Cactus Blog 

My favorite internet radio station and a cactus in one slick instagrammed photo. It’s a random tumblr photo of the day! And no I don’t know who that is.

From sitting-looking, who took the picture from a Harpers from 1897. That’s awhile ago.

I see prickly pear cactus and bicycles, a standard combination for men with guns back in the 19th century.

Echinocereus purpureus, although the recently out-of-print The Cactus Family (Anderson) says its more recently changed to the corrected E. reichenbachii ssp. reichenbachii, but we also grow E. reichenbachii and then there’s E. baileyi which they say is more properly known as E. reichenbachii ssp. baileyi and E. armatus which Anderson insists is really E. reichenbachii ssp. armatus, so that’s all just too confusing and I prefer to go with the E. purpureus for this one.

Now that’s what Botany and Botanical Latin and the whole Horticulture trade is all about – getting the proper names right.

Science!

(The Merry Widow Cactus common name above is real, although Anderson also has listed the less distinctive Purple Candle Cactus.)

Not only do we have lots of mixed color Monkeyflowers, but we also have mixed Yarrows.

This red is probably Achillea “Paprika”.

These are all in the California Native section of the nursery although that’s an iffy designation for these hybrids and cultivars, but close enough.

You can find pictures of blooming Tanacetum densums all over the interwebs, in landscapes showing what a great groundcover it is with the little yellow ball flowers.

Not here. Here you get this odd photo of a potted T. densum with blooms. That’s my Memorial Day Weekend gift to you.

Did you know this plant is in the Sunflower Family (Asteraceae)? That means it has compound flowers just like a sunflower. Except these are tiny little dots of a thing.

It’s very cold hardy. Below 0F? Piece of cake.We find you should plant them no further than 12″ apart, and 6″ apart is really ideal if you want to get that feathery silvery groundcovery look going.

The latest from the fine folks at Gamago – we’re now carrying their LED Light in the shape of a Crane. An origami crane! I know how to make that out of paper! Gum-wrappers! Anything. But an LED light? Those folks are geniuses.

Today on our Cactus Shopping Channel, brought to you by Hasbro! we have a lovely charm from Thomas Sabo, perfect for your silver pendant with the Cowboy Boots Charm already on it!

Now this charm is yours for the low low price… but wait! don’t order yet, let me tell you what else you’ve won behind curtain number 17. Why, it’s an elephant! Wa-Waah.

No really. Actually the Cactus charm is a bargain, if you check out the cowboy boot and elephant prices too. Would I steer you wrong?

It’s Friday afternoon and now I feel like dancing. (Oddly enough the dancing cactus is also by Sabo. Maybe a different Sabo, but I don’t know for sure.)

One last photo from Dave taken when it was a bit chillier in April.

You can find him at Dave’s Photos.

Mestoklema tuberosum is a caudiciform mesemb with adorable orange flowers and spider-web-covered leaves right now. What’s not to like? I know it’s expensive but it’s totally worth it. Of course I would say that, but that’s why you read this blog – I say exactly what you expect me to say. I’m safe and predictable. Boring, even. Although sometimes a little bit meta. Which I’m sure you expected too. Science!

Wow, those are some beautiful lithops at Lithops Stories.

Delosperma “Lavender Ice” is much nicer than the last ice plant I blogged. In fact, it’s the nicest ice plant I’ve ever blogged. At least until I get to “Fire Spinner”. But we’ll be happy with this one for now. And, mind you, I’m not just talking about the flower color which is spectacular, but also the leaves which are more interesting than the standard ice plant leaf.

Luther from Oregon Cactus Blog captured a variegated Euphorbia milii on film. That’s some strong variegation. No subtleties at all.

The first Romneya coulteri bloom of the year! Now this is exciting news.

Monkeyflowers are some very productive N. California Native bloomers, as you can see right here.

8th Street, Berkeley. I’m guessing Mimulus “Eleanor” though possibly it’s M. “Jelly Bean Gold”

As you can see we also have a lot of very nice blooming Monkeyflowers at the nursery right now too.

That’s just perfect for the Bay Area. Who doesn’t want to walk out with some Monkeyflowers under their arms as they walk down 4th Street to get themselves a nice mocha at Peets.

They’re so waxy and all…

Plants are the Strangest People has some Hoya bella flowers going right now. Some scent, not too much.

Nice!

We now carry handmade ceramics, made right around the corner here in the industrial neighborhoods of Berkeley, from Jennifer Fisher.

Here we see that we’ve potted up one for you already.

And this is a very small wall pocket with a little bit o’ the string of pearls.

Tillandsias, too?

These are awesome succulent ceramic pots, handmade and local. You can’t do better than that.

Sometimes people are so quick to send us a question they forget to tell us who they are, or where they are. In general, it’s always nice to see a question signed by a person so we know it’s not a bot.

Not sure why it looks like this. In raised pots, we do get frost on occasion, maybe too much/little water?

Any advice?

In general succulents do lose bottom leaves, so as long as there are new leaves growing in the center its not really a problem. However it does like like it might have been some freeze damage, so maybe next year if you’re going to get a freeze you could cover it with a frost blanket.

Peter

Lisa posted this photo of Obama in the Salamander Terrarium on our Facebook page.

Nice!

We’re currently out of Obamas, but should have them back in stock in the summer.

Sweetstuff Sassy Succulents has found a new use for old Father’s Day Gifts gone awry – make a hanging succulent wall unit out of it. In this case, it’s a BBQ grill cage stuffed and planted and hung.

The first of our many new Delosperma cultivars to bloom this spring is…

“Starburst”!

Eh.

This looks like an ad, but I don’t know what it’s using the Euphorbia tirucallii to advertise. The lampshade? Chair? Pot? Elephant?

Who knows!

That’s what I love about the internet, the shear non-sequitorial randomness.

There’s an artichoke in our neighborhood that’s growing into a tree. They’ve been pruning it up and now it has a trunk and everything. The flower heads are small since this plant has been in the ground for a number of years. I wouldn’t try to eat them.

10th Street, Berkeley

Our latest team member, Joseph.

He’s learning how to water the bamboo today. Tomorrow? The veggies too.

Hort Log has some beautiful Hoya lasiantha bloom photos. They claim they look like molars, but I think they look more like bats. Yes, I said it, they look like little yellow bats hanging down from the top of a tiny dark cave.

What, you haven’t clicked over yet? Stopped reading this and click over.

I’ve had this fellah for a few years now and I’ve never seen this kind of growth before. What is it?? Plus, I’m not sure what kind of columnar it is since I got it from a chain-store nursery.

 

RK

RK

That’s an Echinopsis pachanoi, also known as San Pedro Cactus, and the new growth at the bottom is a new branch. Congrats!

Peter

Dani, near Santa Cruz, sends along a photo of her Bearded Iris.

Nice!

Does anyone know Bearded Irises better than me who can tell us what the variety is? One could start looking here. Of course, we only sell the Pacific Coast Irises at the store, but that doesn’t mean we can’t admire others.

It’s the original cactus friend, Bastardino, from Tokidoki. He was the first cactus toy we carried at the store, and now he’s back.

Spikey little thing. He’s tough. Yay!