Echinocereus grandiflora hybrid in yellow.

These Echinocereus grandifloras come in so many colors. They’re blooming up a storm. I’m sure I’ll have more colors coming up on the blog in the weeks ahead. Today is yellow. Tomorrow, too.

Here we see the bloom from below. I t doesn’t look so giant in this photo, but just wait for tomorrow’s portrait. This shot really shows the relationship of the bloom to the cactus below, and the buds yet to come, along with the fruit from last year’s blooms too.

The sun is quite bright as reflected in the washed out yellows in the center of the bloom.

Formerly Lobivia maximiliana caespitosa

now Echinopsis maximiliana subs. caespitosa

or to decipher the botanical epithets:
maximiliana = “superlative of magnus, large, great, high, extensive”
caespitosa = “plenitude or notable”

so translated to english:

the super-duper big and happy cactus!

Plumeria acuminata c.v.

They always come in different colors. We should mark the plants when they bloom, doncha think? And fragrant too. We grow them inside here in the Bay Area. They grow them outside in Southern Cal, up to Santa Barbara.

We always have trouble getting them to rebloom. We use fish bone meal. This year, I have 3 that are in the process of blooming right about now, out of 6 we have that bloomed last year. I think that’s a pretty good percentage. Even when they don’t bloom, they make a great multi-branched tree houseplant, doncha think? Well, it’s hard to tell from the photo of the bloom, but you can trust me on this one; they do.

Mammillaria bocasana

Small multi-stemmed cactus from Mexico, usually globose. I love that word. Globose. Use it daily, and you will be a happy person. Anyway, the flower color varies on this species. We have both yellow and pink. I think this may be the subspecies roseiflora. I think that because, well, look at that subspecies name, “roseiflora”. I think that fits this one, don’t you? Of course you do.

Anyway, these small globose stems are sometimes a little taller than other small globose mammillarias.

Well, you really have to click through to the full size original.

It’s a bee on a Hoya carnosa bloom. The one bloom and the bee are both in amazingly clear focus. You do know how small those hoya flowers are, now don’t you? Well, they’re only about 1/2″ across. And apparently, if you look very closely, fuzzy, just like the bee. Plus, if you click through to the original, you can see the pollen on the bee’s knees.

Photo © Martin Heigan, from his Flickr stream.

Arctostaphylos pajaroensis “Paradise”
This is one of my favorite manzanitas. Great leave color and texture, beautiful bloom sprays, and delicious berries (for the birds).

This specimen was photographed at the UC Berkeley Botanic Garden.

Cleistocactus azerensis
The hummingbirds love these cacti. Our specimen plants have literally billions of blooms on them right now, and all summer long. I counted. First they bloom on the south side of the plant, all up and down. Then the blooms migrate around to the west and east sides, with a few on the north side popping by late summer.

The hummingbirds are territorial, so we see the same pair every day, checking for new buds here when they’re not finishing off the last of the Aloe striatas, which are just dripping with nectar.

Lewisia cotyledon
These California Natives are from the Siskiyous, and range into OR, WA and ID too, maybe. They have a deliciously edible root, called Bitter Root. It’s not so delicious after all.

They grow in rocky soils, and can’t ever sit in water. They can handle heavy winter floods rushing past them.

The flowers come in every color. Striped and solid. Some are even practically plaid. This is a very dark red bloom that you don’t see very often.

Calystegia macrostegia
Great twining vine, works well climbing on fences locally. Will bloom for much of the year, and will go dormant in the summer if you let it go dry. It’s a Coastal favorite, though it also comes from some of the srubbier chaparral areas of California.

Trichodiadema densum
It’s been hot at the nursery, and these mesemb blooms opened up very quickly and started fading just as fast.

But really, aren’t you getting tired of all the new bloom photos? My eyes are getting overwhelmed from all the colors. So many colors….

It reminds me of my fraternity days when we had other means at our disposal to see all those pretty colors… So many colors….

Anyway, this mesemb is hardy in the ground in the Bay Area, won’t spread too fast, forms a nice low mound and gets covered in these pretty purple flowers in the spring. There. Now you know.

Echinocereus viridiflorus
It means green flower, and yet it looks more yellow to me.

These are a very florific cactus, with dozens of blooms at a time, and reblooming into the summer.

The small barrels, when not covered in flowers are reddish in hue, almost striped even, like the sepals.

Echinocereus armatus
I think my new camera this year is working out well. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Echinocereus armatus
You know, those crazy Echinocereuses are at it again. They are blooming very early this year. Last week we had that white flower spectacular. Today it’s purple day. Some would say pink, but I’m not quite sure. But I do know it’s 6″ across. Don’t they look like feathers that should be plucked and used on the end of an arrow? We do carry Arrow Bamboo, so you could cut a culm and create your own set of arrows. But then it turns out these are just petals, and not feathers, and so the arrow would not fly true and straight to its target, but would fall flat onto the ground.

Tomorrow, we’ll peek inside this wonderful flower.

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.

Fremontodendron “San Gabriel”
The Flannel Bush gets a whole heck of a lot of these very graphic thick yellow flowers. And I mean that the color is thick, not the petals, although they are too.

These are a great plant to espalier if you have the right place for it. On the other hand, they are a definite allergen to about 1/2 the population if you rub up against them.

On the 3rd hand, there’s always a little brother who can be tossed into the flannel bush to see what reaction your family might have to it.

Echinopsis chiloensis

Cistus x purpureus

A lovely shrub with large purple flowers, blooms through the summer. Groovy gardens can feature them, while more sedate gardens might want to use them as a supplement only.

As you can tell, I’m working on my garden-writing skills. Here I’ve made up entire new categories of gardens: the “Groovy Garden” and the “Sedate Garden”. Interestingly, this plant will work well in both! It’s a miracle of garden writing style!

Sometimes I crack myself up.

Ceanothus griseus “Kurt Zadnik”

We like the Ceanothuses. These California native shrubs range from 6″ tall to over 20 ft. Here we have a cultivar that gets 3ft. tall and can spread over 10 ft. wide if you let it. It was cultivated right here in Berkeley at the UC Botanic Gardens from a specimen found up in Sonoma, so you know it will do well in local gardens.

Echinocereus grandiflora hybrid

Part 4, the final part. Here we have a classic portait of a bloom. Notice the fluffy petals. Language fails.

Just be glad I’m not showing the full size photo.

Well, you can go here to view it, if you dare.

Echinocereus grandiflora hybrid

Here we have an artsy shot of this amazing spray of blooms at the top of a spiny cactus. A bit of the green undergirding the giant white blooms. Did I say they were about 8″ across? No? What was I thinking.

Fascicularia bicolor
A terrestrial bromeliad with small vibrant flowers. This specimen was at the UC Berkeley Botanic Garden where the plants are able to get really big – a large mass of them over 10 feet across.

Echinocereus grandiflora hybrid
Here’s a closeup inside the first of the blooms to open. I could get even closer in, but then you’d faint. When the bees get near these, they flip out. They dance around inside there. It’s a bacchanalia.

Echinocereus grandiflora hybrid

This is the most photogenic spray of cactus blooms I have ever seen. This is all on the top of one single branch, six blooms open at once. The first one opened two days ago, and the others have caught up before the first was finished.

I’ll be posting more photos of this singular event over the next few days. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as everyone within a 6-block radius of us does. It has that much magnetism.

Oh, and did I mention the fragrance? Very sweet.

Albuca sp. Augrabie Hills
This miniature Albuca in the Lily family, from South Africa, has curly leaves to 5″ long, white and green striped buds, with a yellow flower poking through when open. And as you can see, the baby bulbs pop through the skin of the parent plant. These are normally found above grade! – very rare for a bulb.

Echeveria agavoides
This seems to be a cultivated variety of unknown origin. But we like it.

Dischidia pectinoides
These vining ant plants from the jungles of the Philippines are best grown in bright indirect light. Treat them like an orchid, and these tiny red buds will open into tiny red flowers, overwhelmed in size by the giant balloon-like leaves that are colonized by ants (in the wild, not in your home.)

Notice the droplets of water on the big leaves. That must mean they were just misted by Ian.

Ceanothus gloriosus v. exaltatus “Emily Brown”

Small rigid green leaves, like holly. Shrubs only to 3′ tall. I would say these California Lilac flowers are “lilac” in color. The very definition, even. We commonly use this plant as a shrub in low-water gardens. Works well near traffic areas where you don’t want a cactus poking you, but still want something vigorous that can stand up to kids or pets.