Protea flower about to open up, if its not too cold today.

In continuing our series of haworthias in February, I see we come upon this lovely green rosette with see-though tips.

Haworthia retusa, also known as the Subjunctive Plant. Apparently some of these haworthias do have common names if you dig deep enough for them.

The Echinocereus grandiflora hybrids are popping out all over.

It’s still a little early for the bees, but in the next couple weeks they’ll be getting drunk on these flowers by the gross.

That’s the greek meaning of the genus name, so I’ve been told.

Eriosyce esmereldana

This is a special plant, very sexy, with a very rot-prone taproot. From Chile, of course, as are all eriosyces.

I wonder what the rest of the plant looks like? It’s not very big. Check back tomorrow, and maybe we’ll take a look.

Echinocactus grusonii

Rebutia narvaecense
Small whitish barrels with 1″ flowers in vibrant pink, as if I had to tell you. This is the first bloom this year, but you can see more buds there too. They will bloom into the summer, at which time the Rebutia muscula will then take over with its incredible orange blooms, as if I had to tell you.

…I posted a strange bloom photo of a Cyphostemma juttae. And people asked us what the rest of the plant looked like.

Now you know what the caudex looks like. Maybe tomorrow I’ll post some leaves.

I’ve decided to feature Haworthias this month on the Cactus Blog.

Haworthias are a pleasant little succulent because they are the best shade-tolerant succulents around, consistently building a loyal following by eschewing the sunshine.

They are from South Africa, just like their relatives the Aloes.

I’ll bet there are all kinds of local common names for these plants, but I don’t know them. I’m ignorant that way.

Haworthia attenuata

Spines glow red in the sun.

Agave victoriae-reginae

I’ve brought the Adenium somalense into the photography studio for it’s 2nd bloom flush of the year and taken a portrait of the plant. The problem is I can’t decide which picture I like better. Can you help me decide?

If you click on each photo you get an enlarged closeup of the center flower.

1. This is the plant with the flowers.

2. This is the plant with the flowers with another plant behind with leaves. It’s funny the way they sometimes bloom before they leaf out, but the one in back with the leaves also has buds.

Aeonium “Velour”

There are so many named Aeonium varieties and colors and hybrids and slight variations depending on the amount of sun that I’m hoping we have the right name for this one.

Our source for the name is this book by Rudolf Schulz.

Aeonium arboreum
These blooms can take a lot of energy out of the plants, and can cause some of the rosettes to die back, even setting the plant back a couple years. Not as bad as some other Aeoniums, especially the ones with the pyramidal bloom stalks. But they’re pretty.

We had a different plant labeled A. urbicum. But then we decided we were wrong. And that this one must be A. urbicum. What do you think?

Aeoniums are difficult. There aren’t a lot of good pictures from which to ID them. We’re clearly going to have to get the big Aeonium book from Australia. That’ll be fun. Then we’ll change all the names around again.

It’s very confusing, all the different types of aeoniums. For instance, the popular “Schwartzkopf” is a cultivar  off a subspecies off a species. So it could be properly called Aeonium arboreum ssp. atropurpureum c.v. “Schwartzkopf”. And then we have our own cultivar off that! very subtle differences.

Here’s our current list starting with A. arboreum.

Aeonium arboreum

more… Read More…

Today we feature 2 smaller rosette aeoniums, that grow about 3ft. tall and are very branchy.

Aeonium holochrysum

Aeonium balsamiferum

Now we started with a crop of the holochrysums, and then when those were big, we bought another seedling tray of the same thing. When they were big enough, we potted some and sold the 2nd tray as holochrysums also. But when the rest grew bigger we realized they’re not the same plant. I’ve decided the 2nd plant is balsamiferum. It’s also possible they’re the same species, but different cultivars or subspecies.

But they look different enough to me that I can’t in good conscience call them the same plant.

Also, these are summer photos, when the rosettes are at their smallest. In the winter they’re a lot more full. But interestingly, these 2 shrink up more than a lot of our other aeonium species.

It must be winter-growing-aloe-bloom-season in the Bay Area!

Aloe africana is an African Aloe also known as African Aloe. It’s from South Africa, of course. The Eastern Cape. These are some very orange flowers. The plant itself is a single-stemmed, generally solitary tree aloe to 10ft. tall. The marginal spines are vigorous, though not so large or numerous as to be hazardous.

Stictocardia macalusoi

Yes, that is the common name for this member of the cactus family that looks like it should be in the agave family.

Leuchtenbergia principis is from the Chihuahuan desert and unlike the agave it can bloom and bloom again, every year. Though they do not bloom young, so you may have to wait 10 years to see such a vibrant yellow flower.

Those weird papery spine things on the ends of the arm-like thingys are in fact the spines, true cactus spines, coming off the “arms” which are not branches or stems or even leaves, but what is a tubercule. Cactus are soooo interesting!

They need a tall pot, since they have a big and ruddy taproot.

The baby is in a nest of Tillandsia usnoides! Awwww, so cute!

Go baby… Go baby…

We are really full up with airplants and terrariums of all kinds.

Tillandsia bulbosa

Tillandsia xerographica

Tillandsia xerographica x brachycaulis

Tillandsia tenuifolia “Blue”

Tillandsia stricta “Pink-Bronze”

Tillandsia ionantha “Mex”

Tillandsia butzii

Albuca namaquensis
Winter growing bulb with curly leaves. The sun was very bright when I took this photo. Maybe too bright for the delicate petals.