Today’s random google search takes me to this site that has pastel cactus flower note cards for sale.

This card is titled, “Yellow and Peach Prickly Pear Flowers”.

I wonder what would happen if I did the search on MSN instead? I see it pulls up…
Read More…

Polliannacrafts has created a remarkable, adorable crochet cactus.

I’ve been told that sometimes I add just a bit too much snark, so no snark today. This really is a remarkably adorable crochet cactus, and that’s all I have to say about it.

(Photo was borrowed without permission).

Oh come on now, I blogged about Cactus Mittens yesterday (Cactus Mittens!) and nobody has any comment or response to this? How is this possible? The world may be a strange and mysterious place, our financial health in collapse, our health care system uncertain, a very polarized election coming up and yet here we are with cactus mittens and nobody seems to appreciate what this means for all of us.

Well, let me tell you what it means. It means that we’re OK.

Google don’t fail me now. 

And it’s a hit! Cactus Mittens!

It’s a pattern for making mittens that look something like a saguaro. From Jess: Knit Climb Java

Teh Google really can improve our world in so many untold, practically unknown, verily unimagined ways.

Teh Google wins again!

from Pixdaus… by fedrus

PZ Myers posted this photo that I have “borrowed” of lava cactus on the Galapagos. Why does he get to go to the Galapagos and I don’t? I like lava cactus. And giant tortoises too.

It’s a cactus. It’s a frog. It’s a cactus and frog independent film that also features cheese. Fortunately it’s also very very short. Thank god.

One of the customers here recommends watching while soaking in a warm tub. I do not disagree. But I cannot recommend it.

Yayyyy! It’s a 32″ inflatable cactus! I want one! No I don’t! Yes I do!

The inflatable cactus make great decorations for parties, restaurants, and can double as real plants in dorm rooms.  Each stands approximately 32″ and comes sealed.

It’s a Succulent Purse Topiary

I don’t know what the world is coming to, but it can’t be all bad, what with this incredible artifact of human intelligence made apparent.

Bring a purse home that truly grows every day of the week with Crassula, Echeveria, Sedum, Senecio and Semperviven succulents.

Man, I’m impressed. I can’t say enough about this. I may have a seizure.

Some people who only eat raw foods do the silliest things, and then post the tale on a message board for all to ridicule.

i feel bad cuz once i took two of my friends for hiking
then we tried to get at a cactus pear 

we used a rock and other crude items 
and… well, they ended up eating it after doing their best to ‘clean it up” and get to the flesh 

then they ended up getting a bunch of barbs in their mouths 

i felt so bad for them 

but then they laughed it off 

and the rest of the hike went well 

la_veronique

But it’s entertaining!

Tangledwing has featured this photo of a wallpaper that was made from a closeup of mammillaria spines.

No word on where to buy it.

It’s cactus jerky. As seen on Wired.com.

Sent in by our good friend Jake, who used to work at the Vivarium but now is studying some sciencey thing. First he gave us geckos, now he forwards cactus jerky info. It’s all good. Now if we can only find the distributor so we can carry it at the nursery, but then we’d have to have the willpower not to eat it all.

Moir Gardens within the Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation, on Kauai are,

identified as “one of the ten best cactus and succulent gardens in the world.”… Today the garden contains rare cactus and succulents, bromeliads, orchids, mature trees, and water lily ponds.

This is according to poiputrip at blogono. I take it to be true, because why would a blog lead you astray?

Woohoo! It’s a cactus tote bag!

I’m so excited I could shvitz.

From a Canadian newspaper, we get this tale of woe:

Patience has been a theme of many garden-related conversations I have had lately.

For example, someone told me they had planted several new perennials recently and wondered why they were not blooming yet. I asked how long ago the perennials were planted, the response, “sometime last week.” Another person asked me why his magnolia was not blooming after being planted for three years. And a friend of mine asked me why his cactus that I gave him as a birthday gift was not flowering.

All three questions and a multitude of others have a similar theme: why isn’t my plant flowering? The answer is not always the same. For instance, the cactus only flowers at night, so my friend would never get to see it unless he was up at midnight staring at the thing.

You know, I think another reason that the plants may not have bloomed is that they’re in Canada. That’s just my theory, but I do have some scientific backing for this theory that is mine. For instance, there are mink running wild in Canada, and I’ve heard of Elk being free and wild up there too. So you can understand my concern for the cactus.

On top of that, night-blooming cacti blooms are generally still open the next morning, and aren’t fully done until around noon, earlier if it’s very hot, but then that’s the whole thing, now isn’t it, of their being up in Canada, where it isn’t so hot.

I never learned the salsa. A friend from Colombia tried to teach me and a few other architecture students when we were on semester abroad in Switzerland, but it was a hopeless endeavor. Instead we played volleyball on the slopes overlooking Lago Lugano.

Meanwhile, here’s a cactus salsa recipe.

Ingredients
* 1 bn Cilantro; leaves only, roughly sliced
* 4 Scallions; thinly sliced
* 1 Serrano chiles; stemmed, seeded,
* 1 ts Coarse salt
* 1 c Prepared cactus paddles; rinsed, sliced fine
* 1 c Fresh corn kernels;
* 2 tb Red wine vinegar
* 1/2 ts Freshly-ground black pepper
* 1/4 c Olive oil
* 6 Tomatillos; husked, washed,

Directions
* Step #1 Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat….

Oy that seems complicated. You’ll have to click through to find out the rest of it.

Our staghorn (Platycerium bifurcatum) at home has an infestation of giant mealy bugs. They’re practically inchworm size. It’s been growing nicely and is huge and full, but I had to take it out onto the porch to spray. I don’t think I will share any photos of the infestation, because it would scare you too much. I know you, you’re squeemish that way.

Succulent makes very pretty little mixes in very modern pots for delivery in LA.

Tight.

Via Apartment Therapy

First you need to get yourself a cactus shower-brush. The Body Shop has one, I see…

Cactus Body Brush

Best if you want to: Massage and exfoliate your skin, remove dead skin cells… with soft cactus bristles.

How it works:

* Bristles made from cactus are soft and provide gentle exfoliation.
* Particularly good on dry skin that needs to be exfoliated regularly.

Well that’s a mystery to me. They claim they have “soft cactus bristles.” I can’t imagine. I guess that’s why I don’t run a spa.

They are not the same thing at all, so it turns out. Actually to be clear, there’s no such thing as a potato cactus or a cactus potato in the botanical world. But on the other hand…

Potato Cactus are used in:

* Herblore to make magic potions
* Summoning to create spirit kalphite pouches

That’s a reference to Runescape, in case you wondering. What is Runescape? I’m guessing a D+D game.

Cactus Potato – Apparently you can be the first to review the Cactus Potato restaurant in Lomita, CA if you click through the link. Anyone know anything about them?

In Hesperia, CA in the Mojave they name the streets after plants.

I grew up in a town where the developers named the streets after themselves and their families. My street was called Malubar Ln. after the developer’s children Marilyn, Lucy and Barbara. Really.

In Europe, they name the streets after artists and architects.

Are you aware that most of the streets in Hesperia are named after botanical varieties? That is Hesperia’s “theme.” It’s also why there are streets named Lime, Lemon, Peach, Yucca, Olive, Walnut and Juniper, among others. We also, of course, have some numbered and lettered streets, and a Main Street. But most are plant names, though not necessarily desert plants.

No cacti among them, which seems strange since it is in the Mojave Desert. Let me check out teh google and see what I can come up with….

It seems that they are mostly named after tropical trees. But I see a Cactus St., and a Joshua St. But then I see the Mango St. and the Avocado St. and the Guava, Grapefruit and Pecan Streets and all is lost.

They like the plumeria down in Southern Cal. Well, of course they do, since they can grow it outside, and it will bloom for them. We have a bit more trouble with it up here in the Northern parts of Cal. Indoor, and the spider mites love it. We get about 1/4 to rebloom in any good year.

Ed Crisostomo / The Press-Enterprise
“They take all the heat you can give them,” says Seymour D. Van Grundy of the tropical plumeria plant.

I love crocheted cacti! They’re my favorite crafted cacti around!

Wow, now that’s some crocheted cactus, that is. 2 blooms and deep green ribs. I’m going out on a limb here and guess it’s a Yarnicereus flopibloominus v. albinus.

Here is an amusing project for the crochet enthusiast. It can be accomplished in two or three sessions and is easy enough for the novice crochet enthusiast to practice their skills.

I wonder if there is any connection to be found between these very exciting Beijing Olympics and the world of cactus? I wonder what comes up if I google olympics and cactus together? I wonder if there are any cactus in China, maybe next to the birdsnest? Maybe another venue is called the cactus spike?

Well, I don’t know what this “Air Jordan 6 Retro 2008 Olympics White Varsity Red Black Cactus” Nike sneaker has to do with either the Olympics or cactus, but you can buy it now. I’m sure it will make you faster.

You know when Philippe Starck uses a new theme in his designs that it’s hit the cultural moment. Here we have a Starckian cactus, Joe Cactus.

Very sleak, very moderne, practically the 1930s. Why, if I had to guess, I would think this was a juice squeezer, but no, it’s an ashtray. Très classy. Now all you cactus collectors out there can rest easy; you’re no longer a weird subculture, you’re a full-fledged trend.

Dave Smith with The Oro Valley (AZ) Real Estate homes4sale website publishes this incredible photo of an Echinopsis bloom.

MorganTJ submitted a cactus chemistry shirt design to the shirt.woot olde west derby and got an earful of comments.