I took this photo off my instagram feed. Fun!
Robot/Cake
Robot
Robot Cake
The first was made by my brother and the second was made in Australia in honor of the robot.
Cactus Stamps
Yesterday I featured some Cactus Stamps on this here Cactus Blog, and they were postable!
Today I’m featuring Cactus Stamps that are rubbery. And there are three of them for me to feature! All are handmade, or hand-carved as the case may be, and available on the Etsy. Three is a good number, you should buy them all.
Cactus Stamps
Apparently Tara on Etsy will post these older stamps along with some others on a handmade postcard and send it off to you.
Sweet deal!
Spider of the Day
Today’s Spider of the Day is a Black Widow and was captured by Anne. She’s taking it home for a pet.
Aaaaghhhh!!!!!
Black Widow
Agave “Black Widow” is our newest addition to our Agave family. It comes to us as a cultivar of Agave schidigera. Yay! Generally solitary, these might get close to 24″ across. More likely 18″. They are quite filiferous and strongly variegated.
And I found this strange music video from a company that produces this agave.
Nice!
Friday Whippet Blogging
Neon in the Garden
A stunning Crassula perforata variegata and a couple Echeveria hybrids are glowing even on this cloudy day.
Late Night Disney Princess Video Blogging
Ferocactus Disease
Can you help me identify the disease on the cactus picture attached?
Thanks — Rich
Rich,
It looks like it is a form of “Rust” which is a fungus and is usually treatable with Neem Oil, a natural dual purpose fungicide and insecticide that is easy to use.
Take care,
Hap
Western Redbud
Southwestern US/California Native
Evergreen tree
Sun: Full to Partial
Water: Winter rain, summer drought
Size: 20ft.
Careful not to disturb roots when transplanting. Magenta flowers in Spring. From rocky soils at foothills. Bright green kidney-shaped leaves.
California Plants at the Philadelphia Garden Show
Now through the 10th.
Our plants are at the Chive booth. We love Chive and sell all their products, and now they are selling our products too! At the Chive booth! in Philadelphia! PA!
Baby Toes
Fenestraria aurantiaca is the classic strange succulent in the Mesemb family. Related to the Lithops, these are also very low water plants. We recommend keeping them out of full sun and watering every 3-4 weeks. With more sun and more water they can grow quite big, relatively speaking, but then they are very rot prone and most people will find that a higher water level schedule will kill them. Harsh!
The Fenestraria genus includes only two species: Fenestraria rhopalophylla (with white flowers) and Fenestraria aurantiaca (with yellow flowers), which in time have gained various hybrids, with very beautiful flowers (red and orange).
It also appears that F. aurantiaca is no longer considered a separate species, but is a subspecies of F. rhopalophylla. So I guess I better get all my tags updated.
Magic Trick
Sedum rubrotinctum
Michigan Cactus
Actually its a succulent and its at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. But the postcard comes from Michigan.
Desert Botanical Gardens, Papago Park, Phoenix, Arizona. The Boojum Tree, or Cirio, is a native of Baja California, resembles an inverted carrot, with very small branches. This tree is a member of the Candlewood family, which also includes the Ocotillo.
Mixed Pot Madness
Keith’s latest creation featuring Dendrobium kingianum, Scleranthus biflorus and a few Cryptanthus “Minor.”
Sempervivum
just a cute cluster of sempervivums in this little square pot.
Mixed Succulent Pot
This has gone through a few makeovers since it was first put together, but I think it has finally grown out of its awkward stage and into a beautiful mixed pot.
Succulent Hearts
Linda Estrin Design shared a succulent heart.
Happy V-Day.
5pm
Happy Cleistocactus strausii
Testing out my new iPhone app on this Cleistocactus strausii!
Happy Beaver
It’s a Good Luck Beaver, by local artist Jeff Pidgeon, visiting our Happy Succulents.
Shaving Brush Tree
Pseudobombax ellipticum, or as we prefer to call it, Bombax ellipticum. I’ve never seen one this size bloom, and just the one flower.
Nice!
Mossy Terrarium
Rikki working on one of her signature terrariums.
Beautiful!
Episode 20
This is apparently from an episode of the Power Rangers called Ep. 20: The Toxic Flower Cactus of Death.
Nice!
Green Horror!
A cactus that attacks it’s owner?!?
Oh the Horror!
You can read the whole 5 page horror story about the attacking cactus. I especially like the part about it being a misunderstood cactus – a loving cactus that just loves too much.
Sent in by Trey at The Golden Gecko. Thanks Trey!
Hoses
I see that the Garden Rant’ers have finally discovered the made-in-america hoses we carry – by Water Right. Good stuff.
Churee
Euphorbia royleana
Apparently this plant has the common name of Churee. I don’t know anything about how it got that name.
The plant itself is from the Himalayan regions of India. It has stunning leaves which we find always drop off on us.
Here’s a closeup of the blooms with a new leaf started right behind.
Euphorbia royleana will grow tree like to maybe 8ft. tall, slowly. The branches all tend to grow fairly vertically, around 3″ diameter.
Moderately poisonous like most Euphorbias, mostly its milky white sap is a bad irritant. But don’t ingest, please.
These are hardy to about 28F, however we find they cannot handle our normal winter rains so we keep them under cover in Berkeley. They make a great potted houseplant since they can handle fairly low light levels and very low water levels, without eventually growing as tall as some of the other columnar euphorbias around that will hit the ceiling of your home.
Pretty Flowers
Pretty flowers are on the way, soon enough with this lovely tree Aloe.
Aloe speciosa is also known as the Tilt-head Aloe. It’s from the southern parts of South Africa. It’s generally found in groups, ie Aloe forests. The Red buds will turn pure white when they open. And of course like all aloes the hummingbirds go crazy girl them, checking back every day for more open blooms.
They are a tree Aloe, getting as tall as 20ft. and pretty quick too for a thick trunked succulent.