Cactus Blog 

Make sure that everyone is equally thankful in your family….

Rikki has transformed a customer’s drawing into these amazing Succulent Wall Panels.
You can see the river running across the two panels near the bottom, and then some mountainous formations up higher.

Nice!

Good to Grow has a Stanley, also known by some as a Kalanchoe luciae although we call it K. thyrsiflora. It’s been doing very well, thank you, on the kitchen windowsill.

Click through for all the Kalanchoe goodness.

We have a new flat of small Phalaenopsis in. Just in time for Thanksgiving! I wonder what varieties these are? I have no idea. Here’s a good place to look them up. I’ll wait while you go look them up.

That’s a lot of hybrids!

Here are a couple really nice desert plants from the same Tahquitz Canyon Trail in Palm Springs as the cacti below.

But they’re not cacti! Not even succulent. How do they survive?

Honey Mesquite – Prosopsis glandulosa

Chuparosa! (Justica californica) I love that name! And winter bloomers in the desert are especially welcome. It’s in the Acanthus family (Acanthaceae) along with such popular plants as Bear’s Breeches (Acanthus mollis) and Polka Dot Plant (Hypoestes). Hey – we just got some Hypoestes in for the houseplant room for winter. Nice!

Prickly Pear Fruit, Palm Springs

Two Palm Springs posts in a row? I must have recently visited that lovely desert city in the desert.

Did you know it’s in the Sonoran Desert? And it borders on Joshua Tree NP? Do you wonder if I made it into the park?

Palm Springs has some nice desert trails.

This is the story of one of them, the Tahquitz Canyon Trail.

Opuntia basilaris – Beavertail

Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa – Buckhorn Cholla

And another Opuntia basilaris! Beavertails for everyone!

Cryptanthus zonatus – I don’t know the cultivar name for this one, but it’s probably one of the many C. zonatus varieties.

These are semi-epiphytic, so you can grow them with very little soil. We’re growing this lovely little bloomer in a big terrarium.

I see our misnamed plant now has flowered, so finally we should be able to ID it.

This is in the Daisy (Asteraceae) Family! In fact, it is a Senecio, or possibly the closely related Kleinia. But we don’t know the species or cultivar.

We may choose to call it Senecio “Frosted Lightening” for now, until we come up with a more proper name. Do you have anything to add?

Ferocactus cylindraceus

I’ve never seen a crested Ferocactus like this before.

Nice!

In case you were wondering where I found this, it was Indian Canyon, above the Murray Canyon Trail. Nice! If you are going there and want a more precise location so you can find it too, you can probably check the data associated with the photo. I don’t know if the data survives the posting, so if not you can email me for the location data.

Cactus and Succulents are often described as being “architectural” but now someone wants you to know they are the heart and soul of modern architectural design. I may be exagerating.

Symmetrical cactus sets off modern design

The orderly nature of modern design appeals to our need for simplicity in a progressively complex world. The simple lines of both modern architecture and interiors offer respite from strip commercial, traffic and media where color and image change faster than ever….

(O)ne group of plants seems intrinsically suited to modern design. It is the cactus…

We often suggest a lineup of simple column cacti to set off a modern house. But not just column cacti will work. It turns out that a lot of Agaves are also just as successfully merged into modern architectural design as the cactus. So there. And don’t get me started on the Dasylirions.

It’s our latest Gamago kids T-Shirt. So cute! I wonder why we carry things like this? They don’t have anything to do with cactus or succulents do they? No. But soooo cute!!!!!

They love them some succulents in Boston, what with the disastrous season for the Red Sox this year. And they’re inviting you to join them.

Succulent Container Workshop with Carrie Waterman
Saturday, November 17 2012, 10:00am – 12:00pm

Make your very own succulent container. Learn from an expert how to plant an attractive container of these wonderful plants. All materials will be provided including a nice selection of succulent plants suitable for a mixed container, pots, special soil mix, plant labels and top dressing. Aftercare instructions will be included along with information about how to propagate succulents and how to exhibit your container at the 2013 Boston Flower & Garden Show!

Put it on your calender.

Operculicarya decaryi! It’s the Succulent bonsai tree from Madagscar with thickened roots and it’s back at the nursery after a few years absence.

See the 2008 video! Enjoy!

Hanging off the side of a cliff! Nestled in a rock!

Ferocactus cylindriceus, also known as F. acanthodes or California Barrel Cactus or even Miner’s Compass (because it always leans to the South.)

In case you were wondering, I also had to climb up the cliff to get that picture. No tricks were involved.

And next to it was this cute little baby cactus! Also growing in rock.

From Ohio comes a tremendous object. It is a… Succulent & Airplant Christmas Tree.

They describe it as, “a beautiful and fun tabletop Christmas tree created out of echeverias and tillandsias” by Mayesh Wholesale Florist, Cleveland Ohio.

I have one word for it. Oy.

And no, we do not sell these so please don’t ask.

Yesterday I blogged the Blue Foxtail Agave.

Today we have Agave attenuata “Variegata.” Unlike yesterday’s plant, this is a new cultivar to us and as you can see they have a very distinct white edge.

We think they may not be hardy here so we have them in the Houseplant room.

Apparently this is a real photo and the lighting for this garden this year is tonight. In Las Vegas.

Light up the night: Ethel M gets the holiday season going with its annual cactus-lighing party on November 13. Photo: Christopher DeVargas

Ethel M Holiday Cactus Lighting A garden of cacti, colored lights and chocolates awaits. Admission for a family of four costs just one new, unwrapped toy, to be donated to KLUC’s drive. November 13, 5-8 p.m.

Sounds delicious. I regret not being there tonight.

Agave attenuata “Nova”

I don’t know why I haven’t taken any pictures of this one before – it’s the really blue colored of the Agave attenuatas so everyone wants one.

Blooming Agave

Tequila Agave

Ever wonder how a cactus finds the sun? They rotate to face it. Really?

Every cactus knows exactly where the sun is. They know this from their first day of life, and will always reach for the light in their natural angle of repose. At the Huntington Botanical Garden, their massive old golden barrel cactus are so illustrative of this fact. Virtually every one of these large old specimens leans southward.

It’s true of our native cactus too. The compass barrel (Ferocactus cylindriacus) is so named because it always leans however slightly to the south. They do this so reliably that their inclination was once used for reckoning much the same way pioneers found north from moss that grows only on that side of a tree trunk.

OK, maybe not rotate exactly, but leaning isn’t as exciting a story as rotating.

Large Aeonium “Whippets” – these are the first we’ve had in 5 gallon size, and they are not just nice – they are very nice. Gorgeous even. This is our own cultivar. Actually, it’s a sport off an A. “Schwartzkopf” that we’ve been growing successfully as its own plant for 6 years now. It’s a quality plant.

Agave celsii “Multicolor” is a very attractive plant. They will stay at about 2-3ft. across and can handle full sun, or even a little shade.

They are hardy down to 20F if dry, or 25F in a colder wetter winter.

They are toothy, but not too vigorous. Although watch out for the marginal spines.

Agave celsii are from Mexico, but this cultivar may well have been first found in Thailand. The original species is a softer leaf, and fully green.

“Jim makes friends with just anyone!” according to Aunt Rachel

Rikki has put the finishing touches on our new Terrarium Wall.

That’s a lot of Airplants. Nice!

Beach Day!

We took the whippets  to the beach and Benjamin got caught in a wave and came out and rolled in the sand.

So he sat awhile to dry off while Jason kept playing in the background.

In case you were wondering, whippets don’t usually get all the way in the water at the beach. They’ll wade in a little, but whippets aren’t too keen on the ocean.

Aeonium subplanum

Should I say anything more, or should I let you all argue it out over that name in the comments?