Cactus Blog 

I am Pat and this is my question plant. Hope you can help me identify this mystery succulent.

Pat,

It is Senecio kleiniiformis, an interesting succulent daisy from South Africa and hardy outdoors to about 26 degrees.

Peter

That was a short answer. Any other questions?

Jatropha mcvaughey

Back when we first started the Cactus Blog, I started photographing succulents. It’s been 9 years now, and you can probably tell that my style has changed since back then.

This is the first group of photos I took for the blog and website.

Aloe “Green Gold”

These were not very high-res back then. (I’ve had a few camera changes over the years.) At least they were digital.

Euphorbia suzannae ssp. bupleurifolia

We haven’t had that one at the store in a few years. I must have sold the parent stock when Hap wasn’t looking.

Ceraria pygmae

Nice! We still have a couple of these in the house growing. Eventually Hap may take a cutting or two to sell.

Adenium obesum never go out of style.

Euphorbia pubiglans

Now this last one we have a large parent plant that we’ve been growing nice and big for years and finally this summer we took a bunch of cuttings. But they still haven’t rooted yet! I’m hoping that we have them ready for sale in the spring. I wonder if the parent plant we have is the same as this individual I photographed 9 years ago? Probably not.

Not only is our ad in today’s paper, but they featured Haworthias in the garden section. Now that’s the best news out of the Chronicle in years!

H. turgida v. pallidifolia Photo: Erle Nickel

Consisting of more than 100 species and subspecies, this hardy, small succulent boasts an impressive range of forms and a devoted following in the world of horticulture. For us novices, what makes haworthias such an attractive houseplant is that they are easy to care for and can take some direct morning sun but can also handle lower light conditions. And once you begin searching them out, it quickly becomes apparent why they have a devoted following – they are some of the coolest-looking succulents out there.

We use Haworthias as the basis of our entire shade-tolerant succulent section. We grow about 20 types although they often look very similar to each other when grown together and can be hard to tell apart.

This object, so interesting it’s practically an objet d’art, is unusual in 3 ways.

Montana Lodge Pole Pine Three-Candle Holder Cactus

1. It’s a cactus but it’s made out of forest pine.

2. It’s a candle holder but it’s made out of flammable pine.

3. It’s from Phoenix, Arizona but it’s made out of Montana pine.

I think you should order one on Black Friday so you’ll be ready for christmas with just the right present for just the right person. Possibly your neighbor Jess.

In today’s SF Chronicle.

No, I don’t understand why someone put a cactus costume on their adorable pet pygmy hedgehog.

I don’t understand!!

Even more amazing is the whole thing is at a site for DIY and they give instructions on how to make your own cactus costume for your pet pygmy hedgehog. Awesome is not the right word I’m looking for, but it will have to do for now.

Just so you know, these cute little animals are illegal in California. I know this because I had one back before I lived in California and I was sad to learn I couldn’t have another pet pygmy hedgehog after we moved here. They are the cutest pet in the whole wide world ever, but nocturnal so not the greatest pet ever. Plus they eat mealworms which was OK since we also had geckos at the time.

I know what you’re thinking – you never know what you will find on the Cactus Blog! Woohoo!

Hello.

I purchased these succulents from your garden about a month ago. They were planted directly into the soil 3 days from purchase and given a little water. Since then it’s rained a few times and I never saw any puddling. Others rooted very well, when lightly tugged on they didn’t bend or shift. A couple of days ago I noticed some of the other succulents weren’t doing so great. Attached are the ones that didn’t do so well.

– Photo (forgot the name): It seems the stem had rotted and fell limp. Is the soil not draining properly?

– Sedum hispanicum: Not sure if there’s anything wrong with them but they seemed a bit soft and not as hardy as the day I purchased them.

– Sempervivum: As you can see from the picture the succulent is just black! From the second picture the succulent is slightly elevated from the soil level just like the others.

Please help!

Thanks,
Anna

Anna,
The first one I think is an Echeveria that is turning into a single bloom stalk. The roots have definitely rotted because of the moisture. I recommend cutting the roots off the stem, bringing it inside and letting the cut portion heal for a week. Then you can replant it into dry cactus soil in a pot. If you’d like, you can bring it in to the store and we can take care of it for you.

The one Sempervivum that turned black has died, and should be removed. The Sedum looks OK, but it’s hard to tell from the photo for sure.

So the basic problem here is too much moisture around the roots. You have a wood-based black mulch on top and that is holding in the water, not letting the soil dry out. This is a good thing for perennials and annuals, but for succulents the soil needs to be able to dry out, so I recommend removing the mulch you have and using a rock mulch, like lava or drain rock.

I can’t tell what the soil is, but if it’s a clay soil it also needs to be amended for faster drainage.
Let me know if you need any more help with these.
Peter

Opuntia microdasys “Aurea” is also one of the infamous Bunny Ears Cactus. Infamous because of the story that was told in the Old West…

It was a long time ago, in Utah this story was told, in the old country near the old hot springs. Sam Pine came to town but he wasn’t known to the good people of Rusty Saddle as Sam back then; he came to town with the name and reputation of the famous “Big Bill” Biggens. When all of a sudden, Saucy Susie served him a platter of homemade waffles and thick cut bacon….

…Stay Tuned for the next episode of Saucy Susie’s Waffle House on the Prairie. Coming soon to a Cactus Blog near you.

Airplants have become very popular these days. We see this at the store every day. But you know how you know when something has become really popular?

This is how: a glow in the dark giraffe accessory for your Tillandsias, now available on Etsy:

It’s Christmas Cactus season at Plants are the Strangest People, so I thought you might like a poll.

Genn from Idaho has a really big cresting ghost Euphorbia lactea that she’s shared with us.

This is what happens when you grow one successfully for a few years. The crest grows bigger with fans on top of fans.

Are now available throughout the country, or at least at the few restaurants that will be carrying them.

This month’s taco is from Michael Kornick…. His Tacos Nopalitos y Pollo is available at Mercadito locations in Miami, New York, and Chicago until November 30.

If you can’t get over there in time, don’t worry, here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:
24 thin corn tortillas 4-inches to 5-inches in diameter
Oil to warm on the griddle

Cactus
1 fresh Nopalitos cactus
2 cups rich chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
2 oz. olive oil

Chicken
1 pound of chicken breast
2 cups rich chicken stock
3 tablespoons butter
2 Serrano chiles minced
½ cup sliced onions
½ tsp cracked black pepper
Salt to taste

Tomatillos
6 medium tomatillos
Oil to grill
Salt and pepper

Garnish
½ cup chiffonade cilantro
¼ cup minced red onion
½ Serrano chili minced (no seeds)
6 lime wedges

That is a long list of ingredients. You’ll have to click through for the instructions.

They sure look good.

A Phoenix native living in Franklin, Mass., or thereabouts, schools you on your cactusey language.

The general public would (be) more surprised to learn that cactuses is an acceptable plural form of cactus, not just cacti.

So true. Also, cactus is both a singular and a plural form and cacticularies is an archaic plural. I just made up that last one.

I don’t blog a lot of Tillandsias. I should. I should start! Right now.

Tillandsia pruinosa

Succulents in Montana? I suppose the sedums and sempervivums are a good fit, if it doesn’t get below 20 below.

Chris Hansen of Great Falls is a big fan of sedums. “A lot of sedums are just blooming now,” she said….

“I wonder how they’re going to handle 16 degrees,” she said.

The only way to know for sure is to try it out. Let some die and some survive and then you’ll know more for next year. And the year after that.

Tokidoki’s Cactus Friends have gone mainstream. Giant Sandy is in the mall.

We knew them back before they were popular. But now they’ve lost their indie street cred. What to do…

Antimima granitica photo taken with old crappy cell phone.

Bailey’s multiradiata in full bloom, as far as one can tell from a crappy cell phone photo. Maybe my next phone will be better.

It’s not pretty. Phoenix got tagged.

These saguaro cacti along the Pantano River Park Trail are likely to remain marred with graffiti for years. Any effort to remove the spray paint would further damage the plants. DOUG KREUTZ / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Cactus at the grocery store? Now new and improved.

The cactus pear is the Rodney Dangerfield of the fruit world, beloved by immigrants from parts of Latin America and the Mediterranean basin but largely ignored by most consumers in the United States.

That may be changing, however, as the leading domestic cactus pear producer, Salinas-based D’Arrigo Bros., has introduced four new, greatly improved varieties — orange, red, purple and green — that are firmer, sweeter and juicier than the traditional variety it has marketed for the last 80 years.

The old style was pretty tasty; I don’t know about a new sweeter variety. Count me skeptical.

It’s a mixed succulent glass terrarium tray planted in layers of sand and soil.

With cast iron army man.

Check out the bloom Spike structure of the Aloe ferox.

Aeoniums do pretty well in coastal California, don’t you think?

It’s a tiny space, but highly visible to everyone crossing the footbridge to the beach at Corona Del Mar, Calif.

“I want it to be colorful year-round,” Mom said. “So let’s use plants with powerful foliage colors so I never have to wait for flowers.”

Blackish-purple aeoniums provides opportunity for contrast in this tiny garden. Photo by Maureen Gilmer

Whippets in Bed

would it be ok if i sent you a photo of something about which i have a question? i have a euphorbia with multi branches and within the past week little yellowish dots have appeared where one might expect spikes to be. hard to describe, thusly if i could send you the picture it might be more helpful.

thank you.

karen
vero beach florida

And here’s the picture:

And the good news is…

Karen,

It looks like Euphorbia trigona and the dots are unopened blooms!

Hap

What if you wanted a cactus banana smoothie? Who would you turn to for a recipe? Your mother? Your Uncle Saul? Sammie from the corner market?

No!

You’d turn to your friendly local google. My friendly local google told me to check out Incredible Smoothies and there we go.

It’s not a complicated recipe. The directions are not complicated either. You can click through to read the whole description, but here’s the primary part you were looking for.

Cactus Pear and Banana Smoothie Recipe

1 banana
1 cactus pear, flesh and meat, seeds removed
4 oz filtered of water

Add all the ingredients to your blender, (I use a Blendtec) and blend on high for 30 seconds or until the smoothie is creamy.

Indeed, that seems easy enough. I wonder how they took care of the spines on the cactus pear?