Advice for children in Ireland, from Ask Marie.

Q: My young son wants to grow some succulents and cacti in a conservatory. Can you recommend some?

A: Head over to see the collection in the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin. It is one of my favourite places to visit and the variety is amazing.

Aloe and agave are good choices, as are lithops. If you have small children, it might be better to start off with the lithops, maybe little succulents and some sedums, as the spiny agave might cause injury.

OK, so I can’t agree with the 2nd part of this advice. Sure go visit the Dublin Gardens, the photos are nice! But suggesting you start a child off with Agaves or Lithops is criminal. Sure, an Aloe will be useful after the child gets stabbed by the Agave, but what will help with the tears when the Lithops rots and dies from overwater?

A news story out of Texas without comment.

Georgetown Police Chief Wayne Nero said Stephanie Hoskins Brown drank the juice of a San Pedro cactus that was cooked so that it produced mescaline, a hallucinogenic drug that is illegal in Texas.

OK, I can’t not comment on this. But rather than comment on the specific Texas Police Officer and the specific Texas laws and the specific very conservative Texas legislature, I’d rather comment on the beautiful, stunning Big Bend NP in the SW corner of Texas. My comment is as follows, “It’s Great!”

Let me just add that you don’t cook an Echinopsis pachanoi to produce mescaline. You cook it to make it palatable. The mescaline was already there.

Hello Hero, a turn-based RPG for smartphones developed in Korea, is headed to the west. You control a team of five heroes across the planet of Armon, including quirky characters like a guitar-playing cactus and a spear-wielding shark.

Good to know. Here’s a video.

That’s not a very interesting looking cactus. I wouldn’t play that game.

This story comes to us from Kansas, homer to grasslands that are good for cows, not for cactus, according to the US Government.

Max Schick was a boy of 10 back in the mid ‘30s when the U.S. government paid people 50 cents an acre to rid their grass of prickly pear cactus.

You should click through to find out if he got spined. And don’t forget the arrowheads…

From the Spalding Guardian and the Lincolnshire Free Press we find out that Moulton will be hosting a Cactus Talk. Nice!

Before we get further into the details of this story, I just want to appreciate all those names. Spalding, Lincolnshire and Moulding. I mean Moulton.

Spalding is a lovely and scenic town “in the peaceful South Lincolnshire Fens”

with acres of sky and sunsets, (Spalding) is a town that has to be seen to be believed!

Here, see this picture to see what they’re talking about. So scenic! I recommend staying the night at The Beeches. And so scenic, too! Why, it’s in a converted barn! Now that’s what the cactus and succulent society is all about.

Back to the event.

Spalding Cactus and Succulent Society is hosting a talk by speaker Graham Charles on Favourite Plants in Habitat and Culture at its meeting at Moulton Community Centre on Friday (7pm).

The society meets on the third Friday of every month with a programme of interesting talks about plants, environment and wildlife. Everyone is welcome, refreshments are available, and admission is free.

I will promise to be there tomorrow night if I am anywhere near Moulton. How about you? I don’t yet have my reservation at The Beeches. And where will you be staying?

The LA Times likes a cactus garden in Malibu, and publishes 18 separate photos! At least 3 of these are overtly artsy, especially the one with the 2 blue bottles (Photo #7, by Ricardo DeAratanha). It is a very strange choice for a newspaper to publish non-informative photographs, no matter how artistically composed and arranged.

But interesting!

When Kamm moved into the two-story, 1960s home on the hillside bluff overlooking the Malibu Colony, the 100-foot-long terrace had not a single plant. Because he had a severe brown thumb and had never cared for a garden in his life, he began buying cactuses and succulents: “the biggest, cheapest, least troublesome thing I could plant,” he said.

Apparently Seniors should be eating more Prickly Pear Fruit. So much so, that Senior Living has declared August’s fruit of the month to be…

Cactus Pear
By Sunrise Senior Living

The cactus pear also contains some nutrients that promote healthy senior living. According to the Mayo Clinic, researchers and doctors have said that the fruit may be able to decrease blood sugar levels for individuals who have Type 2 diabetes, and it’s also been known to treat high cholesterol and obesity.

The next time you head to a farmer’s market or a Latin grocery store, keep an eye out for these fruits.

Well, if you’re a senior who needs your cactus pear fix, I know Berkeley Bowl has some in stock right now, or you can come by Cactus Jungle and get some plants and plant them in the ground and wait til next year to get some delicious fruit of your own.

Click through to the article to find out how to properly prepare the prickly pears.

They were practically rioting in Montana yesterday for the cactus.

A night-blooming cactus causes quite a buzz Friday morning in the Floriculture Building at the Western Montana Fair after two large blossoms appeared on the plant overnight.

Wow! Click through for the picture. There are 2 blooms on this particular cactus, so you know it was twice the excitement.

Each year on Labor Day weekend, the Huntington has a succulent plants symposium with five or six speakers covering a wide range of succulent plant topics. Included in the price of admission are a continental breakfast, lunch (that’s always very tasty), admission to the gardens especially to see the desert conservatory, the chance to purchase plants (including ISI releases). Optionally, you can have dinner there. All attendees are welcome to the after-dinner talk.

Here is the info from the Huntington website:

Succulent Plants Symposium
Aug. 31 (Saturday)
9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Gideon Smith of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) discusses aloes of southern Africa in the keynote address at this years symposium. Other speakers include Root Gorelick of Carleton University, Ottowa, and Panayoti Kelaidis of the Denver Botanic Garden. $75 including lunch. (Optional dinner an additional $25.) Registration: 626-405-3504. Botanical Center, Ahmanson Room

Euphorbia resinifera is a beautiful little succulent spurge from Morocco. Sulphur-yellow inflorescence! And apparently a very good shot at being a localized pain killer.

Recently researchers have begun working with a toxin found in a Moroccan cactuslike plant that may be able to deliver permanent, local pain relief with a single injection.

The compound, called resiniferatoxin (RTX), works by destroying the neurons specifically responsible for inflammatory pain.

Nice!

Euphorbia sap in many Euphorbias seem to have lots of properties. Some not so good. We just got in a crop of Euphorbia antisyphilitica, which as its name would suggest is an old-timey old-west cure for the syphilis. Interesting! Also it’s common name is Candelilla, from which one could surmise that it has a waxy coating that could be used to make candles, if one were so disposed.

Euphorbia antisyphilitica

They’ve finally gotten around to finally finishing up with the final coat of the repaving job of 4th Street in Berkeley! That’s us, our street that is, 4th Street, or Fourth if you prefer.

So pretty. So clean and pothole-free.

You can click on the picture to enlargen it and see just how clean and pothole-free it really is. You can look right into the individual particles of pavement and see how smooth and undisturbed they are. SO if you’ve been holding off visiting our store because of the horrible street or the construction, then hold off no longer! We are free!

Have some time to spare while in Portland? There’s an upcoming cactus and succulent show you can go visit.

The Oregon Cactus & Succulent Society Show and Sale will be held July 19-21 at Portland Nursery on Stark St. in Portland, Oregon. The event has the title: Succulent Plant Fest 2013: A Weirder Portland and Northwest One Plant at a Time! The hours are 9 am to 7pm Friday and Saturday, and 9 am to 4 pm on Sunday.

That sounds like fun. Not enough fun for me to travel to Portland just for this fun event from Berkeley, but if I were within a 2 hour drive I would. Really!

June is a big month for succulents in Great Britain.

A local branch of a national organisation for cacti enthusiasts is holding its annual plant show in June.

The Bradford branch of the British Cactus and Succulent Society, which also covers Keighley, is staging the event on Saturday, June 8 at Shipley library.

Are you going to be there, too?

In case you are going, here’s what the library looks like.

Nice!

Apparently straw flowers are an Aztec tradition.

Years ago I traveled to the nursery district at Xochimilco, the ancient Aztec “place of the flowers” outside Mexico City…

At Xochemilco there’s a big tradition of gift plants, and the Mexican way of potting them up demands big color. Many of these are set amidst moss or day-glo gravels…

Well, sure, I can understand that. Brightly colored gravel can enhance the natural coloring of the cactus. Seems reasonable.

Since the cactus did not have blooms due to youth or season, the small growers used small dried flax flowers with their needle-like stems. These would be attached by sticking the stem into the cactus flesh for anchorage. Though they may sell better with color, it’s not a sound practice. These punctures can become an inroad for fungus and bacteria to enter sterile tissues every time they’re watered.

Oh that’s not good.

It’s that time of the year in Ohio when the Cleveland area residents who like to purchase some cactus get together and have a show. And they grandiosely call it the Midwest Cactus and Succulent Show. I wonder how the people in MN and IN and IA all feel about that cooptation?

Anyway, on to the details.

(T)he Midwest Cactus and Succulent Society Show and Sale (is this) Saturday and Sunday at Cleveland Botanical Garden…..

The cactus event is getting more space this year. Previously, the show and sale took place in the same room. This year the display will be in one space and the sale in another.

Now that’s is good news.

Cactus enthusiasts are intrigued by the vast variety of the plants’ shapes, sizes, textures and colors, says Hendricks, president of Klyn Nurseries in Perry.

As are we all.

Creature Comforts puts together a nice mixed succulent pot, and does a good job of naming all the plants.

The thing is, that even though I have been a horrid gardener up to this point in my life, I have always had a deep affinity for succulents. They will forever remind me of childhood visits with my grandparents here in California. As a kid who lived neck-deep in snow most of the year in Minnesota and Montana, stepping off the airplane and into a place warm with sun and brimming with plants and flowers was something more than just a little bit magical to me.

Click through to see all the pictures.

Are you going to the SF Garden Show in San Mateo this weekend? Send me links to your pictures, (or send pictures!) and don’t forget to check out the giant succulent globe.

That’s big! And probably more interesting to view surrounded by crowds of people rather than all alone during the setup. They should really replace that video now that the show is open.

Anne found an article on the Beeb letting us know that Nepenthes can sometimes glow blue.

Yes, blue.

How blue? Well, blue enough that it looks like the carnivorous plants have cold lips.

Crews rescue man after he falls into a San Diego canyon onto a cactus

SAN DIEGO – …Crews said the 50-year-old man got off a bus a few stops too early and wasn’t familiar with the area. As he was walking along the roadway in an area without a guardrail and no sidewalk, he slipped and fell about 50 feet into the cactus….

Authorities said he suffered puncture wounds from the cactus.

I’m kind of glad they did not include a picture of the man with the article. I mean, sure, it can be humorous to watch someone in, say, a movie fall into a cactus and all, but in real life it would hurt. Although still funny. But hurt bad. And cause people to laugh out loud I’m sure. But no picture.

South Coast Cactus & Succulent Society Lecture
Sunday, Feb 10 1:30p
South Coast Botanic Garden Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA

Peter Walkowiak from San Diego will give a hands-on demonstration on “How to grow and hybridize Euphorbias — Medusa and Caudex forms.” Peter has won many awards for his plants and will be bringing some of those to sell.

Actually that does seem pretty interesting, though not much to do with cactus at all. I guess my headline above is totally misleading – both for its sarcastic tone and the reference to cactus.

This time its the Fat Cactus in San Ramon that is now kaputz.

It had a nice sign, back in the days, though no cacti in front.

But don’t worry, it will be reopening as a hawaiian themed burger joint.

What am I even talking about? Keep me away from the blog!

I see that the San Francisco Chronicle is recommending that you decorate your house with succulents for the holidays. And I thought it was all about the terrariums this year.

As you spruce up your home for the holidays… There are many wonderful hanging plants, but some of my favorites are succulents….

Succulents possess a singular charm unlike any other kind of houseplant, and look fabulous when cascading out of a hanging basket. And there is a surprising number to choose from. One favorite is a plant commonly known as burro’s tail, Sedum morganianum…

For something a little more delicate, there is string of pearls, Senecio rowleyanus…

Feeling romantic? How about substituting a string of hearts for mistletoe, (Ceropegia woodii)…

Finally, for something a bit unusual, look for Hoya compacta, curiously known as Hindu rope.

Cactus Jungle is the only local nursery that grows and carries all the plants they recommend. Do you think they list us at the bottom of the article as a source for these plants in the Bay Area? No.

Ian used to make terrariums for us here in Berkeley, but now he’s making them on his own in Oakland.

Nice!

You can find him on Instagram as @janterrariums and Facebook, too. Or if you hang around bars and clubs in Oakland long enough….