Cactus Blog 

Sarracenia x readii – Pitcher Plant (S. rubra x S. leucophylla  )

Florida Hybrid
Perennial Carnivore

Sun: Moderate to Full Sun
Water: Bog
Size: 12″ tall

Grows in upright clumps. Large red flower sprays mid-summer. Keep moist with slightly to moderately acidic water.

Opuntia basilaris v. caudata – Beavertail Cactus – amazing and beautiful.

Compact variety. Smaller pads than the species, often heart-shaped. Will stay as low as 1 foot tall, but will spread 4 feet wide.

• Hardy to 0F if very dry
• Full Sun to Part Sun
• Cactus Soil
• Low Water

Nice!

Kniphofia on Cedar St., Berkeley

Prickly Pear season starts with Opuntia “Baby Rita”, a santa-rita hybrid with small and spiny pads.

Small pads, will grow 3 feet tall. Very spiny pads turn purple in winter.

• Hardy to 15F
• Full Sun to Part Sun
• Cactus Soil
• Low Water

Nicotiana alata “Lime Green” is the limiest green flower I have ever seen. Unbelievable.

Hybrid
Herbaceous

Sun: Full Sun at coast to Bright Shade inland
Water: Low to Moderate
Size: 3ft.

Old style 3ft. tall classic large-flowered and fragrant shrub. Can get covered in a mound of lime green wide open blooms throughout the spring and summer. Cut back hard when done blooming, or grow as a self-seeding annual.

A bloomed out Agave in Union Square. I took the photo while facing the sun, so I then added a bunch of filters to hide the fact I was facing into the sun. And then I revealed my secret to you anyway!

Mimulus “Esselen” – Santa Lucia Monkeyflower

California Native
Evergreen Perennial

Sun: Full Sun to Part Shade
Water: Low
Size: 2ft.

Compact shrub with glossy green leaves and bright orange flowers in spring and summer. Great for coastal gardens. Attracts hummingbirds and is a host plant for the Checkerspot butterfly. Deer resistant. Hardy to 20F.

Iris hexagona. Being a water plant we don’t carry it at our drought-tolerant cactus and succulents nursery. Yet. But maybe someday.

Huernia schneideriana is the blood-red Dragon Flower.

Long recumbent stems can reach 20″, small burgundy flowers.

• Hardy to 20F
• Part Shade
• Cactus Soil
• Low Water

This Carrion Flower in the Stapeliad Family, which is now Stapeliae, the Stapeliad Tribe in the Milkweed (Asclepiad) Family, which is now Asclepiadoideae, the Asclepiad Subfamily in the Dogbane Family, Apocynaceae.

So to recap, Carrion Flower, Stapeliad, Dragon Flower. But not in the Stapeliad Family as once thought and not in the Asclepiad Family as once thought since Stapeliads were moved as a tribe to Asclepiads which were moved as a subfamily to the Dogbane Family which got a lot bigger, and this recap failed in being a recap and ended being more of a restatement of the facts as they appear.

And what does the rest of the plant look like? Here is a picture of the unflowered stems.

Telegraph Ave., Berkeley

An Agave americana that will get too big for its location soon enough, plus some bonus scented geranium.

Geranium “Cheryl’s Shadow” is a very nice color for a low water groundcover.

South African Hybrid
Groundcover Perennial

Sun: Full Sun to Part Sun
Water: Low
Size: 6″

Small pale pink flowers against a stunning backdrop of dark purple leaves. Hardy to below 0F.

The blue varieties of the popular succulents are popular with the kids these days. Blue agaves are also popular with the oldsters these days. But here we have blue Echeverias. For you!

Echeveria “Blue Cloud” – moderately blue, some pink.

Echeveria “Blue Bird” – So blue….

Echeveria “Giant Blue Curls” – not so blue…

That’s a very nice paper cactus, by Jordan Shone whose website refers to her as:

I am a paper engineer / set designer currently living in the South West. My work brings together my obsessions with collecting, detail and colour in the realms of 3D.

The Dudleyas are always a crowd-pleaser, what with the small chalky leaves and green leaves and long bloom spikes with pale small flowers too.

Dudleya anomala is our newest member of the California native Sea-Lettuce family. I wonder how it got a strange name like that? This one is pretty reliably green and doesn’t get too red in sun. Where in California is it from? Why its from Baja California.

Tight clusters of green rosettes with slightly red tips in full sun. White flowers on long bloom stalks.

• Hardy to 25F
• Full Sun to Part Shade
• Cactus Soil
• Low Water

Dudleya brittonii is the classic Giant Chalk Dudleya, also from Baja California.

18″ rosettes on single stems with chalky leaves. Looks best if dry through the summer months – avoid overhead watering.

• Hardy to 20F
• Full Sun to Part Sun
• Cactus Soil
• Low Water

Finally we have the very red Dudleya farinosa – Sea Lettuce, our own Northern California coastal succulent.

• Hardy to 20F
• Full Sun to Part Sun
• Cactus Soil
• Low Water

That’s as close as I could get before the scurried off.

We have 2 new Sundews at the nursery. The classic Forked Sundew and a new White Sundew. Nice!

Drosera binata – Forked Sundew

Native to Australia and New Zealand
Deciduous Carnivore (Evergreen if Grown Indoors)

Sun: Partial to Full Sun
Water: Daily, Distilled Water Best
Size: Draping, 12- 18″ leaves

Dew covered multi-forked leaves turning bright red in the sun. Sticky dew captures insects. It forms a large insect-catching bush. Best grown in 50/50 peat moss and sand. Also grows well in standing water. Hardy to 25F.

Drosera capensis “Alba” – White Sundew

Native to South Africa
Perennial Carnivore

Sun: Partial to Full Sun
Water: Bog
Size: Low-growing, 6″ across

White leaves are covered with sticky hairs, will move like tentacles to capture and digest insects. Thrives in hot and humid conditions, but can be grown outside.

It’s my most popular video evah! And it’s a video of your favorite whippet, Jason. Nice!

Cephalopentandra ecirrhosa

East Africa

Caudex develops “pimples,” or fissures, as it ages. In the Cucurbitaceae family, forms wild-growing vines with large lobed green leaves and large yellow-green squash-blossom flowers.

• Hardy to 35F, Prefers to be warm in winter.
• Part Shade
• Cactus Soil
• Low Water

Buddleia davidii “Buzz Ivory” is another one of the dwarf Butterfly Bushes that Berkeley loves so much. Rather than the standard 8 feet tall, these “Buzz” dwarfs top out at 2 feet in a container and 3 feet in the ground. And they have a lot of ivory flowers that sure do look like they will attract them some butterflies. Stunned!

Asian Hybrid
Semi-Evergreen Perennial

Sun: Full Sun to Partial Shade
Water: Low
Size: 2 to 3ft.

Dwarf shrub with compact habit. Clusters of creamy white flowers in summer attract butterflies. Perfect for patio containers and small garden centerpieces. Prune back each year. Hardy to below 0F.

Bombax ellipticum (Pseudobombax ellipticum)

Mexico

Deciduous tree with succulent stems and large green/brown caudex, can form a tree over 10ft. tall. Large green leaves are smaller and red in full sun.

• Hardy to 25F if dry
• Full Sun to Part Sun
• Cactus Soil
• Low Water

And here’s another bloom picture. This is actually a different flower than the one above, though they were both open at the same time.

Billbergia “Hallelujah” – Queen’s Tears

Terrestrial bromeliad to 1 to 2 feet tall with very strongly variegated/spotted leaves. Glossy foliage, upright form, multicolored blooms. Grows quickly if not too wet.

• Hardy to 25F
• Part Shade
• Orchid/Jungle Soil
• Low Water

A nice young man made this lovely Euphorbia terrarium with a skull.

And here he is… (more…)

Billbergia elegans – a very elegant bromeliad with gorgeous flowers.

Brazil

Terrestrial bromeliad to 1 to 2 feet tall with subtle variegated pastel-colored leaves. Upright form. Multicolored blooms. Sharp edges with marginal teeth.

• Hardy to 35F
• Part Shade
• Orchid/Jungle Soil
• Low Water

Rikki’s latest succulent terrarium has already sold. How long was it out? Less than a day. So you know it’s good.

Aloe ciliaris “Firewall” is a really good choice for planting as a firewall on the dry California hillsides that are subject to the fires, like right here in Berkeley and in the Oakland hills.

Vertical stems to 3 feet tall, spreads wide. Orange flowers in late winter. “This plant can be used effectively on slopes, and provides a great barrier against fires when planted in wide enough swaths because of the tremendous amount of moisture stored in its leaves.”

• Hardy to 22F
• Full Sun to Part Shade
• Cactus Soil
• Low Water

Aloe “Delta Lights” is the newest of the small collector Spotted Aloes that we are offering. They are hardy outside, but look like they want to be sitting on your windowsill at home anyway.

Strongly spotted variegated leaves are green in shade and white in full sun, can get a pinkish tinge on the edges. Rosettes to 10″, clumps to 3 feet across.

• Hardy to 25F
• Full Sun to Part Shade
• Cactus Soil
• Low Water

Cactus Jungle! with a bit of an autumnal feel to the photo. Or at least that’s what Photoshop calls the filter. I think its a bit of a 70s feel. I was there you know, the 70s man, and I went to those 70s summer camps back then, so that was the filter of my youth. At camp. Not at home, where we didn’t have a particularly filtered life. But camp, well, that was covered in 70s filters.