Cactus Blog 

Stannage Ave., Berkeley

I see we have a large Cotyledon, or maybe it’s a Kalanchoe, I don’t know, and it’s about to be in full bloom. The Bay Area is home to many blooming succulents, just this one happens to attract aphids, so watch for them.

“Whippet under the Pillows” Edition

It’s my own tree cholla from South America. Opuntia subulata, or more precisely Austrocylindropuntia subulata.

And by mine, I mean Cactus Jungle’s.

Stannage Ave., Berkeley

That’s a lot of potted Aeoniums hanging out on Stannage. Big Aeoniums, like maybe A. urbicum sized. And a big rock, too. I like big rocks.

I found this gnome from Texas on Page Street in Berkeley. Why is there a UTexas garden gnome in our neighborhood? I do not ask questions, I only take the pictures. Where’s my UMich gnome????

Common names vary. And yet some just stand out.

Plants are also given names that are sometimes derogatory. Who names them? We don’t know but they become popular! Sansevieria is known as Mother-in-law’s tongue because the tip of its succulent leaf is so prickly…. The pink flowers of Pseudobombax ellipticum resemble a shaving brush and it’s called the Shaving brush flower… Then, there is Crocodile bark, Elephant apple, Monkey’s earpod, Fried egg plant, Bullet wood, Bleeding heart, Bottle brush, Sandpaper, Devil’s tree… it’s a growing list.

Good to know.

Now that’s an attractive Pachycereus pringlei

Another one of our Baja native plants that do well around these here parts of the California area. This cactus gets tall. 40 feet tall is tall.

Kains Ave., Berkeley

I see a large-headed Aeonium “Sunburst” in front of a whole mound of Aeonium heads. Lots of Crassula, some Agave, and a Lemon Tree. Delicious! Too bad its all hiding behind a well-stacked rock wall.

This one with golden chartreuse foliage is “Aureum”

This stonecrop with bluish purple foliage is “Purpureum”

Both are Sedum hispanicum, Spanish Stonecrop, from Spain. From the rocky slopes of the Spanish Steppes. Does Spain have Steppes? Or is that Poland and Argentina that have Steppes?

Sometimes I’m just BSing you here on the Cactus Blog. But not about the part of these Sedums being Spanish. They are. Cold hardy too. Can handle sun or shade, but will look best with a little direct sun and a lot of indirect sun. Can handle a bit more water than other succulents.

Echeveria “Rosy Ghost” is our newest cultivar. We found it among a crop of Echeveria subsessilis, so we think it’s a hybrid. But look at that color! Rosy edges, bluish white leaves! This one definitely likes a lot of sun. We think it will get about a 6″ rosette. Hopefully we can keep this in production year after year, but in the meantime we have a first crop ready. Dazzling!

Here’s another otherwise unnamed Echeveria Hybrid you can enjoy too. Colorful! Maybe we should figure this one out rather than name it ourselves.

Kains Ave., Berkeley

That’s a Cotyledon to the left, a Crassula in the front, and numerous dark Aeoniums to boot. Nice garden!

Dudleya brittonii is what I would call a California Native, but not everyone would agree with me. It is a Baja Native, i.e. Mexico, or Baja California. Is that California or not? Only the geologic formations can know for sure. But I’m betting that Eons of development would indicate that Baja and the US part of coastal California are part of the same Biome.

That’s my argument for including this plant in a list of California natives.

The other argument would be that some of these are growing naturally all the way up as far as San Diego County anyway so what’s this scientifically insignificant argument really about?!?

Hort Log has quite the discovery. Photographic proof too.

This is the juvenile form of Rhaphidophora – often called a shingle plant as the leaves flatten and wrap tightly around tree trunks.

That’s crazy!

Echeveria “Perle von Nurnberg”

These have been propagated from leaf cuttings. It takes a couple years before you get such large and beautiful plants from a single leaf. But it happens!

Echeveria derenbergii

These are growing in what we call a “Mud Flat”. Here, let me google that for you. Well, that’s not what I’m talking about. I wonder if I can find any pictures online? Here we go. And here’s a pretty application.

So that’s how we do it.

And a bonus! Here’s a leaf cutting with plantlet and rootlets for you.

Camelia Street, Berkeley

This lovely and giant and very old and large Cycad is the ever popular Sago Palm. Not a palm, did I mention its a Cycad? Cycas revoluta. But you knew that already, didn’t you.

Aloe nobilis are small and green right now but when they get bigger they will form a mounding field of rusty dark green toothy aloes that are covered in orange flowers in the winter.

South African, some would say this is not a species at all but a hybrid aloe. A hybrid? Between A. mitriformis x A. brevifolia? Is that so? I don’t know. My South African Aloe book doesn’t mention the plant at all, so that might indicate its a hybrid.

Pam Penick’s Digging found a strange steel planter in Austin with an overgrown agave hanging off it. It’s a very interesting sight!

I do love a nice squid agave (A. bracteosa), and steel planters rock. This one is meant to be an address marker, however, and the squid has simply grown too large, obscuring the numbers.

Click through for the pictures.

Camelia Street, Berkeley

Spurge, probably Euphorbia characias, and Artemesia. Sulphur yellow blooms? Check.

Aeonium pseudotabuliforme isn’t the Dinner Plate Aeonium, but it is a very large headed rosette Aeonium. The leaves are glossy and rounded rather than hairy and pointed, hence the pseudo in the name. It’s also more propbably a subspecies of A. undulatum, and not its very own species.

From the Canary Islands, this succulent will branch, stay low to the ground, and eventually have yellow flowers.

It is very green and will not color up in sun, so it’s probably better to grow it with less sun.

This makes it also a good choice for indoors, but the heads do get big – dinner plate big – so maybe you should let it grow outside where it will have more room to wander.

The Canary Islands are off the coast of Italy, or Morocco or somewhere in the region, but the Islands are probably closer to Europe because they are Spanish-owned, but in reality they are right off the coast of Africa. Perfect Mediterranean climate makes for perfect succulents for coastal California. Yay!

Here, have a bonus large-headed Aeonium from the African Islands owned by the Europeans known as the Canary Islands.

Aeonium subplanum

Scientists believe the agave plant – the raw source of Tequila and mezcal – could produce cost-effective biofuel for farmers

As part of a science project at Central Queensland University in Rockhampton, Australia, scientists have been growing the plants and discovered the leaves, that are currently a by-product, could be used to make bioethanol.

Of course it will work, you can make alcohol from it easily enough, but will it be a better source than switchgrass?

Aloe bakeri

It’s a Rare Madagascar Aloe in bloom! The blooms are few and not tightly grouped, so the photo is sparse too. But it’s pretty. Ooooooo. Narrow green spotted leaves and yellow flowers. Not very hardy so we grow them indoors. Great in hanging baskets! Can handle full sun but will be a deeper, more luscious, green in shadier conditions. Treat them like an orchid? That would be one suggestion.

Danger Garden visited the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek and a lot of photos were taken. How many?

I had no idea I took over a hundred photographs that day. The garden is just that inspiring.

Click through for all the sunny succulents in all their sunny glory. As seen by Danger Garden of course. There were Yuccas and Agaves in bloom. If you don’t want to click through to see all the pictures, then get yourself over to the gardens and see them in person.

Anne’s rooster is a Silkie x Ameraucana rooster. Nice!

The rosiest of the yarrows is the Rose Yarrow. So it would seem it has been correctly named, after all! But the common name and the cultivar name don’t match? What’s up with that? It turns out that Cerise (244, 0, 161) is just another name for Rose (255, 0, 127) in the color-wheel of plants.

Achillea “Cerise Queen”

Hybrid
Herbaceous Perennial

Sun: Full Sun
Water: Low to Moderate
Size: Under 1ft. tall

Rose colored flowers. Drives the butterflies crazy. Remove spent flowers for a late fall rebloom. Cut flowers last a long time, look great dried. Hardy to below 0°F.

Stannage Ave., Berkeley

Very brightly orange colored blooms spikes on this streetside Aloe arborescens. Well-tended.

Sandy Johnson, the co-owner of Hearts of Jade Succulent Garden, Art and Gift Shop on High Street, said business was “steady” this holiday season….

Hearts of Jade, open since Sept. 2012, features indoor and outdoor decorations, including metal sculptures, birdhouses, pottery, wind chimes and a variety of succulent wreaths and arrangements.

“We do a lot of one-of-a-kind things you don’t see anywhere else,” Johnson said. “Succulents are big right now, (so) we’re just kind of riding the wave.”

Do more than just ride the wave, Sandy! Grab hold of the bucking bronco of succulent popularity right now and make a mark in the Chicagoland arts scene!

By the way, do click through that link above to the bucking bronco. Amazing what succulent popularity of the moment can lead to!

Whippet