Euphorbia flanaganii

This is a very difficult plant to photograph, since there is so much going on. So many colors, so many “things” hanging out in all directions. But this specimen is kind of unbelievable, so I have held it back. I don’t know when I want to put it out on the floor with the others, but if you want to see it in person just ask me at the store. It’s not too big, so not so expensive, just wild and untamed.

Pennisetum messiacum is such a pretty grass.

You can see the summer fog there – it’s amazing the flowers even open.

Echinopsis peruvianus

Kniphofia uvaria “Primrose Beauty”

Opuntia subulata makes really good fences. The fruit are easy to plant and will root and grow up into a 30 ft tree, or so.

They come, they go, it’s Baby Toes!

Fenestraria aurantiaca

Echinopsis thelegenoides

It’s been so cool out in Berkeley recently that this flower lasted 3 days! The plant grows to abot 6ft. tall and then the stems crash over on the ground, sometimes rooting into the ground right there. Either way there are always more stems growing. Such a cycle to behold.

Eriogonum latifolium is native to most of coastal California, north of Los Angeles and into Oregon. This puffball of blooms is only about 1″ across. At normal size it looks like a creamy white ball, but with this closeup you can see the delicate red anthers, and the gently striped sepals.

Ah, the simple pleasures of an Echeveria imbricata bloom stalk. Droopy!

Eriogonum grande var. rubescens

Easy to grow, endemic to California, and the only red-flowered eriogonum around. native to Southern Cal., we find it grows well enough in Northern Cal. too.

Here’s what it looks like a little less closeup.

Nice!

Kniphofia “Little Maid”

Dorstenia crispa var. lancifolia is in the Fig Family (Moraceae).

These grow thick branches – stout might be a better word for them. And these weird square blooms with explosive seeds – to propagate them you need to catch the seeds, or have a bunch of other pots nearby in your greenhouse that can catch them for you.

Now that’s an attractive rare succulent. Native to Somalia, which is not a safe place these days for plants to be native to.

To grow these as a houseplant requires regular water through the hot summer months, when they are full and leafy. A lot less water through the winter months when they go dormant and lose those serrated-edged leaves.

Calandrinia grandiflora has always been one of our more popular of the succulents. I don’t really have a good feeling for why this might be. Oh yeah, it’s that flower.

In the past, we’ve taken large branched cuttings from our parent plants and planted them direct into gallons to root out, but they usually get too big and ungainly. That doesn’t stop them from selling out quickly, but UI wasn’t happy with the presentation. So now we have Brian in charge, he’s finally gotten a handle on planting a few smaller cuts into the gallons and they root nicely together and look like a real 1 gallon plant now.

Yay!

Not that it matters, I mean, you know, look at that flower!

Anigozanthos “Yellow Gem”

Glittering in the sun.

They come in a bit orangey, and turn into these dazzlingly bright yellow paws and then fade to orange from whence they came. Long lasting enough to be a perfect cut flower for your patterned ceramic vase on the sideboard. They can be 3 to 4 ft. tall, but I would trim them to about 18″ before putting them on my sideboard. Add a bit of beargrass, maybe some baby eucalyptus leaves… Too bad the Proteas aren’t in bloom right now too, since one big cone flower would go nicely.

I have no idea how to do floral arrangements, so I would ignore that if I were you.

Rebutia fiebrigii

Parodia subterranea

Interesting name. I wonder if it got that name because it’s an underground growing cactus, most of the time, or if it got that name becasue it was named for someone named Subterranea. Saucy!

Anderson’s The Cactus Family tells me nothing. Oh well. On to the next question.

Parodia concinna

The plant is not usually that colorful. It’s a adventitious amount of sun and shade that creates that green/red transition.

Usually solitary stems, hardy below 25 but keep dry, as usual for cacti. It’s not the cold, it’s the combination of cold and wet that will kill a lot of cactus.

Mammillaria compacticaulis

This mature specimen is only 1 1/2″ across. But it blooms up a storm. The flowers vary from pale pink to vibrant pink, with a touch of orange occasionally too. They say they will multiply, but it’s a slow process for these little gems.

These are a good Mammillaria for making undersea succulent terrariums. They are tiny scaled and will look a lot like a piece of coral with a giant pink mouth open to catch seahorses.

In the meantime, I’m sure many of you are jumping up and are ready to tell me this is not M. compacticaulis at all, and you may be right! I don’t know. That’s how the seed stock was labeled, but the photos you see online are, shall we say, varied. Amderson’s The Cactus Family has it listed as a synonym for M. matudae but no photo. I matched it up to the published photos in Cacti: The Illustrated Dictionary by Rod Preston-Mafham. So I am going with this name for now. Tentatively. Except of course once I publish this photo under this name on the Cactus Jungle website, everyone else in the world searching for this plant will decide that this is the plant that is matched up with this name. I have the effect on people, you know. Do I have this effect on you?

Espostoa melanostele blooms were open, before I got the picture. Really, they were. Here are 4 spent blooms for your consideration instead.

Opuntia tuna-blanca in bloom. These will produce the most delicious fruit ever, if you can navigate those spines.

Eriosyce occulta

Here’s another one with 2 flowers, and they’re non-standard color.

These are a variable species. Some are spiny, others quite spineless. The body color can be almost completely black, to a deep green color. You can see the flower color variation, but it can get even whiter than these. In habitat, they’re mostly underground, so very difficult to find unless they’re in bloom.

They rarely offset, so they’re grown from seeds. Moderately easy to grow indoors in a sunny window.

Astrophytum myriostigma

Opuntia picardoi is one of the most dangerous of the prickly pears we grow. Sure it’s small, but bthat just makes it more deceptive. Big spiny cacti are easy to spot the danger from afar. This little guy, on the other hand, not so much. Not only do all those little spines come out into your skin, they’re also just really sharp and will cut you like a butterknife thru jello. Grape jello.

Red, green and blue tinted plumeria flowers.

Echinocactus grusonii

Eriosyce esmereldana

I blogged it in bloom last year, too. It must be an especially pretty bloom. Either that, or I’ve been blogging too long and there’s nothing new to post, ever again.

Adenium obesum, grafted hybrid

It’s our newest houseplant hanging wall unit.