Apparently they tell you to bring the succulents indoors when it starts to get cold in the UK.
It’s better to leave succulents and pelargoniums out as late in the season as possible, but once frost is forecast in your area, get them indoors or under glass.
That’s good advice if you care to take it in the UK.
My advice if you live in the UK is to wear a scarf. Wool, preferably. I prefer stripes myself. Striped scarfs in the UK are a good idea.
I wonder what it means to put your succulents under glass in the UK?
From Athens, Georgia they get questions about growing cactus from cuttings.
I have some cactus growing in my yard and I would like to propagate it so I can have it in other parts of my yard. When would be the best time to do this and how?
– Lauren M., Watkinsville
I am guessing that you have some sort of prickly pear cactus in your yard. The best time to propagate this cactus would be in the spring when the plant is actively growing. Your cactus is probably going semi dormant with cold weather approaching. In the spring, use a sharp knife and cut off whole individual pads at the node (where the pads meet). Place these cuttings in a dry, shady area for one to two days to allow the cut to heal or scab over. Once, the cut has healed, place the cut end in shallow soil or sand for rooting. Make sure the soil does not stay too wet or the cactus will rot. It could take several weeks to a couple months to establish a healthy root system. Once the pad has rooted, dig it up and move to the desired sunny area in your yard and enjoy.
I love the packaging. very nicely done. And at £12.75 it’s a bargain. However, the instructions and growing media they have in the pack is nothing we would recommend for growing cactus from seeds. Maybe England is so very different from California.
Then again, they do say:
This is a novelty gift and must be regarded as such.
Someday we’re going to put together a seed box kit too.
Tommy Engeman of Bethany Beach has created 18 published stamps and 60 state stamps that started coming into circulation this summer. (Scott Nathan photo)…
“They have to be right … or what’s the point of doing it. If it’s a cactus, it has to be the correct cactus,” said Engeman.
It’s getting a bit late in the year to be planting cactus in the ground. So what now? What can you do? Why you can plant them in indoor containers, that’s what you can do.
Container cactus gardens allow homeowners… to have the pleasure of a small piece of the desert up close…
Several key elements are required to create a successful succulent or cacti container….
(D)esign is probably the most important element in creating a beautiful container.
Oh that is so true. For instance, if you choose a cheap red container from Ikea and a cheap plastic cactus from Home Depot and some cheap plastic rocks from Walmart, well then you have come up with a bad design scheme and should not be let anywhere near a container.
The Texas Highways Blog reminisces about West Texas and the cactus.
Common wisdom says if you’re not originally from West Texas, you usually have to live there for a while to appreciate its attractions, but then you’re hooked for life. Having lived in Lubbock after growing up in southeast Texas, I can attest to that fact. In my case, it took almost a year, but I eventually came to treasure the flatlands and canyonlands that at first seemed so foreign to me….
We spent the rest of the day just visiting and touring Alice’s expansive cactus/rock garden, which now takes up at least a third of the yard. Not only does she know each plant by name, she can tell you where each rock came from—Austin, Kyle, Coleman, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada…the list goes on and on. She knows because she handpicked each one and placed it herself. (Bill lent a hand with the larger ones.) Besides rocks, cacti, succulents, grasses, and other low-maintenance plants, the garden features bleached skulls from hapless cows, deer, coyotes, and javelinas donated by friends; several large pots; weathered tree trunks; and a dolmen (a bench made with two or more upright stones capped by a horizontal stone). Alice invites viewers: The cactus garden is just east of the Muleshoe Country Club.
That’s a nice story. You could click the link to read the rest of it, although I did copy a lot of it here. But there’s more for you too, if you click through.
Because it’s the start of the Christmas Cactus season in Chicago, according to the Sun-Times.
Now’s the perfect time to buy a Christmas cactus, a plant that looks plain at first but blooms at Christmas time if cared for properly….
Care must be taken not to underwater it, as a Christmas cactus is in origin a tropical plant, not a true cactus. Do not soak the soil after a dry period; only moisten the top few inches, since buds, flowers and even leaves can fall off if the roots are suddenly saturated.
Well! I’m shocked! They don’t know what they’re talking about in Chicago. The plant may be from the tropical jungles of brazil, but it is a true cactus. And you’d think they’d have a picture. But no, nothing.
I wish I had something to say. Wouldn’t it be nice if my blog had lots of good things that I have to say? That would be good.
Instead, I usually like to ramble a bit. Like today I had a customer who asked what they could use as a screen for a bright light their neighbor had installed right in their window, and I suggested bamboo of course, but also Myrica or Fremontodendron would form nice tall thick shrubs that could block a neighbors light.
Also, I had a customer want me to pot some sedums into a pot without drainage. We don’t recommend this, but we will do it for them. We’ll put charcoal at the bottom, and then we tell them they have to water more often. This is counterintuitive. More often, but a lot less water, so it doesn’t collect at the bottom. Even then most of them will kill the plants in a pot without drainage. Today we had some inexpensive Ikea pots brought in.
And then there’s the fact that I have a sinus infection. Oy, the agony.
So you can see how I like to ramble a bit here and there. Maybe if I had a point, it would make more sense.
The Environment Department in Alhaurin el Grande, in conjunction with the association ‘Free to Live’ (Libres para Vivir) and ACYSA, held a seminar recently about succulent plants… which took place in the local Casa de la Cultura.
Now you know. Now what will you do with this knowledge? Will you use it for good, or will you use it to make fun of those crazy Spaniards? I think we should turn this into a limerick contest. I’ll start:
A Spanish group once held a seminar
To study the future of plants afar
They poked at a cactus
Got poisoned and whacked us
So the group ended up drunk in a bar.
THERE are a whole host of reasons why succulents should take pride of place in your garden, one local aficionado says….
The Waverley Community Centre is providing the setting for the third year running (to the Cactus and Succulent Society’s annual show) and Ms Abbott said the uninitiated would be surprised by the array of plants on offer.
Picture: VALERIU CAMPAN N17WG83
I guess if you’re near Waverly, you might want to stop by and say hi. It looks like a nice selection in the picture.
However, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it, so I may just take the weekend off and go to the beach instead. It has been hot here this week. Let’s hope it stays hot.
markerlove has the most adorable little crassula’s in these odd little tomato cans. One might suggest that it is the odd tomato cans that make the whole thing adorable, but I prefer to think it is all about the succulents. However, I wouldn’t recommend following the yogurt cup trick.
The burglar entered the house by climbing up to a first floor window and reaching inside a partially opened window.Â
The glass case was about 1.5in by 1in by 1in and was similar to a small fish tank.Â
Well, then again, maybe it wasn’t so scary after all. But look, the burglar REACHED INSIDE the open window. What would you do if you were sitting inside and all of a sudden a hand reached in your partially open window and grabbed a small case of cactus? What would you do?!?
As promised yesterday, the final shot of the Echinopsis terscheckii in bloom. Click the picture for the full size image. I especially love the subtly peach-colored sepals surrounding the white petals.
Hi there,
I just called about my plant, I have attached some images of the moldy
looking stuff so you can further diagnose,
Thanks
Serena
Serena,
It looks like your Opuntia sublata has a very bad case of Mealy Bugs! Under all that white “mold” should be nasty sap sucking vampire bugs, they coat themselves with wax to keep predators from eating them…
I recommend you spray the white masses off with a good strong jet of water from the hose (support the cactus branches with a stick while you do, so they don’t break). Then spray the plant with a good coating of 1% Neem Oil solution to kill off the eggs and any you miss with the jet of water. You may also need to drench the soil with the Neem, as they will also live in the soil and feed on the roots as well.
(T)he big mistake was picking the Disasta from Alaska.
I think it’s too soon. Everyone should vote in 15 days, and then we can settle on the reasons McCain lost.
And here, have a cactus:
Opuntia basilaris
It’s a little fuzzy. This shot was actually taken 6 years ago with a film camera and digitally scanned! Yes, kids, they used to have something called “film”.
Not all green roofs have succulents (though of course the best ones do, in my opinion).
Project Name:Â Buttner-Chang Residence Year:Â 2006 Owner:Â Ted Buttner and Rosemary Chang Location:Â Sunol, CA, USA
The client requested a planting design which would blend and not compete with the beauty of the natural landscape. Sunol enjoys hot dry summers with frequent wind, but traditional greenroof succulents would not blend with the native landscape…
I chose plantings of mostly evergreen ornamental grasses for all roofs (main house, office, garage). The native landscape is comprised of summer dormant grasses, but to minimize fire hazard and for best aesthetic appeal, we chose non-native grasses that looked good year-round, could take the summer heat, drying winds, and importantly, summer irrigation. Since the client enjoyed succulents, we chose to flank the entry doors with more colorful succulents…
Hi again. Thanks for all of your work on the web, you tube and the blog. I appreciate it.
I am moving to Utah and need to decide whether to take my tiny little seedlings with me. You might remember but I bought the small green tray and used coir and crushed carbon as one of your employees suggested. I also took your previous advice and bought your linseed oil and have given the tiny little green rice-sized cacti a few mists with it (1:1 with distilled water). However, I do have some questions:
1. First (a few questions), I hadn’t sprayed the seedlings in many weeks. A couple of days ago I noticed that two seedlings (is this the correct name?) were covered in a white mold of some type. I misted them again with linseed oil and today they look good. My question is – do I need to worry about this? How often should I mist with linseed oil, and can I overmist? I still haven’t put any holes in the container for fresh air – is the mold related to humidity possibly? They’ve been in the container, in a bubble window for 2 months. No direct sun, no watering, etc.
2. Second, as I mentioned before these are very special cacti to me and in some way I want them to grow to maturity for their own sake (sounds goofy I know, but..) – so I am contemplating giving them to a trusted friend to take care of. I’m concerned that such delicate seedlings couldn’t make it through a Utah winter (indoors obviously). I would be willing to use a reptile warming mat or anything if you thought that they would do as well in Utah as they would here. What would you do in this situation? Like I said, I am willing to invest some money to make cacti work in Utah, even if it means buying a serious light source for the winter months.
Thanks so much,
Adam
That was a long question. Let’s post the answer after the break… (more…)
Solanum quitoense – A large-purple-leafed shrub produces delicious juicy fruits called naranjillos. Plant them for the purple fuzzy leaves, harvest them for the juice. Be the first on your block, I always say.
Grazing Eland, Drakensberg Range, South Africa, 2001
Photograph by Kenneth Garrett
The rich foliage, roots, and bulbs on the slopes of South Africa’s Drakensberg Range attract a wide variety of mammals, including eland, the world’s largest antelope species. Logging, overgrazing, and soil erosion, however, threaten this critical African habitat.
What plants are there in the Drakensberg Range? Read on… (more…)
Echinopsis terscheckii – Faster than a Saguaro, mature (i.e. blooming age) much younger, but really just as impressive, it’s the Cardon Grande from Argentina.
These used to be classified as Trichocereus, but then all the tricho’s as well as the lobivias, and more all got moved into Echinopsis. I wonder how long that will last?
I’ll update you when the bud opens, maybe even post a photo of the bloom. Actually, I think it’s pretty much guaranteed I’ll be photographing the bloom and posting it on the blog.
