Cactus Blog 

Echeveria setosa v oteroi

Kindly little Leuchtenbergia principis waiting until my day off to bloom!

Ben

Nice! A very nice yellow on that one – I’ve seen a number where the yellow is much more pale.

It’s been sunny and hot, so it’s a good time to feature a very dark leafed succulent.

Aeonium “Voodoo” is a hybrid of A. “Schwartzkopf” and A. undulatum. Nice!

According to Wikipedia,

Voodoo is a syncretic religion practiced chiefly in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. Practitioners are called “vodouists”…

Vodouists believe in a distant and unknowable creator god, Bondye (likely derived from the French language term Bon Dieu, or Good Lord). As Bondye does not intercede in human affairs, vodouists direct their worship toward spirits subservient to Bondye, called loa. Every loa is responsible for a particular aspect of life, with the dynamic and changing personalities of each loa reflecting the many possibilities inherent to the aspects of life over which they preside. In order to navigate daily life, vodouists cultivate personal relationships with the loa through the presentation of offerings, the creation of personal altars and devotional objects, and participation in elaborate ceremonies of music, dance, and spirit possession.

Aeonium “Carol” is a large green Aeonium Hybrid that looks like a A. canariense hybrid. It was originally discovered in a garden in Santa Barbra so you know it will do well in the Bay Area.

How do we know it is a hybrid and not a cultivated variety? We don’t. But Aeoniums sure do hybridize readily, so there’s that.

Jason is waiting to go to the vet for his shots. Does he look worried?

Drosera spathulata, Fraser Island Form.
Sundew

Native to Australia
Perennial Carnivore
Sun: Partial to Full Sun
Water: Bog
Size: Low-growing, 2″ across
Round spoon-shaped leaves are covered with sticky hairs which capture and digest insects. Thrives in hot and humid conditions, but can be grown outside.

Pinguicula primulaflora

Butterwort

Native to SE U.S.
Evergreen Carnivore
Sun: Moderate to Full Sun
Water: Bog
Size: Rosettes to 5″
Attractive rosettes. Sticky leaves trap bugs like flypaper. Pale purple trumpet-shaped flowers. Stays green in winter, indoor or outdoor. Do not water over the leaves.
 

Whitesloanea crassa

Indigenous to Somalia, so you are unlikely to see this rare plant in habitat.

Caudiciform stapeliad; dry and warm in winter
  

Cowper Street, Berkeley

It’s an elephant shrine!

Yesterday I posted a YouTube video of an Electric Cactus and promised that it would be very exciting and amazing, and then I clicked the video and it was no such thing. It was kind of dull. Well today I revisit the concept of the electric cactus.

Jeff Kolega’s Desert Wind Sonata for Cactus and other Stuff.

Nice!

Aeoniums in Golden Gate Park

Did you ever wonder what an electronically amplified cactus sounded like? Now you can find out. All you have to do is click the play button on the YouTube video below and prepare to be amazed.

OK, so maybe that wasn’t so amazing.

So apparently this is now a thing.

David Penela

This time of year, off season for Aeoniums, the differences in the cultivars is very pronounced. Other times these two look much more similar.

Aeonium “Garnet”

Aeonium “Velour”

Pachypodium namaquanum

Tiny little baby spiny succulent plants are the best.

Now that’s what I like to see. A vicious no-good succulent plant.

Agave macroacantha “Pablo’s Choice” – Black Spined Agave
 
 Mexico
 
1 to 2ft. blue-grey Agave, compact and low. Large black terminal spines, recurved marginal spines. Full sun at the coast. Will form dense clusters that can spread 3 to 5 feet wide. Cultivar originated near Santa Barbara. Plant in fast-draining soil, grows fast with summer water.
 
Works well in gardens or in containers.
 
Hardy to 25F 
Full Sun to Part Sun
Cactus Soil
Low Water
 

That’s a nice stonecrop. It’s not the same as Blue Spruce – not even the same parent species, though it looks so similar.

Sedum sediforme “Turquoise Tails” – Blue Stonecrop

Mediterranean
 
An older variety that has gotten more popular in recent years. Long trailing stems with blue leaves. Pale yellow flowers.
 
Hardy to below 0F 
Full Sun to Part Shade
Cactus Soil
Low Water

Hello,

I’ve spent hours looking at pics online and can’t identify these cacti/succulents I recently acquired. Can you possibly identify them? Also, does the large brown swath on the prostrate plant indicate damage or a slow demise of some sort?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Newbie Leigh

The plants look like they need more sun, so it’s hard to ID them for sure. The one that is laying over is probably an Opuntia or less likely a Quiabentia. The brown is past damage and looks like it is fully healed.

The tall green one is maybe an Echeveria, like Echeveria setosa, but stretched vertically because of not enough sun.

The blue one is a Senecio, probably Senecio mandraliscae.

Peter

Dorena sends along this photo of a gorgeous desert cholla. I don’t know where she took the picture so I can’t be sure of the species, but I have my suspicions…

Hello!

I visited Cactus Jungle more than 2 years ago, and I picked up two plants: Orbea (Stapelia) variegata and Faucaria felina (I also picked up a bonus snail that has lived with O. variegata). The F. felina had a little accident a year ago (or rather, when I was in a 4-car collision on a highway while toting a few flats of plants to my new apartment, most of the plant’s growths were severed and it’s been languishing ever since), but the O. variegata is doing well. It isn’t as vibrantly colored as when I purchased it, but I also cannot give it the light it needs on a regular basis, so it makes do with what it can get. And that seems to be enough here in the swamp that is DC! These are the first blooms on this plant. Yeah, they stink, and I love them.

I just wanted to share this photo with you!

Kenneth
———–
The Homestead Hobbyist
homesteadhobbyist.com

Click to embiggen!

People like pictures. Pretty pictures of pink flowers are even better!

Cactus flowers on a cactus blog are just so the absolute best.

And what do we have here?

Gymnocalycium stenopleurum ssp. friedrichii

Small barrel cactus from Paraguay  gets only 4″ across.

Pelargonium “Old Spice”

S. African, large mounds, white flowers, scented leaves
Hardy to 10F

Euphorbia obesa

Small, round and solitary; very low water in winter.

Hardy to 30F if protected from rain. But we just keep them indoors year round anyway. It’s easier that way.

Hap has been very busy. Here’s his big Basket. He potted it up recently. So many succulents!

Nice!

The Whippet Benjamin

The Whippet Benjamin with more color.

Sweet jesus that’s a nice specimen in my private collection. Not for sale!

Boweia volubilis
Climbing Onion
 
Bulbs spherical to 10″, long twining vines, sm. greenish blooms

  Hardy to 30F 
  
  Part Shade
 
  Cactus Soil
 
  Low Water

Hi Peter,

Are you able to offer advice on Haworthias? I have a Haworthia chocolate pictured below that is losing leaves one by one. Not sure if it is going to stop or not, and if this is normal for a healthy C. chocolate. The dying leaves will turn a bright red color while losing their firmness, then became a pale red, and even more soft before drying up completely. Any thoughts?

Attached here is a picture of the specimen with leaves showing this activity.

I’ve searched the internet for information, but haven’t been able to find much about it.

Thank you for all of your help and time here.

David

David,

Given the natural brown coloration it’s difficult to tell for sure, but I think that it is just losing bottom leaves, which is normal for succulents. Maybe it’s been a bit more water than it wants? Hard to say from the photo. In moderate direct sunlight you should water every 1 1/2 weeks through the summer and in lower light less than that.

Peter

Another picture of the popular Lifesaver plant.

Huernia zebrina

Lifesaver Plant
 
Clumps of 6″ stems, erect or recumbent; cream-colored blooms with red centers

  Hardy to 25F 
  
  Part Shade
 
  Cactus Soil
 
  Low Water