Cactus Blog 

James Cornett of the Gannett Company was looking for cactus near Palm Springs.

I had heard the Mojave fishhook cactus was rare. I did not, however, expect that it would take me an entire day to find one in what was considered prime habitat or that it would take me another four years to finally discover one in bloom. In the end it was worth it. With the discovery of this species in bloom (known to botanists as Sclerocactus polyancistrus) my list was complete. I had found and photographed all 25 species of cactus known to exist in the deserts of California while they were in bloom….

The other factor making it difficult find a Mojave fishhook is that each specimen looks very much like a browsed clump of bunch grass. The spines (some of which are hooked) are drab in color and appear as wispy as grass blades. Since bunch grass mounds are usually common in the Mojave Desert, distinguishing the grass clumps from the cactus is not easy even at short distances. I had to walk within a few feet of the two specimens I eventually located on my first full day of searching.

No closeup of the bloom? Maybe he’s saving them up for a book.

Hello Cactus Jungle!
A few months ago, I bought a couple of bamboo plants from Cactus Jungle and planted them in a planter box on my porch in San Francisco. One of them is doing really well, but the other one has yellow leaves and a few of its shoots have died. Unlike the healthy plant, the sickly bamboo hasn’t sent up any new shoots at all. I’m wondering if you can recommend how to cure whatever ails it. It’s a wind-tolerant variety, I think from Chile–I’m sorry I don’t remember the name. I’ve included some photos in case they help.

I water the plants about once every two weeks. The planter box has two inches of pebbles at the bottom to help with drainage. The plants get early morning and late afternoon sun. And lots of wind…
Please let me know if you have any advice.
Thanks for your help!
Kenneth

Kenneth,
The plant, Chusquea culeou, does look a little thin in the photos. With a little care you should be able to get it to green up again.

The basic problem is that you are not watering them enough. In general we recommend watering once per week – drenching the soil completely. They are drought tolerant, so it’s losing leaves as a response to underwatering. In addition, you’ve got a wood planter box which will tend to dry out very quickly, and high winds which will tend to dry out the plants quickly. So water once per week – and with your conditions there I wouldn’t miss a watering.

You can also feed the bamboo now. If you got Bioturf fertilizer from us, use that.
Peter

Dame Helen Mirren is presented with a nepenthes cultivar (a new variety of the carnivorous pitcher plant), Nepenthes ‘Helen’ named in her honour. Doesn’t she look pleased?

A long letter…

Dear Hap and Peter,

I’ve come across your blog and a few others while researching what I have done wrong with my aloe plants. It is very nice of you to answer all those questions. I was hoping you could help me please. Also, please bear with me, this e-mail might have a lot of wording, I’m told I’m long winded…

I have quite a few aloe plants that we’re originally my grandmother’s. Once a year or so my grandfather would give them to me to separate the baby aloes and re-pot them. They always did very well. Now I have them, and the year before last I had no problems with them. I wintered them in front of a patio door that faces east and didn’t water them but once over that time. After the last threat of frost I would put them on our deck which is under a large maple and they would get dappled light and indirect rainwater all summer long until the fall.

We’ll pause here. Click through for more… (more…)

Aloe polyphylla photos from Annie.

I think we may be getting some of these giant spiral aloes for the nursery. If I understand correctly, we installed these years ago and then the house was sold and the new owner wants something different so we’re going to be taking them out and putting something else in. In the meantime they grew so big! Bigger!

This Argentine cactus seems to be the only member of the genus. Related to the Oreocereuses and Matucanas, you can really see that bright red tubular flower would attract hummingbirds for miles around.

Denmoza rhodacantha

Until this bloomed we had no idea what it was. We figured it was probably a Ferocactus, but then it bloomed and the answer was not so much.

Since I posted earlier today about a random photo of some succulents in a seashell, I have since found out that this is a common theme. Here are some more succulents in a seashell.

Tuck a few succulents in the opening of an upturned seashell, (like the arrangement pictured at right, created by Judy Casanova of Desert Succulent Creations. (HGTV)

Thank you Judy. And then there’s SanityProjects.com

I have to admit, this one was not my idea. It was the clairvoyant inspiration of Haley over at Wichways.

Thank you Haley. Finally we have purchase options in case you don’t want to make your own.

We love how the organic forms of these ornamental seashell planters enhance the beauty of succulents

Oh, it’s just the shells you get to buy. You have to fill them yourself. What a rip.

Random photo, unbound.

What are the best plants to grow in a container on a sun-soaked balcony, terrace, patio or deck that faces west or south?

Super heat-tolerant plants include succulents such as echeveria and aeonium.

Many sedums, especially top cultivars, such as ‘Angelina’ and ‘Autumn Joy’, have no problem flourishing in hot sun. Opuntia (a form of cactus) is another attractive sun worshipper.

While that all may be true, I wonder why the Vancouver Sun is publishing this information? It’s not like they get a particularly hot sunny summer in BC.

What is Vancouver like, besides the hockey, I wonder? Seems like a pretty big city. With some stunning green roofs and terraces. And look at the Convention Center roof! I think we’re going to have to do a whole separate blog post on green roofs in Vancouver.

What about ducks? Does Vancouver have any room for cute little ducks, or are they all scared away by the loud honking of the Canadian geese? Ducks!

Echinocereus grandifloras.

Well now. That shoot is coming up in the wrong place.

Good News! New cactus vendors at the Turlock Farmers Market.

Jellies, jams and cacti were just a few of the new products for sale.

Head on down to Turlock! I wonder where Turlock is? Probably here in California. Let’s check it out.

Well the headline right now for the front page of the Turlock Journal is,

Equine Herpes found in California horses

So it’s probably in California, in an area with more horses than Berkeley. Fun!

First there was a phone call, and then there was a photo.

This is the one I called to see if you could identify.

Thanks,
Bob

Bob,

It is not a Euphorbia, but a mutant cacti, Austrocylindropuntia subulata monstrose. The true species it tree sized and has four inch spines.

So treat like a standard fairly hardy cacti, rather than a fussy Euphorbia.
Hap

From reader Kris in Melbourne Beach, Florida.

Rescued from the grocery store amidst the produce and twinkies, it’s doing well!

Thanks Kris for making my blogging this morning easier.

I don’t know how to embed this video since the text around it is all in Japanese, so you’ll just have to click through to see someone who’s known as the Cactus Man in Japan watering a lot of Tillandsias.

Consider it a how-to video.

From Australia, Grevillea “Pink Pearl” has pretty flowers. It’s just starting to bloom, so there should be many more to come.

Proteas are becoming more popular so we’ve started adding more members of this exciting low-water plant family. I really wanted to add the pin cushions – the Leucospermums, but I can’t get my dirty little hands on any right now. Maybe later this year. In the meantime, we’re trying out the very different Grevilleas.

This one, the Grevillea “Pink Pearl” is an evergreen shrub that will get 6ft. x 8ft. Hardy into the low 20s. I hear they’re popular in the greater Brisbane area. Or Canberra, I always forget which.

Rathbunia alamosensis (Cactaceae) Collection: , U.S.A., New York Botanical Garden; flowering branch.
Artist: Eaton, Mary Emily – Date unknown – watercolor

Plate Number: 243
Publication: The Cactaceae Vol. 2 Pl 25, Fig 1
Client: Britton, N.L. and Rose, J.N. – Size: 11×14

From the Smithsonian Catalog of Botanical Illustrations

Currently known as Stenocereus alamosensis. The Rathbunia genus name is long gone, originally used in 1909, but superceded in 1979 by Stenocereus. The “Octopus Cactus” common name is shared with a few other plants that share it’s sprawly characteristics.

Shrubby, columnar plants, they spread outwards somewhat sinuously. The flowers are tubular red, as you can see. They will form 2″ red fruit, probably edible, probably called pitaya like the fruit from other Stenocereuses. Mexican, although the sample illustrated above was not geo-located.

Callistemon citrinus “Jeffersii” had just started blooming when I took this picture and now it’s in full bloom, so it’s pretty spectacular.

An Australian member of the myrtle family (myrtleaceae?) that gets only 4 to 6ft. tall. A reliable dwarf, you shouldn’t see it revert to anything particularly taller. Hardy down to the low 20s, and very drought tolerant.

Less commonly known as Melaleuca citrinus, the botanists have been busy trying to change the names yet again.

Protecting a poppy in the White Dome Nature Preserve is also going to help protect an endangered cactus. Yay!

The White Dome Nature Preserve, as it is now called, is home to the largest gypsum formation; it is located off River Road north of the Southern Parkway (Utah).  In addition to the Bear Claw Poppy, it is habitat for the Siler Pincushion Cactus, which is also threatened, says York, as well as providing protective habitat for several at-risk animal species, including the zebra-tailed lizard and the loggerhead shrike.

It’s a twofer. And if you add in the lizard and the shrike (a lizard-eating bird!), it’s a fourfer.

Malacothamnus fasciculatus is one of three mallow species we currently have at the nursery, all in bloom or bud. Plus the related Flannel Bushes in big bloom.

Garden Rant is pimping out easy to assemble raised beds. They’re giving them away now too! If someone wants to send me a free easy to assemble raised bed, I’ll pimp ’em out too.

And they have a post about searching for plants online, featuring Loree’s [added: And Megan Hansen. and Patricia Cunningham, see comment below] newest tool, Plant Lust. I didn’t know! Now I do.

What to do in Southern Cal over the Memorial Day Weekend…

San Juan Capistrano Community Center. The classes will meet at 31661 Los Rios St.:

• Fat Plant Man: 11 a.m. to noon May 28, featuring succulent specialist Clifford Meng discussing rare and endangered succulent plants and how to grow them. Cost is $15. Succulents and cactus plants will be available for sale.

Hello. I was wondering if you would kindly help to solve a mystery for me…

Last year I received this plant. I think it’s Haworthia-something. I don’t know for sure. The stick that came with it said “succulent” with no specifics. Anyway, when I got it it was bright green (believe it or not). Then I put it in my rock garden in a patch that gets part to full sun and it’s turned this brownish-pink. It’s not dead. And it’s not rotting. And the innermost parts are actually ever-so-slightly greenish. Can you tell me if this is something that naturally occurs (sort of like how some aloe turn reddish)?

I’m conflicted about keeping it because it’s such an odd color. And people keep speculating that it’s dead.

Thanks!
Mark

Hi Mark,

It looks like Aloe aristata. There are also Aloe/Haworthia hybrids that are out there that look very close, but until it blooms it is hard to tell for sure.

It looks best with a bit of afternoon shade, but the brick color is just it’s suntan, so if you like it, it is fine and not infected or anything dire, just dealing with full sun by adding Carotenoids and Flavonoids to the epidermis to protect it from UV. In the wild these guys are usually understory plants, growing under desert shrubs or at the edges of thickets where they get dappled light, but you do see them looking just like your’s in more exposed locations.

By the way I have a couple of Agave desmentiana with your name on them if you still are looking for them.

Take care,
Hap

Dudleya “White Sprite” looks like a D. attenuata cultivar. Let me look it up. Nope. It’s either from Dudleya gnoma or Dudleya greenii.

It’s from the Santa Barbara area and the rosettes only get to about 4″ across. We find that it will produce lots of tightly packed rosettes in a year. A lot more than our D. greenii’s ever have. Of course, by a lot for a Dudleya I mean 2 to 4.

We were forecast for hail this weekend, but it held off in the Berkeley area. Apparently they got quite a bit in Davis, as reported by Gerhard of Bamboo and More. Click through to see the Hail! and the damage to Gerhard’s succulents.

We covered all the soft succulents at the nursery Saturday night, so we were prepared. Now, we had a whole bunch of hail storms this winter that we weren’t prepared for, so we were lucky this time.

Brown University biologists and colleagues have discovered that the rapid speciation of cacti occurred between 5 and 10 million years ago (the late Miocene) and coincided with species explosions by other succulent plant groups around the world.

I haven’t had time to read this through yet, so I’m leaving this here as a marker to get back to later. Here’s another quote in the meantime.

Cactaceae first diverged from its angiosperm relatives roughly 35 million years ago but didn’t engage in rapid speciation for at least another 25 million years.

Science!

Dear Cactus Blog,

Here are (some) photos. The last one, I can tell that’s a Cardon Cactus and a Palo Blanco, but that green shrubby Medusa looking cactus on the right….Octopus Cactus/Cina???

Thanks so much for your time.
Steve

It sure does look like Stenocereus alamosensis. I’ll put it on the blog and see if anyone disagrees.
Peter

But wait! There’s more! (more…)