The Lawrence World Journal has reader blogs, and one reader found a blooming Epiphyllum in Lawrence, Kansas with a cell phone photo to prove it. This is a very exciting find, I would think. But then it’s Saturday, so what do you expect?

Today’s link is to 2Modern Design Talk as they wander Austin looking for Modern design. And they found some. Not a lot, mind you, but just enough that featured some sassy succulents that they got a blog post out of it, and I got one too.

Don’t live in the hill country? Try cacti, agave plants and succulents. There’s hardly a yard or kitchen table around this city without a cactus.

My sister lives in Austin and she doesn’t have any cacti. I might suggest that means she doesn’t have a modern house, but they’re rebuilding the small bungalow and I’m the designer, so it must be modern. And yet, still no cacti. I’ll have to speak to her about that.

This is kind of a strange post by DigaPixBlog, of an Opuntia bloom. The writer is a cactus hobbyist and photographer, but the photo is by someone else, unnamed and unlinked-to, while the shot is criticized, even cropped to change the effect. I don’t agree with the suggested cropping anyway. But the original uncredited photo is quite lovely, with a bee diving in to the bloom.

Nicole at Pentimento noticed an anacampseros blooming a couple weeks ago when we had the really hot weather. It’s a very nice, vibrant pink color, if you check out her picture. We’ve also noticed that the anacampseroses only bloom in the 90s or above.

Liv Moe has an interesting way to display cactus and succulents, as displayed at an art show. Let’s see, there’s the old man cactus in the old man planter. The living stones in the toilet. Well, I suppose you could do worse.

Susan at Garden Rant went to a co-housing Green Roof in Maryland, and has pictures to prove it. Look at all the pretty colors. The balconies had hanging baskets too.

Travel Snippets went to the Galapagos Islands and took some decent shots of some cactus in the dry season. There’s a nice shot of a tree prickly pear at the coast in silhouette.

Patch of Earth found a wagon on Craigslist and filled it with cactus and succulents. Photos ensued.

I see a peperomia, an echeveria, an epiphyllum, aporocatus, and so much more.

Making SundaySauce’s Andrew Scrivani went searching for a cactus pad in New York. Hah! We get them at our local grocer here in Berkeley, but apparently it wasn’t so easy in a giant east coast metropolitan area.

I visited Mexican groceries in my neighborhood and only found the jarred version of the plant….

I… called a Mexican restaurant in the W. Village that serves Nopal… they had a private supplier…. He never called.

And then he gets an offer of 40 lbs from Phoenix. Oy, that’s a lot of pads.

A very entertaining story, indeed. You can also see one of Andrew’s photos I posted (borrowed…) this week. If I’m understanding this he not only photographs the food, he also cooks it. Now that’s what I call a good gig.

Larry Wilson with the Pasadena Star-News put some Opuntia violacea into a galvanized trough for the LA Garden Show. That seems to be the theme of his blog entry at the paper’s blog, Public Eye.

The photoblogosphere has many photos. Blogs, streams, galleries, everyone’s taking pictures. So to help you indentify worthy photos to take the time to view, I’m starting a new link of the day feature focusing on Photoblogging.

Captain Suresh has a very nice flickr stream of cactus bloom photos. Some insects buzzing around the flowers too. I especially like the Ferocactus blooms.

A few weeks ago Vanillalotus went to the San Antonio Garden Center Sale and got her first succulents, including a nice juicy little Aeonium “kiwi”. Many have stopped by to offer her encouragement in her new venture into succulent-land.

Slice of the Day has a great photo of a Puya in bloom. Turquoise is the word of the day.

bunnyunlaced lists the 64 best things about LA, including things like Frank Gehry and Disneyland and Venice Beach (I don’t know, maybe that was just me.)

Huntington Gardens
You visit this 120-acre enclave for a ramble through roses and bonsai. What you don’t expect is that desert garden: a live-action Dr. Seuss book where cacti and succulents resemble stalagmites and flowing seaweed, and blooms in oranges and reds and pinks burst from monsterlike forms.

Museum of Jurassic Technology
Two of its most beloved exhibits are The Stink Ant of the Cameroon, an insect driven mad by a spore in its tiny brain, and The Horn of Mary Davis Saughall, an appendage that grew on said woman’s head in the 17th century.

We loove Dr. Seuss, and not those Jim Carrey Seuss-wannabes either.

This is one random blog link, you know. I hope you appreciate the way I dig deep into bloglandia to find these gems.

Christie at the Cape is featuring a Euphorbia for entertainment purposes only. Euphorbia meloformis, with pendulant bloom stalks.

I think the plant looks happier now, if it is possible for Euphorbia meloformis to look happy. Its unapologetic fatness is somehow happy.

Oregon Cactus Blog has a nice photo of an older Eriocyse senilis in bloom. Red blooms at the crown of the plant, that is.

Sandykidd likes cactus, and had this to say,

I have been called the ‘Prickle Fairy’ for a reason! For my strange love of cactus and also my social resemblance to said prickly succulents.

Greenfish Artist and Gardener has a whole bunch of little cactus from the Austin Spring Fling thingy, plus a picture of an unlabeled Rechsteineria leucotricha in bloom.

Daystar Shine on Me visited the Botanico Jardin Las Palmas Canary Island and took some great shots of some giant cacti in the gardens. How come I never get to go to the Canary Islands?

Mallorca Daily Photo Blog has a lovely photo of a Cleistocactus at the…

Botanicactus near Ses Salines in South East Mallorca is a huge botanical garden.

I’d click through to see the full size photo if I were you.

Holly’s Hystrionics (great blog name!) really lives up to her name in dealing with repotting her agaves.

I free up a large enough hole in the wound-up roots to pass a thin transplanter spade through. Now I can begin the REAL work. I start removing the tired out dirt spadeful by spadeful. I am from the school of thought that figures, once a plant has grown so much it’s root-bound…the soil in that pot is depleted of any nutrients it once held. SO I just threw that dirt on the ground.

I had already prepared the new, larger pot with gravel in the bottom. YES, it has drainage holes. I’m cautious, sue me. I like a thin layer of gravel for ALL my plants.

Read the whole thing, as they say.

A Geologist finds some interest in exploring not just old rocks, but the so-called “living stones” too, i.e. Lithops! Christie at the Cape has photos.

Water When Dry has a recipe for Prickly Pear Vinaigrette.

You’ll need to click through to find the instructions. I wonder if I should try it before I repost it?

Lynn’s Garden has an inspirational photo of her winter greenhouse filled with cactus up to the rafters.

Our Little Acre in Ohio has discovered some early signs of spring poking up. Nice photos of little sprigs. I especially like the picture of the Euphorbia dulcis “Chameleon” with its brightly colored shoots.

Here in the warmer climates we don’t get that kind of spring shoot thrill. I mean, sure we have plants that die back in winter and start shooting in spring, but they’re surrounded in the garden by all our winter green green green.

I love it when someone blogs about the plants they got from our nursery. it makes me feel connected. Pictures always help too….

So Radical Acts found some Lotus crassifolus in our native section and now shares pictures of the plant in full bloom. We’ve sold out for the spring, except for one amazing plant in a mixed hanging basket.

Borrego’s Aloe Blog has some beautiful pictures of large aloes at the UC Irvine Arboretum.

It practically makes you feel like you’re in Africa.

Shed Style wrote a short article for the LA magazine Angeleno which got edited down to one sentence. A long sentence, to be sure. But in the age of blogs, freelance writers now get to publish their own unedited manuscripts, or short articles as the case may be. Here’s my excerpted quote from the short article that was edited down in the magazine. Or you could read the whole thing at the link above.