Cactus Blog 

It’s a whippet. I don’t know who to credit for the photo, but Matthew sent along the link. Thank you Matthew, I think.

So who’s going to geek out for us and tell us what this (unhappy) whippet is dressed up like and from what movie?

Auntie Rachel got us a cactus timer. I wonder what we’re supposed to be timing the cactus for.

Ohhh, it’s an egg timer. Shaped like a cactus?

Yes!

From Berkeleyside comes this hidden chicken on a roof in Berkeley.

Awesome.

Now we here on the various garden blogs don’t care about chickens. It’s all about the plants. And if I’m not mistaken you can see behind the chicken, just barely and a little bit to the left, a small plant. My small plant ID senses are tingling. Might it be a Sequoia sempervirens? A California coastal Redwood? I’m not sure, the photo is a bit foggy and the plant is hard to discern. Let me peer in a little closer.

What words can you google with “cactus” and come up with something interesting? I do this every now and then and post the results. But really now, is there nothing you can’t find on The Google?

Today’s test is can I find a Cactus Hat Pin?

Yes!

Here’s one on ebay.

Hi. My wife and I have freed up an unused 30’ x 13’ strip of ground between the side of our house and the street. (We live on a corner.) We’d like to plant cactus and xeriscape this area as we aren’t very good about watering and maintenance.

Could you suggest a book or online resource for us to get some basic understanding of what would be involved? Our immediate problem is to acquire about five cubic yards of fill to bring up an unwanted low patch. A local company can provide us with topsoil having a pH of 7.3 for fill, but I wouldn’t want to start off with an overly basic soil if most cacti won’t like it.

Thanks,

– Eric, Sunnyvale

Eric,

We mix a fast draining cactus soil (which we do sell in bulk). Cactus and succulents in the Bay Area need the extra drainage to be able to handle our winter rains. Standard soils will stay too wet through the winter and the plants will rot. It is possible to start with the fill and amend it by adding in 50% lava, and depending on the quality of the soil that might work. In general, the soil should be neutral to slightly acidic, so the pH is a bit high.

We recommend Debra Lee Baldwin’s Designing with Succulents, which we do carry at the store.

Peter

Peter,

Thank you very much for the info. It will save us from making a big mistake by raising the ground level first without thinking this through.

– Eric

Roland came by and took some pictures at the nursery of me and the whippets. Here’s one of Jason.

Those eyes! It’s like the follow me wherever I go!

Dear Peter,

Hope you can help me out.

I got a “Euphorbia lactea” (not sure if it is correct) few months ago, but it took me long time to understand how I should take care of it, and now it is in trouble.

I have attached few pictures and I suspect it may have a stem rot fungus and some sunburn scars?

Yes, I know I really did not do a good job… it is my first experience with outdoor plants and I may have forgotten that I now live in Abu Dhabi and the weather here is really hot, until last month the average was around 42 degrees Celsius, reaching 48 during the day, this month it started to get better and rarely goes above 42.

Anyways, I used to overhead watering to clean the branches from the sand storm, common in this region, twice a week, or whenever the soil seemed very dry. It looked fine for a while, but as you said chicken comes home to roost. Two weeks ago one stem started to look bleached on the top and slowly it started to shrink and the discoloration moved downwards. I got worried and started to search the information on the web, now paying more attention to it I noticed that the same maybe happening on other stems.

What should I do?

Meantime, I moved the pot to an area where it does not get the full sun during the all day, stop watering like a crazy and put my Adenium away to avoid any contamination.

Thank you so much.

Glaucia
Abu Dhabi

Glaucia,
I’m not really sure how to advise you on taking care of the Euphorbia in a climate where the cooler month is 42 degrees C (108F). We would water rarely, but you will have to water more regularly – only just letting the soil dry out between waterings. I would take it out of the sun completely, and only let it get indirect light, possibly indoor.

Overall the plant is looking OK, with just some of the branches having been damaged. It does look like they burned in the sun and heat.

I recommend removing the damaged branches. Since this is a Euphorbia, with poisonous milky white sap, wear protective clothing, gloves and eye protection, and wash thoroughly if you get any on you. Since the branches are not very big around, you can cut them with a pruner, or slice through them with a serrated bread knife. Make sure you cut below the damaged parts. Keep the exposed ends out of the sun until after they’ve healed over.

Peter

From National Geographic, I see the Giraffe has made it all the way to Machu Picchu. But where is that giraffe hiding? There are so many walls there to hide behind… We better get to looking or we’ll lose the scent.

Machu Picchu, Peru
Photograph by Claire Wroe
National Geographic Photo of the Day

Giraffe with Beaucarnia recurvata

Wow! That’s a really, really big base around that tree! Holy smokes it must take the giraffe a week just to walk around to the back side where it’s family is enjoying a light snack of croissants and decaf Sumatran coffee at the Starbucks. Better get going before it’s dark.

Giraffe Hanging at Hotel

It’s been a long hot day at the Safari and I see our photographer has followed a beautiful specimen giraffe into it’s most private lair, practically a classic lair indeed. The Hotel Humphreys in Hatari has been built out of beautiful and long-lasting materials. Our giraffe today is not happy about being disturbed right after a refreshing shower. I think the photographer should probably back away quickly or he will surely receive a nasty nip on the top of his head. Run! Run away! Quickly!

To my double surprise in the past two days I found a hand me down cactus in bloom and then found the blog entry from September 9th to help me identify it. I would like to include a picture of the gigantic flower bud that has developed on the Stapelia plant. I have been able to start a few propagated pieces that also have tiny blooms starting! I’ve never had a cactus bloom so this is quite the accomplishment for me. And i feel like if I wasn’t reading your blog I wouldn’t have been able to propagate the new pieces as well as i have.

I am have been a blog subscriber of yours for a year or so and it has been a joy learning about cacti, succulents and the like from your blog alone.

Please let me know if this is truly a Stapelia. Just like to know what i’m working with.

Thanks for your time.

Sara

Sara,

Glad we’ve been able to be of help! Your succulent is indeed a Stapelia, and that is a giant flower about to open. Very exciting! Send photos to share on the blog when it’s open.

Peter

Giraffe with Aeonium “Garnet”

What’s this? Our famed traveling giraffes of Africa have made it to the Canary Islands? How so? Have they learned how to fashion rudimentary boats out of hollow logs and bark? What have they used for sails?

Let us set aside the mystery and revel in the quanternary of the fliggishness of this particular giraffe.

Do you think I’ve lost the thread of this “art” project when I resort to making up words? No? OK then let me continue.

This individual giraffe has clearly walked across many deserts dragging a canoe along behind so that it could cross the Mediterranean Sea and land on the famed giant coastal cliff succulents of the Canary Islands. Don’t these adorable and stately giraffes know that they can visit the Aeonium Gardens of Tripoli on the African Continent itself? Have they no proper guidebooks?

Thank you!

From 1954!

Giraffe Under the Canopy of a Trichodiadema bulbosum

The cascading shade provided by the giant tree mesembs of Western East Central South Africa are the classic watering hole respite for the majestic giraffe of the plains of Africa.

Right around the corner is the outdoor mezzanine of the famed Firgatout Restaurant where the locals mix with the tourists before heading out on safari. Hopefully no one will be taken down by the rampaging band of angry elephants today, like yesterday. Hopefully the pachyderms ruling the countryside will remain quiet throughout the afternoon so that everyone can enjoy a nice iced tea under the shade of the Mesemb Trees of Western East Central South Africa.

I’ve been emailed this very important local news.

This weekend is the Annual Plant Sale up at Merritt College, here in beautiful Oakland. http://www.merrittlandhort.com/plant_sale.html

Check it out.

Giraffe with Pelargonium ferulaceum, 2011

The African savannah is a harsh and foreboding place. Giant thick trees grow so tall even the giraffes can’t reach to the leaves. What will they eat? How will they survive? Look out! There’s a lion over there!

Jason enjoys some late September heat.

Now that’s whippet blogging for you.

Carole sends along a link to this remarkable Cactus Coat Rack.

CACTUS by Guido Drocco, Franco Mello
Decorative piece in expanded polyurethane functioning as a coat-stand.
Surface treated with green Guflac paint.
weight:18kg

Can I comment on this? I mean, it is my blog and all. But will you be offended? No? Oh, thank god. Because that is the ugliest 4,000 euro cactus coat rack I have ever seen. Oy.

The concept of this new art series of photographs is to present a contrast in scales to make you rethink your vision of the scale and meaning of succulents. For instance, I may say that a particular succulent is 6″ across, and you would believe me, now wouldn’t you. Admit it. But what if I showed you a picture of that same succulent, but with a giraffe in the picture. Now then what would you think? Why you’d first think that succulent was 12ft. across! And then if you looked closely enough you might question the full scale and scope of the giraffe in the picture. You might think it was properly photoshopped into the job, or you might think it’s a gigantic toy giraffe or you might even realize that it’s playful nature has been fully realized in this wonderful portrait.

My new Giraffe series starts on the blog… right…. now!

Giraffe with Portulacaria afra

People send us photos and questions, worried about their plants. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong at all. Good times!

I water- not soak it – about every 10 days or so. I live a few blocks from the beach so it’s not exposed to very hot conditions.
Thanks for trying to help!
Lee Ann

Lee Ann,

Your Agave attenuata is doing great. Succulents lose bottom leaves – that’s just the nature of the plant. When they are dry and easy to pull off, you can remove them.

Peter

Mestoklema tuberosum is a South African tree-like caudiciform mesemb. It has these swollen tuberous roots that are tightly bound together forming a nice thick caudex. The flowers are variable – our other specimen out has reddish flowers.

Green shoots actually start to appear in the Oregon Metropolis’ roofscape.

The City of Roses is being transformed into the City of Sedums as nearly 300 Portland rooftops are now blanketed in the drought-tolerant succulents.

And as rooftops in Oregon are going green, some of the businesses that design, build, and landscape ecoroofs are having an economic mini boom.

Don’t care for the economic benefits? Here’s another great benefit for your consideration.

In addition to stormwater management, urban heat island reduction and good looks, ecoroofs can provide habitat for various urban wildlife, particularly birds and insects. Soil and vegetation attract pollinators and other insects, which in turn attract birds. Multiple species have been documented feeding, resting and even nesting on Portland ecoroofs.

Awesome!

Now it’s true that this looks like an impressive and beautifully maintained collection of cactus. And at 97 Vera Norman is doing yeoman’s work keeping these alive and healthy. But what I like most about this is the fact that the Newark Advocate couldn’t resist a little cactus pun in the headline.

Newark woman’s cacti keep her sharp at 97

Indeed.

(more…)

Urginea maritima has a spectacular 6ft. tall bloom stalk. That makes it hard to photograph. You can see the flowers, and you can see the caudiciform bulb at the base too.

Here’s another picture showing the whole extreme thing.

And from Wikipedia we have a lovely and informative botanical illustration.

I found a catalog featuring PVC succulent wall hangings. I won’t be carrying these at the store but I took a photo of the catalog because I find this interesting. Sociologically speaking.

We’ve been talking about slugs at the nursery, and this is what came up.

Blegghhh.

Anyone who’s ever worked at a nursery knows what I’m talking about.

(We recommend industrial sized bags of sluggo.)

Xeriscape Ninjas came and visited the nursery recently and lived to blog about it.

Jason appears to have been well behaved while they were here.

Photos ensued. Go check it out already!

Tori Amos’ latest is a song about Cactus.

I have no idea what this is about. Any practices about cactus would be about eating a cactus, not drinking a cactus. This is very mysterious.

Also, I don’t like the song, so there’s that.

Here’s some of the lyrics.

Let’s resynch my world
With a harmonic defiance I’ll face this

I’d like to induct you into
The drink of the cactus practice
Cactus

Cactus

Practice

Will you induct me into
The drink of the cactus practice?
Cactus

Cactus

Practice
Are you saying I’m

Reactive but I can work with a doll face