Cactus Blog 

Our first marigolds of the year are called Bolaro.

Remember to always plant marigolds with your organic vegetable garden. They attract beneficial insects, and bloom all summer long.

Opuntia basilarus in bloom.

Succulents ready to be potted up.

Climatron is the name of an indoor garden in Missouri, at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis. Hey, my niece lives in St. Louis, maybe I should visit!

Looks climate controlled, somewhat tropical. I wonder if they have butterflies?

Anyway, they do have a Cactus Show and Sale at the Botanical Gardens in July. Check it out!

And most remarkably they have historic photos of the Cactus House right there at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

Cactus House – North side looking east (1890s greenhouse).
Cactus House (1904-1914) (Missouri Botanical Garden)

Contributor Missouri Botanical Garden
Date of original 1890

Wow.

This is a nice photo too.

Mr. Subjunctive from Plants are the Strangest People sends along a funny.

From Iowa.

This is growing on E Washington St. in Washington, IA; the photo was taken 26 March 2012. I’ve seen it on previous trips as well, and thought of y’all, but things hadn’t worked out to take a picture of it, and we don’t actually go to Washington that often.

I think the bloom is new since the last time I saw it. Both the color (black?!) and form (more like an aroid flower than a cactus flower, really) are noteworthy. I presume, based on the bloom, that this is a Discocactus of some sort? It’s a slow grower, but I suppose that’s to be expected for any Iowa cacti.

-Mr. Subjunctive

First you need to click the picture above to get a closer look at the details. And then, here’s a Discocactus in bloom, so we can judge the similarities and determine the species.

From the Catalog of Botanical Illustrations, Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution

Plate Number: 1806
Publication: The Cactaceae Vol. 3 Pl 24, Fig 4
Client: Britton, N.L. and Rose, J.N. – Size: 11×14

Discocactus bahiensis (Cactaceae) – Type; Collection: Rose, J.N. 19783, Brazil, Bahia; flowering plant.
Artist: Eaton, Mary Emily – Date unknown – watercolor

No, definitely not a Discocactus.

Science!

Our pottery sale has been going on for 10 days now and here we have a new pot in stock before the sale is over. Yay!

These small German rose pots have been very difficult for us to get in. We ran out of these new pots a year ago, finally was able to get the order in last September, and they finally arrived today. I know this is not very exciting to most of you (any of you?) but it is to me. And there’s still a week left of the sale to get them at 30% off.

Cucumber Cactus Craft

We’re having some cowboy fun this week and pulled together a quick cactus craft after rounding up some cucumbers, toothpicks, and tissue paper.

Uh oh. That doesn’t sound promising.

Well, I guess this adorable kid can’t go wrong with a cucumber and a knife, so I won’t make any snarky comments. But you will have to click through to see the denouement of this craft experiment.

We often get asked questions about these giant blooming stalks. The news isn’t good.

I bought a small aeonium from you guys a long while back. It now is flowering and I just read that you said it would die after flowering. Should I cut the branch off below the flowering large branch now? thanks RoseAnn

RoseAnn,

Aeoniums are “almost” monocarpic, the rosette that blooms, certainly dies after flowering and the plant uses a lot of resources to “get frisky”. So I generally cut the bloom off when the first of the flowers open and use it as a cut flower, it actually can last over a month in bloom if you change the water regularly. You can let it bloom out on the plant as long as there are other rosettes on the plant, but it will struggle if it sets seed.

Take care,

Hap

Thanks Hap. Will the other rosettes on the plant die along with it?

RoseAnn,

Usually the other rosettes survive, but they seem to sulk for awhile before showing normal vigor again. I assume the flowering and seed making hormones suppress their metabolism and active growth. So they can look pretty ratty for a year afterwards.

Hap

And just for fun here’s one of our Aeonium “Cyclops” going through the whole bloom cycle thing. I think it’s time to cut cut cut it’s head off.

That’s a lot of little yellow flowers.

The Mountain Goats sing about Lithops, Absolute Lithops Effect.

Here are the lyrics. Hint: it’s a metaphor.

We are excited to have these new small colored pots.

Well, we don’t have them yet. These were at the Philadelphia Garden Show, so if you were there you already know what we’re talking about, but if not then you are as excited as us for the preview. You are excited, aren’t you?

White Lightning is opening further…

Did I mention that we have whippets? They love to chew on rawhide bones, of course. Who doesn’t?

Sometimes Jason won’t finish his bone and then he’ll try to hide it from Benjamin, who has finished his bone. Whippets are smart though. Benjamin will try to trick Jason into leaving the bone behind. But Jason will figure it out after a few times and then Banjamin will have to come up with a new trick to get Jason’s bone.

Whippets!

Hap won’t let them have the flavored rawhide bones since they leave stains behind. Seems smart.

Their favorite bones of all, though, are the pizza bones.

Whippets!

In San Diego you can learn about Cactus History.

Fun!

CACTUS AND SUCCULENT HISTORY: During March, the San Dieguito Heritage Museum presents the history of cactuses and succulents in the San Dieguito area. Learn how Kumeyaay Indians used the plants for clothing, shelter and food. Succulents continue to be popular plants, thanks to their aesthetic value and stingy use of water. Children and their families can decorate a pot and plant a few succulents to take home. The free family activities will be available from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sundays. The museum is at 450 Quail Gardens Drive in Encinitas. Visit sdheritage.org or call 760-632-9711.

I’ve never heard of this San Dieguito. I wonder what it is? Apparently it’s the older name for Encinitas in Southern California. Here’s the Heritage Museum:

I’d definitely get over there this weekend to learn more about the cultural history of cactus and succulents.

It’s still just the beginning of spring and yet the earliest cactus flowers keep coming.

Here we see the Echinocereus grandiflora hybrids about to open. This one we call “White Lightning” and it’s got this amazing color even before it’s open.

Reader JBot is looking out for you. Recently he brought to our attention that there is a cactus statue available for sale in Richmond. Awesome! Now he wants to make sure you all know that it is still available, and has been marked down from $200 to $75. That seems like a good price. But wait! JBot says,

I bet y’all could get it for $50 or less now…. You know you want that crazy thing!
Jbot

He must be right about at least one of you out there; you know who you are and you know you want it.

Thanks JBot for the update!

via Consumerist.

It’s true, there are blogs about out there. Be careful.

Ruffly pink Echeveria from Oregon Cactus Blog. And another, too.

Lithops seed capsules with a very thin membrane. Growing Lithops from seed is fun!

Mark’s Leucospermum is finally in bloom in Oakland.

This is kind of a strange story. The family is lucky nobody got hurt.

TWENTY armed police raided the family home of a Deakin student after he bought a drug made from dried cactus online from Germany….

OK, so that’s the beginning of the story. 20 officers. One student. Must be an extremely serious online offense.

Edwards’ lawyer, Victoria Campbell, told Geelong Magistrates’ Court the house was then raided at 6am on February 9, 2010 with an “extraordinary amount of resources” allocated to a small experimentation….

I should say so.

“Twenty federal police with a battering ram and drawn rifles got the family out of bed … and wouldn’t let them get dressed while they absolutely tore the place apart,” Ms Campbell said.

“It just about gave Mrs Edwards a heart attack and she’s still seeing a cardiologist.”

Scary. This must have been a college student who was at the center of a large international ring of smugglers and dealers.

The Portarlington film student, 26, pleaded guilty to attempting to import a border controlled drug yesterday and was spared a conviction that would hamper his career.

Wait, what? Spared a conviction? But 20 armed officers caught him dead-to-rights. This ever-so-serious cactus offender can’t be let off that easy, can he?

He received a 12-month good behaviour bond and was ordered to pay $500 to Barwon Drug and Alcohol Service.

Incredible! A slap on the wrist for what must be the most serious cactus related offense in the history of Australia, judging by the SWAT team tactics to arrest him in the first place. How can this be?

Commonwealth Prosecutor Ashley Bird said the cactus plant was commonly available in Australia and its dried form which is hallucinogenic is also legal

Wait. It’s all legal in the first place?

…but can not be imported…

Oh. So it’s all legal for use, for sale, for barter, for trade, but just not for import. Well, that makes sense. Now I understand why they needed the 20 armed officers. He IMPORTED an otherwise legal cactus substance. Not on his body, mind you, but he ORDERED IT ONLINE! The horror is palpable.

Good to know.

Jodie sends along a photo.

Hap sends along information.

Jody,

It looks like the Aeonium has Mealie Bugs, the white messy part is a waxy coating they make to protect themselves from predators. You can clean them off with a Q-tip or artist brush dipped in alcohol (rubbing or drinking). Then follow up with either Insecticidal Soap or Neem Oil spray. Watch for ants, as they farm Mealie Bugs like dairy cows and carry them around to new plants to “milk” them.

Take care,

Hap

The Echinocereus grandifloras are starting their beautiful spring show.

hi there,

i purchased a few succulent plants from your store a couple weeks ago and in recent days started to notice some yellowing (or even drying) of leaves. this is my first time planting anything so i am not sure if it’s common. please see attached pictures and let me know how to better care them.

thanks,
winnie

The Nederlands Dans Theater dances with cactus. And it’s a metaphor!

‘I think sometimes the untrained dance or art eye feels they’re supposed to understand something,’ he says. ‘And Cacti is a kind of relief from that, a breath of fresh air.’ As the name suggests, at one point in the piece, each dancer holds a potted cactus. Inevitably, those watching instantly search for the context of these spiky yet beautiful plants….

‘I don’t really have a right answer for what it means, and I hope the audience gets the joke – that they don’t have to analyse it. That’s the comment for the whole piece.’

The metaphor seems to be that there is no meaning to the cactus, and thus to the dance either. Interesting!

Too bad we only have this photo of dancers in flesh colored body suits dancing with cactus and not a video of the performance.

I think I took this picture on Solano Ave. It looks like a hair salon. I see Aeonium and Sedum. I can’t really tell what’s going on with that pot. Odd thing.

Eriophyllum lanatum ‘Siskiyou’

Regardless of the name, this is a California native. Low growing, wide spreading, cold hardy. Yellow daisy flowers are always a good thing.

This hybrid from native irises, probably including Iris inominata, is called “Pink Parfait”.

It’s compact and like other native irises it’s drought tolerant.

And what does that mean, anyway? Cause it’s certainly an iris which likes regular watering. Well… it doesn’t mean it likes to be dry. It means it can survive being dry. It can survive our very dry summers by going dormant and practically disappearing if you don’t water it. And that’s OK.

I’m feeling sick today. I can’t tell if it’s a cold or an allergy attack. Oh the humanity.

But I can still share pretty succulent pictures with you.

Oooh, that is a pretty picture.

Sedum oaxacanum

We’ve had a run on 4″ sedums this spring. They’re flying off the shelves. Not the larger plants though. I wonder why?

Just from the name, without any googling at all, I would guess this particular stonecrop is from Mexico. More particularly from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Anyone want to take that bet? There are lots of plants in the Crassulacaea family from Mexico, but then they do find themselves native all around the world, so you never know for sure.

But I can tell you for sure that this next one is native to England. Well, not for sure, but with a name like that it has to be. Right? You know you can trust me. You are reading this on the internets after all.

Sedum anglican from England.

You want to argue with my taxonomies?

TV! Kansas TV station KWCH is so excited! It blooms only once a century! Although I see from the poll below that nobody likes this kind of story but me.

Apparently it’s become a tourist attraction in Kansas – really! Watch the video and you’ll see people driving up to take pictures of the blooming agave. Tip from Chris.

I love local news.

Here’s the ad that runs in the Chronicle this weekend.

The sale runs March 17 – 31, 2012