small Central American country.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. We saw a dozen cactus species, about 2 dozen orchids, a lot of peperomias and begonias, and more! Always more! Until today. No more.

Well, this is one last pretty orchid for us to enjoy.

I hope AP doesn’t sue me.

First lady Michelle Obama plants herbs in the White House Kitchen Garden with students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, Thursday, April 9, 2009, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Hmmm, I wonder where you can get fresh organic veggies and herbs for your own garden? Is there a nursery in Berkeley that carries organic vegetable starts?

Benjamin and Jason seem to be getting along.

Lewisia longipetala “Peach”

I think these are called “Peach” because they are so sweet, they make me swoon.

Yay! I’ve identified a Costa Rican orchid!

Oncidium stenotis

And it even has a common name, Iluvia de Oro, or Golden Iluvia as my faithful translater, Babelfish, renders it.

Now, having made this tentative ID, I’m sure someone is going to contradict me. And that’s OK, I can take it.

Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL):

“There is no reason to say that I’m the illegitimate grandson of an alligator.”

Yes, that’s a real quote.

Backstory is here.

Otatea acuminata

One of the best looking, very large, groves of this Mexican Weeping Bamboo you’ll ever see.

Cleistocactus strausii

We love the profusion of tubular blooms on these tall, narrow columnar cacti. And so do the hummingbirds. Come see for yourself, the hummingbirds do their rounds about 11 am and 3 pm every day.

I have a Kalanchoe, but haven’t quite got the hang of watering it yet.  Do I drench it like if it were actually raining, or do I give it just a small amount?  Sorry if this shows up twice, I was having a poor connection.
 
Thanks.
 
Rachel
Michigan

Rachel,

We like to drench our succulents every 2 weeks, and let the water completely drain away, making sure the plant never sits in water. This requires a fast draining soil, and a pot with a drain hole.

It is also possible to dribble water more often, but it is more difficult to get good results.

Peter

I love the concept of the color Chartreuse, it’s not yellow, it’s green, but really, it’s mostly yellow.

Wikipedia calls this particular shade “Traditional Chartreuse”. Orchids come in so many colors, I think wikipedia should define their colors by the orchid blooms. That’s what I think. I’m totally serious, too.

Still, yesterday’s orchid was prettier.

Echinocereus viridiflorus – which means, I believe, in botanical latin, -ish, “green flower”.

So this must be the green-flowered hedgehog cactus, as it were, that is, if I were to attach a common name to it, which I won’t, which is why I did not capitalize the potential common name, since it’s not a name I would use, and I feel better suggesting you not use it either, so to speak, if you catch my drift, my loyal reader, slogging through a run-on sentence, with many commas, as if you didn’t already know that.

Wow! That’s a nice orchid! So nice I had to say it twice.

I wish I knew enough about orchids to identify them. Oh well, maybe next year.

Everyone wants to see Chase. We’re thinking of changing his name to Jason.

I’ve never seen this before. (The tall plant that Hap is standing next to.) We’re going to start carrying it in 5 gallon size.

Furcraea macdougalii

It’s supposed to get to 20 ft. tall, and with the onset of a trunk the leaves start spreading outward. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Mammillaria lasiacantha

Very small clumping plants, lots of spines going every which way. Lots of small blooms popping up all summer long. More later.

These guys are very sensitive to too much winter rain, so they do better in a pot.

Yes, it’s a bearberry from the volcanic midsection of Costa Rica.

Arctostaphylos arbutoides ssp. costaricensis

Also known as Comarostaphylis arbutoides ssp. costaricensis

You can pick either name you prefer, but I certainly recognize those small dark green leaves, the ripe round delicious looking berries, and the unmistakable bell shaped flowers.

The journal Brittonia has this to say about it:

Endemic to the Cordillera Central of Costa Rica… at ca. 2500-3430 m. It is an important component of the ericaceous scrub on the crater rim of Volcán Irazú and is abundant in the otherwise nearly barren areas of volcanic ash. Flowering and fruiting throughout the year.

They  distinguish the Comarostaphylis from the Arctostaphylos by the

The papillate fruit surface of  Comarostaphylis unambiguously distinguishes it from the smooth-fruited Arctostaphylos.

Now we know the difference, and we can all go out and distinguish them ourselves.

Echeveria lindsayana

A wonderful small clumping echeveria, very easy to grow, flowers profusely in spring. And the blooms generally seem to attract aphids, but this is not an aphid.

Shall we zoom in close to see? (more…)

Apparently there was aloe in the garden of eden, according to this Biblical Garden terrarium.

I can see it in there! Right in front of the aloe tag! You can get this beautiful thing, but no plants are included, only seeds. So the odds of success are lower than you would like for this kind of price.

I shouldn’t be so hard on them. It’s beautiful, indeed.

Epidendrum radicans

What is that plant in the background? It looks very familiar. Lets get a closer look, shall we?

Aha! I know what it is. Maybe I’ll share another photo of the plant in back tomorrow. Maybe.

Euphorbia x lomi “Salmon”

These giant bloomed hybrid euphorbias are something. They stand only 3 ft. tall and get these flowers in the spring if planted in the ground. However, indoors they will bloom all year long, and it’s a long year.

Ornithogalum caudatum

This is a winter-growing bulb that will grow to around 4″, and then start multiplying. And then it will bloom for you. These flowers look a lot like the albuca flowers.

Growing in volcanic scree at the base of Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica.

This one, as you can see, is pink. Not white, not red, not white and pink striped, but pink. I think we can definitely state that we saw a lot of variety of this orchid growing in the volcanic rock.

Do you think they’re different species? Different subspecies? Or just natural variation of flower color within the same species?

Amica likes to sleep on warm concrete. Very unusual for a whippet.