We’re getting an early heat wave in Northern Cal. We should be around 90 in Berkeley, and higher inland. So today would be a good day for a little extra watering.

You would think that they’re cactus and they can handle the 90s just peachy fine and all. And you would be correct! Ding ding ding! But that doesn’t mean they don’t want a little extra water. Wouldn’t you?

And most important of all, it’s cactus bloom season and we don’t want them all to abort. Because that would be bad. Then what would the bees pollinate?

So, to summarize for you:

Water today or tomorrow to help Save The Bees.

Thank you and goodnight.

in South Carolina.

And were we glad to see so many plants still alive when only three weeks ago their lives were questionable.

The list of freeze-hardy plants in my yard now includes… most of the succulents and cacti in my cactus garden.

That’s good to know. Any specifics? No? Well. that’s OK too.

I noted in my post about the LA Times article on agave sweeteners that they had incorrectly identified the agave as a cactus, and now they’ve issued a correction. Do you think they read this blog?

For the record
Agave sweeteners: A March 30 article on agave sweeteners said the agave plant is a cactus. Agaves are not cactuses; they are related to lilies and amaryllises.

Well, maybe I didn’t actually write about their article on agave sweeteners, and maybe I didn’t actually correct them, so maybe they don’t actually read this blog. But it could have happened, and that’s LA for you.

From the Desert Sun in Palm Springs.

Beavertail cacti can be eaten, relieve pain

Here’s a picture that went with it.

You can click through for the whole article if you want to find out how a nasty cactus with millions of tiny glochids can relieve pain, but I’m satisfied with the headline alone.

Rainy summers in Florida can be a problem for you and your cactus and succulent garden, if you live in Florida. From TCPalm.com

Photo Credit: Carol Cloud Bailey

Beautiful Agave stricta also known as the hedgehog or globe agave is native to Mexico and very cold and drought tolerant. However, it does not grow well in wet locations or areas with lots of rain. It could be a great addition to succulent or cactus gardens in our area if water is controlled during the rainy summers. Place hedgehog agave carefully, its tidy round leaves are tipped with spines sharp enough to pierce leather gloves.

From the El Paso Times.

Dozens of tiny pink flowers on penstemons dance in the breeze, while neighboring hybrid claret cup cactuses put on their best show in bright red flowers. Bunches of desert marigolds and bright yellow and orange gazanias are sprinkled among other cactuses, including strawberry cactus, which bears fruit that has a strawberry aroma and flavor.

I hope AP doesn’t sue me.

First lady Michelle Obama plants herbs in the White House Kitchen Garden with students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, Thursday, April 9, 2009, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Hmmm, I wonder where you can get fresh organic veggies and herbs for your own garden? Is there a nursery in Berkeley that carries organic vegetable starts?

Apparently they’re now using cactus in men’s fragrances. What will they think of thinking about for thinking reasons thinkingly next?

Until a short time ago I had never heard of Annie Oakley fragrances….

Uh oh, that’s not a promising start for any article.

(T)he biggest surprise and by far my favorite in the group is Stampede. It… contains “woody herbals, cactus rose and the essence of Spanish moss.” Frankly, I have no idea what is meant by cactus rose, unless it is a nickname for cactus flowers… In any case, Stampede is much softer in character than many masculine types of cologne and is very easy to wear.

Well, I think I’ll pass. I don’t think a cologne called Stampede is right for me, even if they do use cactus flowers and tillandsias. Maybe we should sell it at the nursery. Would you buy it?

…and unruly neighbors can be a problem in Singapore. Fortunately, one lady has a solution.

A housewife put two dustbins with stickers of the Buddha and Goddess of Mercy in front of her house… along with… cactus, mirrors, incense burners and shoes… to protect herself, China Press reported.

According to the housewife, her neighbours had crashed into her front door several times when reversing their cars.

“After putting up the ‘arrangement’, the situation has improved,” she claimed.

Let me know if you have the same problems, try out this particuilar solution, and also have success. I’ll print your story, right here on this cactus bloggy thingy.

Here’s the 3rd building I’ve heard of claiming to be inspired by a cactus. Yeah, right, whatever.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs & Agriculture (MMAA) in Qatar is getting a brand new office building that takes the form of a towering cactus. Designed by Bangkok-based Aesthetics Architects, the modern office and adjoining botanical dome take cues from cacti and the way that they successfully survive in hot, dry environments.

Here’s another one.

Peter Eisenman’s barrel cactus and football emporium also.

Honestly, I’m just plain skeptical of architectural claims of inspiration. Nothing is worse than an architect claiming her building is inspired by Mozart, or based on the organic principals of earth wind fire and water. Oy, the agony. I hope none of my old classmates read my blog, or they might recognize themselves there a little bit. 😉

Out of the UK, comes this touching tale of a local favorite on the comeback trail.

More than 1,000 people have joined an internet campaign to bring back the world’s first talking plant to Aberdeen.

Fond memories of childhood conversations with Spike, a talking cactus formerly found in Duthie Park’s winter gardens, have prompted an online petition calling for his immediate return.

In the 10 days since the campaign group was formed on social networking site Facebook, more than 1,000 people have demanded Spike’s reinstatement.

I love talking cacti! I just thought I was the only one who could hear them. Good to know I’m not the only one, because I was starting to get a bit worried.

Indeed.

Two Drug Smugglers Who Crashed into Cactus Near Casa Grande Sentenced to Federal Prison.

The truck crashed through a barbed wire fence and into a saguaro cactus. Due to the force of the crash, an arm of the cactus crashed through the windshield of the truck, pinning Pablo in the driver’s seat. His passengers… fled on foot.

Vicious cactus, helping the police.

Stars and Stripes has found some large cactus in Germany. I can’t decide what category to put this under – news or travel, since I don’t have a military category.

Michael Abrams / S&S
The cactus house is the first hothouse you enter when visiting the Karlsruhe botanical gardens. The giant cactus in the foreground is an Opun(t)ia, or paddle cactus. The big round Golden Barrel Cactus at right, are nicknamed mother-in-law seat in German.

What should you plant if you have a balcony garden in Orange County, California and it faces into the all day heat of the day, i.e. South? Here’s what the OC Register has to say about this alarming situation.

South 
Try some succulents.

They do know their gardening at the OC Register. I would trust them.

From the Marco Eagle in Marco Island, Florida, comes this succulent winner.

Barbara Messner, flower show Committee Horticulture Chair, pictured with her unusual specimen in Class 3. Cacti / succulents: Kalanchoe, gastonis-Bonnieri, (seen in lower right corner) captured Best of Show Blue Ribbon in Division II – Horticulture.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I like local newspapers. They are the future of journalism in this country, what with the upcoming death of the large metropolitan newspapers across the country.

From Gun Barrel City, Texas comes news of a gardening seminar sure to be of use to those within driving distance of Gun Barrel City, Texas.

The Kaufman County Master Gardeners will hold their 2009 Annual Spring Seminar on Saturday April 4th from 9 am to 1pm… Lynn Ackerman… will speak on landscaping with succulents/cactus.

I love local news.

From the San Jose Mercury News:

CAMPBELL
800 block of Terero Plaza, 2 p.m. Monday Someone cut a 6-foot cactus in a yard and trampled on other cactuses.

That was the entire item. I tried google street view to see what we could see, and the answer is: Not much.

Those prickly plants can be a serious danger to cattle in dry regions, and they can spread pretty rapidly too. This is the first I’ve heard of a problem in Asia.

Landowners in Faifa city in Jizan Province have exhausted all options in their attempts to curb the spread of the… fast-growing purple-colored cactus…

“This type of cactus was only found in desert areas of the Tihama plains,” Bin Yahya says, “but over the time it spread to the foot of the mountains and then the baboons and birds and other animals brought it up the mountains. If we don’t tackle the problem soon, the cactus could sweep away all the pasture land and forested areas in the Faifa mountains.”…

The rapid spread of prickly pear in eastern Australia in the 1920s was considered to be one of the botanical wonders of the world, and its virtual destruction in a mere six years by cactoblastis caterpillars is regarded as the world’s most spectacular example of successful weed biological control.

This article from Australia has one of my favorite headlines of all times. 

Festival Fun For All

I refuse to read the article that goes with it because that headline is enough for me, thank you very much. The article came up in a cactus search, so I assume the festival has something to do with cactus and succulents, but I wouldn’t know because, as I said, I refuse to read the article beyond the headline. And that’s my perogative. I guess I’m weird that way.

Crews are set to begin installing the remaining pieces on a massive public-art sculpture in downtown Phoenix on Monday….

The piece is called “Her Secret is Patience” and is designed to evoke a cactus flower.

Honestly, I just don’t get it. An article about a massive piece of public art already under way and not a single photo or drawing to go along with it. This is an outrage; verily a disgrace. I would write in and complain, but I really couldn’t care less. On the other hand, the art seems like it’s going to be pretty cool.

The trend is succulents. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for years. Well, the trend has reached Mississippi. Next stop Alaska, I bet.

Folks also are more environmentally conscious, Zischke and Faulkner said.

“Organics in general are becoming more popular,” Faulkner said. “More people are requesting organic fertilizers and sprays and looking for more earth-friendly ways of controlling things and feeding them.”

Along with the green trends, she’s also seeing shoppers buy more succulents. “Succulents require less water, and we’re starting to look for things that require less,” she said.

Good news out of Sun City Arizona!

MOLLIE J. HOPPES/DAILY NEWS-SUN
After driving his car to lawn bowling,Bobbie Billing noticed a hummingbird nest on the decorative cactus he had placed on his car’s antenna. He looked in the nest and saw three little mouths.

MOLLIE J. HOPPES/DAILY NEWS-SUN
Billing will wait until the chicks leave the nest before driving his car.

The great thing about blogging articles with illustrations is that the photo description is often enough information, that I don’t even have to read the article! Man, this job is easy. If only it paid.

We are at the cutting edge of international cactus and garden show calendar information. For instance, the Nutmeggers are back in the news:

Please mark your calendars for the Connecticut Cactus & Succulent Society’s 26th annual show and sale, being held in Waterbury, Connecticut, USA on Saturday, April 4th through Sunday, April 5th. Admission and parking are always free!

All the details.

I won’t be there, since it’s still freezing in CT in April. But if you go, you know, and you were to take some pictures, you know, you could like send them to us, and I might, you know, publish them right here on this here little cactus blog, you know.

They can teach us a thing or two about drought tolerant landscaping in Riverside, CA.

Special to The Press-Enterprise
“I think in 10 years the change to the California landscape in our cities and suburbs will be so dramatic, you can’t even imagine,” said Buck Hemenway, who, with is wife, Yvonne, turned their yard into a drought-tolerant demonstration garden.

Did you know that Riverside is the 14th largest metro area in the US? Interesting.

Let’s see, we have economic problems and global warming problems, and so on. So what can you do? McClatchy newspapers asks the question and has a suggestion for your upcoming wedding.

“The ‘green’ people tend to say, ‘You shouldn’t have a wedding at all….’ “

Wait, that’s not what a major news organization is actually recommending is it?

“…But it’s all about making smarter, better choices.”

Of course. Any specifics relevant to this blog?

“My biggest thing is local, local, local….”

Very good. We support that.

Use  succulent… centerpieces, not lowly philodendrons, that you or your guests can keep.

Bingo! Nobody wants philodendrons as a wedding centerpiece, that’s for sure.

You know, we do succulent centerpieces for a few weddings each year at the nursery and they look good. I also can recommend trees, and troughs filled with grasses, as stunning wedding displays. And people always appreciate cacti at bar mitzvahs, if you were doing any upcoming planning. I’m just saying…

On a recent Sunday, five of us hiked the Metacomet Trail from New Britain Avenue in Plainville to Route 6 in Farmington, a trek of more than 4 miles….

This section of trail includes great views in all directions from a vantage point called Pinnacle Rock. You’ll also pass a former Nike missile installation, communications towers, a massive rock cave known as Will Warren’s Den and other features. Just off the trail and looming above New Britain Avenue is a colony of Connecticut’s only native cactus, the prickly pear cactus.

Well, what about the pictures? And species name? I’m assuming it’s Opuntia fragilis, but then I’ve never been to CT so how would I know?

Hah! Of course I’ve been to CT. Some of my best friends are Nutmeggers, as they like to call themselves.

Cactus is what’s for dinner.

The chefs came up with some miniature cactus tacos with sour cream and chives and an avocado topping that can be enjoyed cold.

“I like them more raw than cooked because of the texture. They are not crunchy but have a bite to them.

Cactus will be prepared in mini tacos for the coming gala. (Victor Calzada / El Paso Times)

And pairing it with avocado is a natural,” Bowen said of the special tacos.

It’s Garden Show time in Philadelphia, through this weekend.

You could hop a plane to Rome this very afternoon – $535 round-trip from Philly. Or you could hit the 2009 Philadelphia Flower Show.

I guess that’s true, in a unusual sort of way. But then I would have to fly to  PA and that would cost me, let me see, at least $656. I’d rather fly to Italy, to be honest.

Well, how about the show gardens, how are those?

San Remo. This “Italian Riviera” exhibit by Waldor Orchids of Linwood… shows… palm and olive trees, succulents and… orchids everywhere… “Real Italian flair,” says Waldor co-owner Walt Off.

Well, there’s that. Still, I’d rather be in Italy.

By the way, did I ever tell you that I almost went to college in Philly? It was a very close call and I didn’t decide until the week before school started but I ended up in Ann Arbor, Michigan instead.

When I visited the school, I stayed in the dorm room of a guy who later became President of Dunkin Donuts. True story. Do you believe me?