El Paso gets in on the act with the garden tours. The El Paso Times lets us know about the El Paso Cactus and Rock Club’s garden tour on April 6.
This Thelocactus conothelos is one of the cactuses that blooms early. It is one of 260 species of cactus in Ad Konings’ garden. The West Side garden will be featured in a garden tour April 6. (Photos by Mark Lambie / El Paso Times)
It’s nice when they include pictures before the tour so that we know if we want to bother or not. This looks like a good one.
It’s all about the flowers in Mississippi when it comes to taking care of your potted cacti. The Jackson Clarion-Ledger has the story of Felder Rushing’s house plants.
I have a big pot of my great-grandmother’s night-blooming cereus cactus, the same one she used to make us sit on her porch at night to wait for its flower to open.
Now Felder also has some Pedilanthus and that’s always a good thing.
They go for the native plants to complement their cactus and succulent gardens in Pasadena, a town where I understand they would otherwise prefer the roses.
Consider California native plants, which are more than just succulents and cactus. Many are flowering and many were used for food or medicinal purposes by Native Americans….
Acuña pointed at the silver-leaved Artemesia tridentate. The Tongva, who called it “wikwat,” gathered the seeds and ground them into a mush. The leaves and branches were used in sweathouses. A medicinal tea for stomach-aches was made from the leaves, which were also used to make a green dye for tattooing.
I’ve been to a couple of those Rose Bowls and man were there a lot of rose logos around. I also saw the aftermath of the parades, where the streets were strewn with excess flowers.
I hope you enjoyed your garden tour in Riverside this past weekend. Did you visit the cactus garden that the Riverside Press-Enterprise featured?
Buck and Yvonne Hemenway, of Riverside, will display their back yard filled with drought-tolerant plants at the ninth annual Garden Tour and Plant Sale this weekend.
Nice garden. Where is Riverside anyway? I’ve always wanted to know.
The Jackson Hole Star Tribune has an article about a local gardener and her extensive cactus collection.
Lawson has grown cactus for 20 years, but she never expected she’d love it this much or get so carried away: “I was a plant nut anyway. I just got very interested in their growth pattern, their looks, their uniqueness. And it snowballed from there.”
The part I liked best is where the writer describes the occupants of the house and where they like to hang out.
Lanky saguaros lean against her walls…..
Chollas hang out by the bookshelves….
An Old Man cactus sits… his silky white hair looking disheveled in the sunlight.
Now that’s classic quality writing. I once wrote an article about the L.A. River and the restoration of the riparian edge.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer lets us know about this weekend’s upcoming cactus and succulent show in Cleveland. That’s cold and wintry Ohio for those of us who live in the warm California sun.
Cleveland Botanical Garden, 11030 East Blvd.
Midwest Cactus and Succulent Show and Sale, noon-5 p.m. (program at 2 p.m.) Sunday, March 30. Cacti and Succulents of the World, 2-3 p.m. Sunday, March 30.
Let’s see, I see Orchids of course, and an aloe and agave. Lot’s of Euphorbia tiriculi, maybe some rhipsalis and I suspect they must have some bromeliads too.
New Delhi-based Meena Singh, considered an authority on cactus and succulents, advises: “This is a short period when one enjoys the fruits of labour put in from October. Clean the plants, water them and try to keep pests away.”
(Photo: Shirley Brenon, Special to The Desert Sun)
Buhlert began taking classes at The Living Desert University four years ago because she was from Northern California and wanted to learn more about plants she had never seen before. “When I heard Glenn Huntington say that ‘you don’t have to plant pansies and petunias’ it just rang my bell,” she explained. Buhlert is now a Master Desert Gardener and her yard has been certified as a Backyard Desert Habitat.
Now that you mention it, blooming aloes will attract hummingbirds.
The Las Vegas Review Journal (What’s with the 2 names, shouldn’t it be a review or a journal, but both? really?) posts cactus class listings. And I repost them. That’s just the kind of blogger that I am.
UNLV Garden Lecture Series: Look what University of Nevada, Las Vegas and associates have lined up for you to make your dream come true… on the UNLV campus….
How about some cactus and succulents in your landscape? These lectures continue again on March 29-30 with some of the most notable experts on cactus and succulents at the same location. For more information, call Paula Garrett at UNLV at 895-1421.
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.
On top of the building is a big rooftop garden, practically a Green Roof, if you will.
And it’s City Hall. Now that’s a green idea. From AFP:
Nestled atop Chicago’s neoclassical city hall lies a secret garden hidden to all but those peering out of the windows of neighboring office towers….
The cooling impact of the gardens is dramatic.
Thermal images taken of the city hall rooftop on a cloudy summer day found it was the same temperature as the air: 74 degrees F (22 degrees C). The black tar roof next door was a scalding 152 degrees F….
It is a 20,000-square-foot oasis perched on top of an 11-story building in the heart of the central business district which hosts more than 150 species of plants, including purple comb flower, juniper and crabapple trees, bittersweet vine and sedum, a succulent, cactus-like plant ideal for green roofs because of its high tolerance for extreme temperatures and minimal need for water.
And honey from the beehives kept in two of the city gardens is sold to raise money for after-school programs.
Now you know what an urban green roof looks like. If only I could get me some of that sweet sweet honey.
The classes at the SF Garden Show this weekend look good. We’d be there but we can’t because, well, the store is open and all, and people will be coming after visiting the garden show.
(Photo provided by Saxon Holt) Saxon Holt discusses succulents, such as opuntia cactus with veronica and centranthus in the background, at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show….
Debra Lee Baldwin, garden photojournalist and author of the nationwide best seller, “Designing with Succulents,” will be discussing her book at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the Tamalpais Room and will be available for book signing at 6:15 p.m..
Award-winning garden photographer and Marin resident Saxon Holt will cover more details of succulent gardening with “The Beauty of Succulent Gardening: The Hottest Plants for Today’s Hot Climes” at 1:45 p.m. Sunday.
Debra Baldwin may also be coming by our nursery to see some of our container gardens. She’s writing a new book.
A bottle cap doesn’t have to be garbage — it can be a piece inspiring a gardener’s artistic vision,” said Greg Lum, a landscaper who is currently designing a garden from recycled plastic products, including a bottle cap mosaic, a landscape featuring low water-usage plants, and life-size mannequins fashioned out of moss and succulents.
“It all started with my mother’s need for flowers for her daily prayers. I stepped in by helping her grow different varieties of marigold and hibiscus and this planted the passion for growing flowers in me”, Aditya said….
37-Year-old Aditya also possesses some rare Indian cacti like the Freria Indica, seen only in the Western Ghats and classified by the botanical survey of India among the endangered Palaeoendemic species….
One of the prized possessions of Aditya is Hydnophytum Formicurum, a lowland species native to southern Thailand and Malaysia but also found in the Andamans.
“One of my rarest succulents is Ceropigia Hirsuta- a rare succulent found in Mahabaleswar. The specialty of this succulent is that it stays seven months under the soil and sprouts after the first rain”, said Aditya.
Aditya, who has not studied beyond the tenth standard, works as a garden consultant.
It’s a nice story of a local boy who made his community proud.
CBS News’ The Early Show featured some cactus and succulents in a mixed container garden for spring.
Shirley Bovshow, garden designer and co-host of “Garden Police” on the Discovery Home Channel, says playing in the dirt now will get your plants AND your spirits ready for the sunny days ahead!…
On The Early Show Thursday, Bovshow offered some creative ideas…
Her next pot is full of succulents — the hot plants of the gardening world right now. Succulents are smooth, plump plants full of moisture. Because they store so much moisture in their leaves, stems or roots, they can survive periods of drought much better than other plants. A cactus is an example, but there are many different types, and they can be quite beautiful. By adding a simple statue to her plantings, Bovshow’s arrangement becomes a piece of art.
I think they may be defining art down. Now why couldn’t they recommend some spinier plants? I think CBS’ older demographic is ready for spinier plants. But I do like this adding of statuary idea. My grandmother always had small statues hanging around on the side tables and they would have looked very festive in a pot of cactus. Send us your photos and I’ll post them here.
The Philadelphia Garden Show has stories to tell. The Philly Inquirer shares with us the yearly trek of Nona Begonia.
Sylvia Lin, 79, already has her white hair brushed and pulled into her signature bun. I know without asking that she’s been up for at least a half hour and didn’t go to bed until well after midnight. I know without even saying “Good morning” that she’s revving in high gear, ready to pack up three carloads of succulents, cacti and begonias for the drive from Ambler to Center City.
It has been this way on this weekend of the Philadelphia Flower Show every year for the last 30 or so. I am part of a small tag team that gets “Nona Begonia” to the show.
Now I wanted to go to Philadelphia last year, but it was a little farther out of the way from California than I would have expected.
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.
Meet 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.
There are more than 190 species in the Crassula genus, crassus meaning “thick,” referring to the plump, water-storing leaves of this succulent…
Unlike invasive succulents like ice plant (Carpobrotus) and red apple (Aptenia cordifolio) which engulf Bay Area coastal hillsides, Crassula make better, “user-friendly” choices for your garden.
Photo by Evan McLean. The Sequim native cactus, opuntia fragilis, growing in front of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce VisitorÂ’s Center is one of several icons that represent Sequim, including the New Dungeness Lighthouse replica in the background.
Most people don’t realize there are cacti native to 48 states. Including Washington. The Sequim Gazette has the story.
Conservation biologists come to Sequim to study the natural habitat of the northernmost cactus in the world, which also is found in British Columbia, Canada, and documentary film producers recognize it as embodying SequimÂ’s “blue hole.”
That’s quite a story they tell. Did I tell you the story about how I learned to ride a bicycle? My Dad took off the training wheels and I promptly took the bike right through the plate glass front door. I’m kidding. I went through the plate glass door when I was 6, long before I knew how to ride a bike, and it was the back door. My sister Caroline came running back and got to miss a day of school. But that’s a story for another day.
The Opuntia that has esacped in Australia is a nasty one. From the Courier Mail:
Once spines of the hudson pear cactus penetrate the skin, they often require pliers to pull them out. It is potentially the worst cactus species to spread in Australia…
Ms Sippel said koala deaths also had been recorded.
Koalas are cuddly. I thought they spent all there time hanging out in eucalyptus trees in Australia, which by the way escaped here in Northern California and are a real nuisance weed here.
<img width="375" hspace="5" height="281" border="2" src="/blog/uploads/misc/gerardside.jpg" /><br /><br /><a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1903&entry_id=1741" title="http://blog.hortmag.com/PermaLink,guid,bd617f70-5302-4d47-9c2f-2078b0800c07.aspx" onmouseover="window.status=’http://blog.hortmag.com/PermaLink,guid,bd617f70-5302-4d47-9c2f-2078b0800c07.aspx’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Horticulture Magazine</a> is featuring some lithops that one of their editors is trying to keep alive.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Living Stone (I Presume)<br />
by Meg Lynch<br />
<br />
It was July 15, 2002, to be exact—I noted it in the cactus and succulent diary that I kept at the time:<br />
<br />
“LIVING STONES!!! !!! !!! Very excited! One is greenish and the other grayish/peachish—they look good and I will take careful care of them!”<br />
<br />
At some point soon thereafter the gray one died, though I donÂ’t seem to have noted it.<br />
<br />
On March 1, 2003, I mention that lately the still-living living stone, the green one, which I dubbed Gerard, “started to open a pinhole and that turned into a large oval-shaped separation and inside there are what look like tiny Gerards.” I had been hoping it was going to flower. But it was just going through the routine of a living stone: to shed its leaves each year, revealing new leaves inside.</span><br /></div><br />Now that’s what I call garden writing, container-garden-style.<br /><br />
They take most of their garden plants straight from the wild, and nature is suffering. Can Mexico encourage people to grow and buy plants at nurseries? The <a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1901&entry_id=1738" title="http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/02/24/0224mexicocactus.html" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/02/24/0224mexicocactus.html’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Austin American Statesman</a> asks the question.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><br /><img width="400" hspace="5" border="2" src="/blog/uploads/misc/image_6677021.jpg" /></div><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Nancy Flores/COX NEWSPAPERS<br />
Golden barrel cacti are rare in the wild but common in nurseries, including this regional botanical garden in Queretaro….<br />
<br />
More than a third of the country’s species are considered at risk of disappearing….<br />
<br />
Some experts are trying to encourage Mexicans to build nurseries to grow tame cacti instead of pulling wild ones out of the ground. Emiliano Sanchez Martinez, director of a botanical garden in the Queretaro desert, supervises a youth-run greenhouse in the small town of El Arbolito.</span><br /></div><br />
They keep their aloes in pots in <a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1899&entry_id=1735" title="http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080226/LIFE/802260310" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080226/LIFE/802260310′;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">New Hampshire</a>. I think that’s probably a good idea.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">When we have an aloe plant within reach of our kitchen stove, we have a burn unit ready to go to work.</span><br /></div><br />I think this means they’re planning on pulling leaves off that plant if they get a burn. PULLING OFF LEAVES! Ouch. I wonder if they then rub some of that healing aloe juice on the aloe plant’s wounds? I would, but then I’m sensitive that way.<br /><br />
So it turns out that elections matter. Here we have the results of the recent Republican monopoly in Texas. <a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1898&entry_id=1733" title="http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/02/24/0224texascactus.html" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/02/24/0224texascactus.html’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">The Austin Statesman</a> has a story to tell:<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Texas regulations against cactus poaching and enforcement are lax compared with oversight in Arizona, which requires legally harvested wild cacti to be tagged, according to state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso….<br />
<br />
"I’ve been on properties where you see mostly holes where plants were dug up," said Terry Martin, a professor of botany at Sul Ross State University…. Shapleigh has authored legislation that would require individuals who harvest or sell plants to provide proof that the plants come from their own land or that they have written permission from the property owner where the harvesting took place.<br />
<br />
In 2003, Gov. Rick Perry vetoed the legislation…<br />
<br />
In 2007, a similar piece of Shapleigh cactus legislation died in a House committee.<br />
<br />
State Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, said he didn’t give Shapleigh’s bill a hearing in his Agriculture and Livestock Committee because "it seemed like everything he was worried about we already had rules to address."</span><br /></div><br />Thank you for your consideration.<br /><br />
BioSerae is a french company that uses <a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1896&entry_id=1731" title="http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?n=83495-bioserae-cactus-antioxidants-weight-management" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/ng.asp?n=83495-bioserae-cactus-antioxidants-weight-management’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">cactus ingredients in supplements</a>. They process prickly pear pads with the idea that they’re supposed to "combat metabolic syndrome, manage weight and boost antioxidant levels." And now they’re making the cactus products tastier by using the fruit. <br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"An in vivo study on rats showed that, after only seven days of treatment, Cacti-Nea helps to strengthen the antioxidant protection of the body by increasing the globular rate of glutathione peroxidase (antioxidant marker)." </span><br /></div><br />You know what I think of the Saturday morning cartoons these days? I hate them. There’s nothing good on anymore. Ever since they canceled Pinky and the Brain, it’s been all downhill. Sure, Adult Swim has been good after midnight, but I want to wake up early on a Saturday and watch some quality brightly colored cartoons and I’m very disappointed.<br /><br />
Ever wonder which cactus in the Arizona desert you could eat, if perchance you were lost in the Arizona desert with water but no food and were getting hungry? Well there’s a class you can take that will tell you everything you need to know. I suspect they’ll let you know that prickly pears taste good, especially the delicious, delicious fruit. <a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1893&entry_id=1729" title="http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/109658" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/109658′;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Lets find out.</a><br style="font-style: italic;" /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><br style="font-style: italic;" /><img width="300" hspace="5" height="200" border="2" src="/blog/uploads/misc/fcstvwpm.jpg" /><br style="font-style: italic;" /><span style="font-style: italic;">Laura Segall, For the Tribune LISTEN AND LEARN: Janet Pribbenow and Bob Gottschalk, both of Waterloo, Wis., listen as Don Wells of Apache Junction leads a tour about edible and medicinal desert plants at Boyce Thompson Arboretum.<br />
<br />
What: Learn about desert plants you can eat<br />
When: 1:30 p.m. on March 8 and March 23<br />
Where: Boyce Thompson Arboretum, U.S. 60, near Superior<br />
Cost: $7.50 adults, $3 ages 5 to 12 and free for children under 5; hike is free<br />
Information: (520) 689-2723 or ag.arizona.edu/bta<br />
</span><br /></div><br />There you go.<br /><br />
An interesting exhibit is up at the Peabody Museum at Yale University in New Haven Connecticut. That’s a lot of places in one sentence. Anyway, the <a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1880&entry_id=1710" title="http://www.newstimes.com/ci_8289066" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.newstimes.com/ci_8289066′;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Danbury News Times</a> has a good story about the tree of life.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">"We have more in common with fungi than plants," said Michael Donoghue, director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven. "Our ancestry with mushrooms is more recent than our ancestry, say, with corn."…<br />
<br />
Donoghue said that some of the new discoveries are highly surprising. The stars of the show are two giant elephant shrews on loan from the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington — a rare species that’s hard to see live in the United States.<br />
<br />
With long skinny snouts, the two look very much like rodents. But in recent years biologists have, through DNA analysis, grouped them with real elephants, as well as manatees….<br />
<br />
It has two desert succulents — one a New World species from Latin America, the other an Old World species from Africa. They look very much like two species of cactus. In fact, the Latin American cactus is more closely related to flowers like carnations, while the African cactus’ cousins are orchids.<br />
<br />
What this illustrates, Donoghue said, is that if you place very dissimilar species is the same environment — in this case, a desert — they will in time evolve into plants that can best survive a hot dry world. They will become cactus-like….</span><br /></div><br />There are other surprises in the article, and presumably at the exhibit. Now I haven’t been to New Haven in years, except passing through driving between New York and Boston visiting family and all, so I don’t know anything about this here Peabody museum and its evolution exhibit, but it sounds like a nice place to visit in the late stages of winter.<br /><br />
They sometimes grow cactus even in Iowa. Indoors, in a sunny window. But not too close to the glass, mind you. The <a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1878&entry_id=1708" title="http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/02/15/features/home_garden/doc47b5f4341ce73805608735.txt" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/02/15/features/home_garden/doc47b5f4341ce73805608735.txt’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Quad-City Times</a> tells you what will work best in Iowa.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(C)acti and succulents (aloe, jade) prefer direct light…. (S)outh-facing and west-facing windows have more direct light….<br />
<br />
In my home, for example, the cacti and succulents perform best. I have a tendency to under-water, so I have selected those that will tolerate — even thrive — with a bit of forgetfulness.</span><br /></div><br />I knew that. But did you know: <a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1879&entry_id=1708" title="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/02/robot_unemployment_crisis_solv.php?utm_source=sbhomepage&utm_medium=link&utm_content=sublink" onmouseover="window.status=’http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/02/robot_unemployment_crisis_solv.php?utm_source=sbhomepage&utm_medium=link&utm_content=sublink’;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Robot Unemployment Crisis Solved with Make-Work Program.</a> I didn’t think so. Now you do.<br /><br />
From the <a href="https://cactusjungle.com/archives/blog/exit.php?url_id=1867&entry_id=1696" title="http://www.roundtownnews.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14019&Itemid=31" onmouseover="window.status=’http://www.roundtownnews.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14019&Itemid=31′;return true;" onmouseout="window.status=”;return true;">Round Town News</a> of Costa Blancas comes this news.<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><img width="300" hspace="5" height="225" border="2" src="/blog/uploads/misc/building436.jpg" /><br style="font-style: italic;" /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Hairy Cactus was previously a haven for sun worshippers.</span><br /></div><br />I like non sequiturs. <br /><br />
