Cactus Blog 

Prickly Pear Cactus
Sacramento Street, Berkeley

Out front of Moxy Beer Garden. They’re new!

Bonus shot of Prickly Pear Cactus Row at the Cactus Jungle

Dionaea muscipula “Dente” has caught a fly.

It’s the continuation of cactus bloom season around here, i.e. Spring!

Opuntia basilaris x santa-rita is a nice low spine hybrid that has remarkable fully saturated flower colors. We have a number of very nice plants out right now. Enjoy them!

These are going to grow about 2 feet tall, and spread quite a bit wider if you let them. We find they are hardy down at least into the mid-20s, and lower if you keep them really dry. These are very popular with the pollinators as they have a lot of pollen. Bees appreciate them.

Parodia leninghausii is the Golden Ball Cactus from Brazil. Central stems can grow as tall as 24″, surrounded by a host of smaller golden balls. While small the form is clearly ball shaped, but when taller they are slanted apically which is different than most other cacti. Unique! Also hardy into the mid 20s or so.

Delosperma “Fire Spinner” is a very low growing, slowly creeping, member of the hardy Ice Plant Family, i.e. Aizoaceae. In case you were wondering why they are called “Mesembs” along with the Lithops and such, they are part of the Subfamily Mesembryanthemoideae. That’s a mouthful.

While a mat-forming groundcover may not be the most unique plant in the plant world, they do have a sparkly glistening coating on their green leaves. So that’s cool.

For some reason the “Fire Spinner” name is a registered trademark, so I probably should figure out how to include one of those r in a circle thingy’s appended to the name. But on the other hand this plant also seems to be called Delosperma “P001S” with the Fire Spinner part not even being part of the official name of the plant at all. Hard to know! This may mean something to someone or not.

As might be expected, these are hardy below 0F.

How could I forget this one?!? The bestest Cape Daisy of them all.

Osteospermum “Sunny Xena” so named because of the famed Xena’s famed sunny disposition.

Aaron asks the classic cactus vs. succulent question, on the Instagrams.

Agave, euphorbia, Pachypodium, aloes and others alike are not cactus correct? They are succulents yes? To be a cactus it has to be under the family of cactaceae? Educate me my mentor! aweezy_27

Aaron,

Yes, you are right! Only cactaceae are “true” cacti. All other spiny plants that look like a cactus are not a cactus. The difference is in the “aureoles” – only cactus have aureoles. On the other side, there are succulents in many plant families, including cactus etc…

Succulent is a strategy, Cactus is a Family.

Science!

Oooohh!!! Nice Echeveria “Violet Queen” hiding in that mixed wall panel with the yellow flowers poking out.

Aaaahhh!! Nice Sedeveria, an interesting enough intergenic hybrid, hiding in that mixed succulent pot with the yellow flowers peeking out. Hypertufa pot by Urban Farmgirls of San Francisco.

Osteospermums are easy to grow in the Bay Area. You can pretty much ignore them and they make nice mounding perennials with lots of spring and summer flowers. They’re called, generically enough, Cape Daisy since they come from South Africa. And they’re daisies, i.e. in the Aster Family, Asteraceae, a very popular flowering family that includes Sunflowers, hence the other name of the family, the Sunflower Family. Daisies, Asters and Sunflowers!

These particular daisies are more closely related to the Calendulas, as they are included in the Calenduleae Tribe within Asteraceae.

Osteospermum “3D Double Purple” so named for the obvious reasons.

Osteospermum “Mara” is a pretty copper daisy.

Osteospermum “Nasinga Purple” – Now finally we get to the famous Spoon Flowers! So named for the obvious reasons.

Osteospermum “Nasinga White” has been the most popular of the Cape Daisies here at the nursery this spring.

Rachel makes her own pots, and sends us photos!

Here are two of my recent favorites (both in pots I made myself!)

Also, my veggies are all doing very well (peas, kale, zucchini) except for my bell peppers?

Also, everyone who works at Cactus Jungle is SO NICE!
Thank you!!!!!

-Rachel

Wow! Those are great! Plants are a Delosperma and a Sedum commixtum.

It can be tricky to ID Aeoniums since they look different in summer and winter, shade and sun, and one species can look just like another at a different time of year. For example…

Aeonium “Ballerina”

Aeonium “Frosty”

I believe these two are actually the same plant, and some books list them as synonyms. But they look very different! On the other hand, one has been growing in sun and the other in shade. There’s no question that they are correctly labeled based on books and such, but is that enough to know for sure? No!

Achillea “Red Velvet”

North America; Cultivated variety
Herbaceous Perennial

Sun: Full Sun
Water: Low
Size: Low, blooms to 3 feet

Green gray foliage. Flowers summer thru fall. Often used for cut or dried flowers. Attracts butterflies and birds. Hardy to below 0F.

Achillea “Moonshine”

Cultivated variety, including a California Native species
Herbaceous Perennial

Sun: Full Sun
Water: Low to Moderate
Size: Fern-like foliage to 36″

Yellow bloom sprays in Spring through Summer that fade as they age. Often used for cut or dried flowers. Attracts butterflies and birds. Hardy to below 0F.

This marigold is called “Bolero”. We have them in the Organic Veggie Start section of the nursery so that you can plant them in among your vegatables. They’re beneficial! (as well as pretty). Wow! That’s a long list of benefits!

Mimulus “Jelly Bean Pink”

Pink Monkeyflower

California Hybrid
Evergreen Perennial

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

Pink flowers will bloom year round. Deer resistant. Hardy to about 20°F.

Difficult to weed when there is a Morning Dove nesting in the tray of Cacti…

This is a color we’ve never had before. Here we see this Echinopsis Hybrid with two blooms about to open in the early morning.

Here we see this same cactus in the afternoon after it has fully opened. (Moments later the plant was purchased and taken away!)

We don’t have an official name for this particular hybrid. What would you call it? “Ice Cream”? “Mill Valley”? “Fork and Spoon”?

I took this photo off my instagram feed. Fun!

Robot

Robot Cake

The first was made by my brother and the second was made in Australia in honor of the robot.

Yesterday I featured some Cactus Stamps on this here Cactus Blog, and they were postable!

Today I’m featuring Cactus Stamps that are rubbery. And there are three of them for me to feature! All are handmade, or hand-carved as the case may be, and available on the Etsy. Three is a good number, you should buy them all.

It’s a Tumblr Spring Botanical Art Show! Win prizes! Click the link already and get started on your way to Tumblr fame and fortune.

Apparently Tara on Etsy will post these older stamps along with some others on a handmade postcard and send it off to you.

Sweet deal!

Parodia crassigibba flowers are highly variable – some are yellow some are pink and some are even white. These are pink.

And these are yellow.

These are from the same seed crop. That’s how variable they can be!

Side by Side! So different and yet so similar!

It’s cactus bloom season, also known as Spring. Part 2.

I hope you are still enjoying these pictures of cactus flowers because we have a few more to share, right here on the cactus blog.

Echinocereus viridiflorus is the infamous green-flowered cactus, Green Pitaya, from the Plains States. That’s right – it’s native to a range from Texas to South Dakota, even found in a corner of Wyoming.

Opuntia erinacea, possibly a subspecies of Opuntia polyacantha, is the Mojave prickly pear. That means its a California Native!

Yellow flowered Echinocereus grandiflora “Sunshine Yellow”

How many flowers are there on this one yellow flowered cactus? A Lot.

Pretty!

@CactusJungle morning:)))) small question…..opuntia seeds… Any tips? They are all hardy ones….

—James Staples (@poorjim6060) April 16, 2013

@poorjim6060 rub gently but firmly between sandpaper, soak in kelp or gibberellic acid overnight + be patient, can take a year to germinate

— Cactus Jungle (@CactusJungle) April 16, 2013

It’s cactus bloom season, also known as Spring. Part 1.

I hope you enjoy pictures of cactus flowers because we have a few to share, right here on the cactus blog.

Echinopsis chamaecereus is the renowned Peanut Cactus

Epiphyllums are the seriously underrated Orchid Cactus

Echinocereus “White Lightning” is photographed in front of a Tequila Agave.

Hello,
We had big beautiful cactus on the balcony, we cut it into smaller parts and planted them in big pots, but they are dying. Our gardener doesn’t seem to be fixing the problem.
we’re not giving them water.. some are at the entrance of the house. no water and no sun (could that be the problem) some are outside on the balcony, so getting water only when it rains and it does not rain much.

I am attaching picture here. Could you please help. Thank you
Hala

Hala,
Two of the cacti are dead and the other two look like they might still be alive. I don’t really know what has gone wrong as there are so many possibilities here. No water and no sun seems like a sufficient cause, though.

I would remove the two that might be alive from the pot and start over in a new pot, preferably terra cotta, and new fresh fast-draining cactus soil. Bring them out to a sunny location. Here in the San Francisco area we would water every two to three weeks.
Peter