Cactus Blog 

Locally, you’ll find a respectable assortment of sedums at local garden centers, although I wish they would carry more varieties.

Well, I guess not too much love.

Moir Gardens within the Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation, on Kauai are,

identified as “one of the ten best cactus and succulent gardens in the world.”… Today the garden contains rare cactus and succulents, bromeliads, orchids, mature trees, and water lily ponds.

This is according to poiputrip at blogono. I take it to be true, because why would a blog lead you astray?

Hunting for the Sun has taken very good care of cactus for years and yet there weren’t any blooms!

Until now…

Nice photo. I think it’s a Rebutia.

Scientists in Italy have proven that cactus pear reduced oxidative stress in healthy persons.

I love that attribution! “Scientists in Italy”! I’ll bet you they’re trying to sell something…

Cactus products rule the earth. Here’s a new one. I refuse to endorse it, but you can take my blogging about it to be an endorsement.

Cactus Juice Eco-Safe Spray 6 oz.
Manufacturer: Cactus Juice
Product Description: Containing no harmful chemicals and formulated with your health in mind, this natural, lightly fragranced blend of Prickly Pear Cactus, emollients and moisturizers creates a shield that protects the skin from most insects, including sandflies, no-see-ums, black flies, gnats, and mosquitoes. Safe to spray on clothing.

I don’t know what the hell this is about. I see plenty of gnats and mosquitos hanging around the prickly pears.

Succulent plants are hard to love. They tend to be parsimonious about offering shade and seem rather pointedly inhospitable so that pleasure-seekers are disinclined to settle among the yuccas for a leisurely afternoon glass of wine.

By Georgia Tasker, McClatchy Newspapers

I disagree.

I hate that common name. What a stupid name. They should change it. I’m going to call this the Cherry Pie Yucca, because it’s delicious.

Yucca rostrata – From Texas, it can get over 6 ft. tall, and will look a lot like a Joshua Tree, but it will survive the winter in these parts, thrive even. Still, it’s not as famous as the Joshua Tree, and so most people aren’t interested. I suppose if Bono hasn’t sung a song to it recently, then you might not want it. Well fine. More for me.

Kevin of K’s Cakes usually blogs about cakes. But here he is blogging about his night blooming cereus. Photos ensue, cake was shared by all I’m sure, delicious.

Superflys Whippets has this unacceptably adorable puppy photo. I don’t know what the caption says since it’s in german.

Superfly’s Omnia – knapp 12 Wochen alt, hier trägt sie ihr “Prinzesschen-Halsband”, ein Geschenk von Marion

Oy what a puppy.

Here’s a Saguaro photo that appears on a site called Now Public. It lists a creative commons license that allows reproduction with attribution.

Photo by drewnaustin

I think this was OK for me to do.

I don’t normally complain about customers at the nursery, and certainly not on the blog, but this person was not a customer of ours, so I feel like sharing. I do this because there are times when I really just don’t understand people.

A few weeks ago one of our employees gave some free advice over the phone to a person out of state who was not one of our customers. She had a Pachypodium that was elonated, and not doing well, and it was getting no direct sun at all. So our employee, overheard by my partner, advised her to get it more sun. She interpreted this to mean she was supposed to take it outside, which is not what we told her, but outside would be fine too, you’d just need to harden the plant off before putting it into full sun.

Anyway, she called back yesterday and I answered the phone. She started right off yelling at me that we killed her plant. I tried to find out what was going on, and help her further, not even knowing who she was or what she was talking about. Often pachypodiums will lose leaves but aren’t dead. Anyway, after a few minutes trying to tease the details out of her, she finally explained that she put it on her porch and when the sun hit it, within 45 minutes it had lost all its leaves and was dead. Now I was about to tell her it probably wasn’t dead, but instead she yelled at me,

I didn’t call to get any more help. I called to tell you you’ve killed my plant and you’re all idiots.

And then she hung up.

Like I said, I just don’t understand people. She’s not our customer but she called a small out-of-state retail store and she asked for free advice, and then she gets it into her head to call back and call me an idiot. I guess that’s what you get for trying to help non-customers.

Debra Lee Baldwin’s column in the LA Times features “ANNA GOESER’S process for creating the retro container gardens she calls Mojave bonsai.” She has a step by step procedure laid out for you to create adorable dioramas.

I’m telling you, it’s so easy, even you could try it out. And send me your photos of the finished product, please, since I’m too busy to try it myself right now. Maybe around the holidays…

Here’s an example of one of the steps, so you can see for yourself how easy it is.

4. Buy three to five small cactuses. Leaving them in their pots, arrange the cactuses as you like. To make the plants appear larger — as in a perspective drawing — position them toward the back of the scene you are creating, so there is ample foreground.

And I like this one too:

7. Position accessories to suggest a desert experience, such as a car trip.

Nice. The full article is here, and the instructions are here.

Monsieur Gnome from every.freaking.thing.will.be.alright is building small succulent gardens, inspired by Martha Stewart, and showing you how to do it too! Now that’s service.

It’s a new Sedum for us, S. Rosy Glow. I think they call it that because it has a bit of a rosy glow to it. It’s low growing like one of our other favorite shrubby sedums, S. “Bertram Anderson”, but a milder color.

So they plant succulents to beat the heat.

When Dallas has terrible triple-digit heat waves coupled with dry skies, my thoughts always turn to succulents.

Converting to a garden of succulents occurs to me when I’m standing with the garden hose in hand, sweat rolling down my face.

Now you know that people with hoses in Dallas sweat a lot. At least, that’s what I take from the article in question. Maybe if you click through and read the rest you’ll get more out of it than just that. Like this bit:

I’ve been hungrily reading a new book, Hardy Succulents: Tough Plants for Every Climate by Gwen Moore Kelaidis (Storey Publishing, $19.95 ). There are fetching glossy photos by Saxon Holt on almost every page that deepen my yearning for not just containers of succulents but whole garden beds thick with them.

We agree.
 

If you look very closely at this National Geographic Photo of the Day you will see a very fine dusting of moss growing on these rather unusual natural stone formations.

(Photograph by Jodi Cobb, for National Geographic magazine)

See to the left there, there’s some Sphagnopsida and just below that is a fine example of a Andreaeobryopsida.

What’s most remarkable is that there are no cacti growing along the sides of this particular stone outcropping. Normally, one would find a healthy growth of cactus alongside moss growing on stone formations.
(more…)

I just read that there is a law on the books in Richmond, Virginia saying you can’t plant cactus as a fence between you and your neighbor! I know many towns have very specific fence laws, especially dealing with heights allowed, which is why we sell a lot of bamboo, but no cactus!?!

Cistus x. skanbergii – Pink Rock Rose

Hybrid from Mediterranean Natives
Evergreen Fragrant Ornamental

Showy 1″ pale pink blooms. Great for informal divider, in rock gardens or accent plant. Deer and Fire resistant, good for coastal locations.

Occasionally someone will come into the nursery and tell me that their feng shui consultant told them no cactus. Now I have the empirical evidence to convince them otherwise.

There are a couple of different uses for cacti in Feng Shui. One is to shift a stressful energetic experience of another person to something more comfortable….

The other use offers protection and security for your home or office. Please view ‘Cactus for Protection’ for that information….

You will want to place the cactus in your Fame and Reputation area but not if that is a bedroom or the kitchen.

And by empirical I mean I have evidence that someone else says that cacti can be good feng shui.

I like writing headlines.

Anyway, there’s some new art on exhibit at LAX that features some natural themes, if you happen to get the chance to stop between flights and look around.

“A Place in the Sun: Desert Landscapes” (is) in Terminal 2. This exhibit features oil paintings of natural desert elements, such as cactus, rocks, and wildflowers by local artists Judith Amdur and James Griffith. These paintings remind the viewer that while Los Angeles is known for its miles of coastline, parts of the region have desert conditions and features. The exhibit is on display through September 11, 2008.

Woohoo! It’s a cactus tote bag!

I’m so excited I could shvitz.

From a Canadian newspaper, we get this tale of woe:

Patience has been a theme of many garden-related conversations I have had lately.

For example, someone told me they had planted several new perennials recently and wondered why they were not blooming yet. I asked how long ago the perennials were planted, the response, “sometime last week.” Another person asked me why his magnolia was not blooming after being planted for three years. And a friend of mine asked me why his cactus that I gave him as a birthday gift was not flowering.

All three questions and a multitude of others have a similar theme: why isn’t my plant flowering? The answer is not always the same. For instance, the cactus only flowers at night, so my friend would never get to see it unless he was up at midnight staring at the thing.

You know, I think another reason that the plants may not have bloomed is that they’re in Canada. That’s just my theory, but I do have some scientific backing for this theory that is mine. For instance, there are mink running wild in Canada, and I’ve heard of Elk being free and wild up there too. So you can understand my concern for the cactus.

On top of that, night-blooming cacti blooms are generally still open the next morning, and aren’t fully done until around noon, earlier if it’s very hot, but then that’s the whole thing, now isn’t it, of their being up in Canada, where it isn’t so hot.

Hello,

I was in last week and bought a few things to start out growing cactus from seeds. At you employees recommendation, I bought the small green seedling container, some coir, and some activated carbon. I put added the quite wet (but not soupy) coir, added 20 or so seeds to various spots, and then covered in a pretty fine layer of pulverized carbon (used a pestle and mortar). It is now sitting in out bubble window with the other plants. The lid is on and the humidity inside must be at 100% or close to it. Since I only have the seeds I put into this container, any other ideas for carefully germinating my seeds and not losing them to some other competitor would be IMMENSELY appreciated. That includes things like extra supplements, additives that modify PH, or anything that would be beneficial.

Thanks,
Adam

Adam,

Cactus seeds like warmth to germinate, I try and get the temp up to about 80-85 degrees. You do need to watch that the seed dome is not in direct hot sun, or it could get too hot and cook the seedlings. The humidity is good to help break the seed’s dormancy, but do lift the lid now and then to give them some fresh air. Cacti can take a few weeks to even a year to germinate so be patient. After you see little green things that look like transparent green candy rice grains poke a few holes in the plastic lid to let in more air. As it starts drying out faster with the air, you will need to mist occasionally. Watch for mold and algae, though that is why you were told to use the charcoal, but in humid environments it can always be a problem. A low strength mist of Neem Oil usually takes care of it if it does cause problems. Plan on leaving the seedlings in there for about a year, though once they get some size and spines you can wean them off the humidity dome.

Good luck and happy growing.

Hap

Cornell Ave.
Probably one of the Euphorbia characias varieties.

Spurges do well locally. There are some giant ones that we don’t like. Even some tree spurges around town. That’s just ridiculous. We like the low shrubby spurges that get 2 to 3 ft. like this one. Very nice. And deer-resistant too. Plus the butterflies love the blooms.

John McCain was aiming to make history with his pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and historians say he succeeded.  

morning Hap…i am wondering what to do about one of the cactus in the living room which has about two inches of rot on the top of one of the branches (this is the specimen which had the rootball reduced…form is like a candelabra)…i assume i cut off the rot…but am wondering if i should apply something on the top…i am watering every 30 days (about 3/4 gallon)…this has never happened before…any cactus wisdom is appreciated…hope you are well…best…diane

Dianne,

You can treat the cut area with household Hydrogen-Peroxide. Paint it on liberally or put some in a spray bottle and spray the injured surface. Reapply every day for a week or so, it should keep the infection from spreading.

Good luck,
Hap

Stannage Ave.
Aloe spinosissima

These mounding aloes will be covered in orange bloom spikes in a few months. They seem to do pretty well right alongside a high traffice area, holding up well to 8 year-olds on bicycles falling into them.

“[Sarah Palin is] going to learn national security at the foot of the master for the next four years, and most doctors think that he’ll be around at least that long,” said Charlie Black, one of Mr. McCain’s top advisers.