The local Oakland-based author of this children’s book thinks we might do well carrying her book: Dangerously Ever After. I open it to you all – does this look like the kind of book you would buy from a cactus nursery?
Poll for a Rainy Day
Results Show
The results of our poll are in, and the verdict is nearly unanimous. 95.5% of you want me to add CactGuy to the blog roll.
And it is done!
New Blogs
CactGuy from Dallas has sent along a link to his tumblr blog and asked that I blogroll him. Well, that’s a privilege that many seek, but few receive.
Hahahaha!!!
No really, I recommend you start with CactGuy’s Haworthia post here.
And then before I add this to the blogroll, a poll! Shall I add this to the blogroll? Yes or No? Please visit his blog first and then state your reasons for why this new tumblr blog should be added to my blogroll in the comments.
Contest Time
It’s time to review the contest time from Saturday. We have a winner. But before I announce the winner, who do you think was the winner I’m about to announce?
Let’s Vote!
Now I’m going to wait to tally all these votes. When Will I stop tallying the votes and announce the winner? When? Should we have another poll? No!
Christmas Cactus Poll
It’s Christmas Cactus season at Plants are the Strangest People, so I thought you might like a poll.
The Royal Battle Continues
Who shall be crowned the Queen? Yesterday’s battle royale was quite the exciting time here on the Cactus Blog. Today we have the queenly entries, and we are right out the gate disqualifying any actual cactus, since there are many species that are known as the Queen, like this beautiful Queen of the Night.
CROWN! 
QUEEN!
And the contenders, please…
Queen Cactus – She’s a pedigreed cow? Queen Cactus was a royal cow from the House of Windsor back in the 1890s, but she was famous in her time I’m sure.
Cactus Queen – now this is the most delicious of the cactus queens, I’m sure, being a beer. Cactus Queen IPA from the Yellow Rose Brewing Company in Texas.
So once again, you know what to do, click on the one you think is most deserving of the title of Queen of the Cactus.
Royalty in the Cactus Family
King Cactus or Cactus King?
KING! CACTUS!
Let the Sunday morning battle begin, for the crowning of the royal cactus.
King Cactus is a cover band in Australia. Do you want to know what they cover? I didn’t think so.
[photo would go here]
Cactus King is a cactus nursery in Houston and they have a big green flaming cactus out front, thus appropriating for themselves the coveted honorific of Cactus King.
Now, you get to decide.
Cactus Tea
Well that’s interesting! Or not. Let’s add a poll!
It's Winter, and the Plants Need Special Care?
Contest? Free Stuff?
So todays contest is simple. Identify the plant in the first picture and win the plant in the second picture. But here’s the little wrinkle. You must come to the store today with the answer! Sorry for all you people who don’t live in the Bay Area (Go Giants).
So please, don’t answer the question in the comments. Come in to the store for the free plant instead!
This is the plant you want to ID in person only at the store to win a free plant.
Nemesia fruticans is the free plant you get. We have 5 left of these reliable drought-tolerant perennials that will bloom for most of the year. Yay!
Rock Formation… or Mesemb???
From Tripadvisor, we find this mystery rock formation that looks a lot like this crazy little succulent:
Pleiospilos bolussi
Coincidence? I think not.
Madagascar Succulent
Pachypodium saudersii
Shrubby, spiny, caudex-forming – what’s not to like? White flowers with pink edges? Red buds? You like it all, I can tell.
Detroit
Any ideas what to do if you live in an urban area of Michigan? The Detroit News says you should, “Perk up your outdoor space.” I agree.
Trick it up with accents…. Start with easy-to-maintain plantings like succulents.
That is an easy place to start. But don’t stop there…
Add some:
Art or Kitsch
The coolest, quirkiest, must-have piece of art at Mesa’s (AZ) Pita Jungle is a wall mirror framed by cactus skeletons. It’s got a great organic quality that speaks to our desert heritage without screaming, “Get yer Scottsdale kitsch here!”
I vote for kitsch.
Salt and Pepper Poll
Stinking Rotting Meat with Poll
Edithcolea grandis
Election Day! Carrion Flower! Go vote or else!
Prediction of the Day
50-47 Obama, with 325 Electoral votes. You heard it here first. I should be a pundit.Â
Barrel Cactus Bud and Bloom Twofer w/Poll!
Ferocactus hamatacanthus
These large barrels have thin hooked spines, yellow blooms and greenish fruit.
I can’t decide between the bud photo with bloom in the background or the bloom photo with the buds nearby:
Such choices will have to be made.
In the meantime, I’m posting a video later today that includes this very plant a couple days later in full bloom. Look for it!
How to Knit a Cactus in Three Easy Steps w/Poll
Here’s something that’s listed as a “Knitty Cactus” for only $24. Truly a bargain. But is it a cactus?
Headline Confusion
I don’t understand this headline on an article from KTAR Phoenix.
Master gardener sees if cactus grows in Mohave Desert
Really? A “Master Gardener” doesn’t know if cacti grow in the desert? They have to go “see” if it’s true?
Maybe I should read the article and make sense of this. Maybe I should just click that little link and follow where it goes. Maybe.
California Drought vs. High Gas Prices?
What do you care about, anyway? We want to know.
What are you doing to solve these intractable problems in your hometown? We want to know.
Did I mention we have a hybrid car? A 2001 Honda Insight with carpool lane sticker! You can see it behind the Calindrinia blooms in this post over here.
Bishop's Cap Link of the Day
Water When Dry has a very nice Astrophytum myriostigma in bloom. It’s got a lot of character, which means it’s old.
Old enough to bloom, and Aiyana has the photo to prove it. Can you guess what color it is? Here’s a poll for you to give it a try. I love polls! Then click through and check it out, dude.
It's Time for a Poll
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