Looking back, Grant Cleveland admits that starting a business with just one product, a kit for growing cactus plants, didn’t seem like the most logical thing to do….

Six years ago, Cleveland launched DuneCraft Inc. with just the cactus kit, called the Odd Pod, and less than $100,000 he raised from suppliers and angel investors….

Today, DuneCraft… makes fun products, including Carnivorous Creations, a kit for growing meat-eating plants.

That’s just fantastic. I wonder what these so-called toys are? Shall I search the interwebs to find them for you in this happy holiday season?

Yes I shall. Come with me to see what I’ve found after the break… Read More…

A group of Sedum morganianum (left), haworthia (far right) and kalanchoes (centre) provides a satisfying contrast of form and texture

I never thought I’d have cause to use that headline, stored in the back of my head for years. But now, the Pensacola News Journal has convinced me to break it out and print it bold and loud.

With summer in all its glory, there is nothing better than strolling through (the Milton Garden, located on the Pensacola Junior College/University of Florida Campus in Milton) filled with brightly colored flowers and plants.

“We have one of largest collections of day lilies in the area.”

Reason enough? I was still feeling a little skeptical… But no, that’s not all.

“We decided to see how the cactus would do growing here,” Thetford said. “Since traditionally cactus enjoys dry soil and extreme heat, we weren’t sure how they would grow in this climate since we have quite a bit of rain. So far, they are doing very well.”

Well, now I’m convinced. The gardens in Pensacola really are beautiful.

Yesterday I blogged a cactus toy in the news. So now I’m blogging another. I’ve contacted the manufacturer to see if we can carry this one at the store.

It’s a squeeky toy cactus. Presumably for dogs.

Actually, this is one we bought for Benjamin last year and he loved it.

Yesterday I posted on a report on the loss of desert habitat in Arizona and Nevada. Today the San Francisco Chronicle looks at soon to be lost habitat in California.

The Woolyleaf ceanothus would be at risk if California’s climate becomes much hotter, a study says. Photo by Michelle Cloud-Hughes, special to the Chronicle…

If temperatures rise rapidly in California this century, up to two-thirds of the state’s native plants might lose large swaths of suitable habitat, according to a new study….

“The pace of climate change in the next 100 years poses a very serious threat to California’s native plants,” said David Ackerly, a UC Berkeley biology professor and an author of the new study published in the PLoS One, the Public Library of Science.

Scientists know that plants can respond to changing climate over thousands of years, Ackerly said. “But in less than a century, there is very little chance for plants to establish new populations and to migrate to keep up with these dramatic changes.”

What can you do? Small – stuff and big stuff.

Interesting how such beautiful pictures can really change a discussion. Usually we see pictures of bears and tree frogs and other endangered animals. But plant pictures can be just as powerful. I’m really kind of dazzled by the blue.

In Texas, the like to garden in themes, and apparently now cactus is a theme with which to garden.

Gardens can do more than put food on the table or create curb appeal. For some, they’re a reflection of values…. Here are some other suggestions for themes that can be fashioned into gardens:

I think this is sad. A theme is like “French Provincial, mid-1860s” or “Light Green” or “Mow and Blow” but cactus isn’t a theme, it’s a plant family. I mean you could say that Fucshia is a theme then. Imagine the possiblities.

Roof: Top off a sturdy outbuilding with a layer of sod sown liberally with wildflowers. Or use succulents, cactus and other drought resistant plants on the roof of structures where they can be maintained and enjoyed.

Oh, I guess I was wrong. WELL, green roofs seems like a good idea. 

Nevermind.

…starts with plants.

If the sea rocket detects unrelated plants growing in the ground with it, the plant aggressively sprouts nutrient-grabbing roots. But if it detects family, it politely restrains itself.

A dodder after it attacked a tomato plant. Photo: Justin Runyon/De Moraes and Mescher Labs

I always knew it. I’ve argued it for years. Now we’ve got the possibility that vegetarians have been eating intelligent life forms all along. And they were delicious. Of course, based on the article, it wasn’t the tomato plant that was intelligent….

The Austin Statesman wants you to know that this is now cactus flowering season in Texas.

Mike Leggett/AMERICAN-STATESMAN Despite a dry spring, this claret cup cactus is in full bloom in Kerr County.

This spring hasn’t been much for wildflowers, but there are all the signs it’s going to be a great year for cactus flowers.

It’s true, the cactus are blooming in Texas. How do I know? Well, I read the Austin Statesman, that’s how, duh.

Who wouldn’t want to replace your lawn with 10,000 succulents?

Xeriscape landscapes are kinder to the environment and less expensive than lawns because they don’t require a lot of watering.

For many yards here, succulents and cactuses achieve all of the above without soil amendments.

Mitch Kessler has 10,000 of the plants in his North Tampa yard. “They’re eco-friendly and require almost no care,” he says.

My parents live near Tampa in the winters now. They have no yard at all, what with living in a condo. But they do have lots of Tillandsias in the trees on the property.

Anyway, that article was from the Tampa Tribune.

The Tuscaloosa (AL) News likes cactus and succulents for your container garden. I think I should collect a list of all the newspapers that think you should make a succulent container garden. I wonder if it’s all Martha’s fault. She was first, of course, recommending them a year ago.

Container gardening is a rapidly growing garden trend….

A shallow dish or saucer is fine for cactus and succulents.

See, it’s a trend. I blame Martha Stewart.

They go for the experiments in Scottsdale, AZ, so I’m told, by the Scottsdale Tribune.

I don’t know what any of this means. It’s a deep and abiding mystery why General Petraeus is saying today that we still have to wait to see if the surge is working in Iraq.

Dead cactus in Tucson go rolling in the street, as if they were tumbleweeds. Who do they think they are? From the Arizona Daily Star we have this police report.

Photo: Jim Davis / arizona daily star

Sometime in the past few weeks, a 12-foot-tall saguaro toppled over from its perch among four other cacti planted in a wide median on Ina between North Shannon Road and North Camino de la Tierra….

A close inspection revealed the soil around the base of the saguaro had been infiltrated by the formation of an anthill.

I think there should be more police reports of a more “natural” nature. I’d like to see the reports for when the sand crabs invade the turtle egg nests. Who gets arrested for that? And how about a report of the swallows returning to Capistrano? When do we get a media report of that yearly event? Oh yeah, we get that every year, this week as it turns out. Never mind.

Echeverias are definitely the hot plant right now. We just shipped a few hundred to New Jersey, full retail. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. The Marin IJ tells you what to plant, and if I may give you a hint, they suggest echeverias.

(Photo provided by UC Davis Botanical Conservatory) Echeveria is a member of the Crassulaceae family, succulents that are one of the most practical, low-water use options, with highly varied, even stunning, choices for garden and container plantings.

Now you know. They also suggest other succulents, especially the crassulaceae family.

Heavens, that’s a lot of crassulaceaes.