I was wondering if the plant you have in your (store) was Brighamia insignis or the cultivar Brighamia insignis ‘Kirsten’.
Thanks again
catalinkel
Our Brighamia insignis are seed grown, so are the true species, not a named cultivar – which I think is sort of odd thing to do when all of them in cultivation come from only 14 remaining wild plants…) However the two named cultivars I am aware of are all tissue culture clones and not grown from seed.
It’s still a bud, but look at those spectacular colors starting to come through. (Or as we like to say in the horticultural trade; Nice sepals)
Grant and Paula sent us this bud shot from this Epiphyllum plant.
Nice plant! Notice how deeply green the branches are. That’s because it’s protected behind a screen from too much sun. Of course, I have no idea if there is a roof over it or not, so I could be totally off base, but I like it anyway, so there.
catalinkel sends along this picture and wants to know if this is the same Cereus v. monstrose as the smaller ones we are selling at the nursery, and the answer is: Yes!
Of course, monstroses all vary and unless they’re both cuttings from the same parent plant, then they’re not exactly the same. But whose counting?
But that sure is a giant one, with lots of fruit production. I wonder if they’re delicious? Cactus apples, like regular apples, have lots of crabapples.
Ric thinks we may have mislabeled a plant, not that it matters when it has 26 blooms, but still…
Hello Hap & Peter,
I wanted to know if by any chance the plant labeled Echinopsis thelegonoides on your web site is in possibly mis-labeled? I am being told that the one I purchased from you almost 2 years back is possibly a E. spachiana and most likely not a E. thelegonoides as it is not tree like and will not reach 20ft height. It really makes no difference to me but would like to know what the exact specimen is. Anyway, your clarification in this would be appreciated. We enjoyed over 26 flowers this year from the plant. I have attached a photo.
Hope you are both well,
regards
Ric
Los Altos
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Ric,
Great photo, your garden looks great!
It is possible that our “parent plant” was mis-labeled (however it was originally from UC Berkeley Botanical Garden so hopefully it was not mis-labeled…), Echinopsis thelegonides and E. spachiana look very similar looking when young and out of habitat could end up being very much alike when grown. Our big old timer has hit at least twelve feet tall before I took cuts for resale.Â
The South of France is apparently a nice place for agaves to grow. This agave is about to bloom, so you can say goodbye to the nice plant while you have the chance.
Photo sent in by Dorena, who lives in Alaska, and took the photo in a garden in Nice if you hadn’t figured that out yet.
Grant and Paula send along a photo of an amazing set of blooms on what looks like an Echinopsis subdenudata.
Hi Peter,
Although we’ve probably bought (so far) 30-40 plants at Cactus Jungle, this isn’t one of them. Just thought you’d enjoy the flowers this morning, as we are.
Phyllis sends along her Oscularia deltoides in bloom. I think she’s in Berkeley, maybe Oakland.
It really dominates the garden, no? Lot’s of pretty things, and a giant mass of pink flowers in the center which won’t last long but is astounding nonetheless. I bet the butterflies and bees are going wild.
One of our customers sent us this photo of a green roof they made. And just 2 days ago I mentioned we like getting these photos, in a post featuring another customer’s photo!
Woohoo! We also love green roofs!
Goat house with plants from Cactus Jungle. It has been a year. Sorry I meant to send sooner. I lost the name of the gal that works there that helped me. She wanted to see it complete. This photo does not do it justice. I love it!
Here we have a friendly couple, with a couple of friendly dogs, who came into the nursery with a large trough to fill, and they picked out some lovely cacti. Spiny cacti, even. Poor dog. Well, the blooms are going crazy all over.
I’ll feature my own photo of the mammillaria (the one on the left) tomorrow, from before they planted it.
Hi Peter, Hi Hap:
Attached please find pictures of our antique Chinese water trough filled with your beautiful cacti!
Check out the blooms on the tall one!!
You may remember us from the pottery art show, and due to our little dogs.
Also, my orchid is blooming again thanks to your help.
Q: We planted this cactus over 10 years ago, and the other day were surprised to see a stalk growing out of it. Do you know what types of cactus this is? And is it likely to ever do this again? We live in San Carlos. I would be interested in getting another one.
Many thanks!
Colleen
A: Colleen,
Your “cactus” is actually a Yucca, most likely Yucca whipplei (a wonderful California native) or perhaps Yucca rostrata. They look very similar and there is not enough detail in you photos for me to be sure… however my guess is yours is Yucca whipplei. If it is, this bloom will be it’s last, as the rosette that blooms dies after it is done blooming and hopefully setting seed (like it’s relatives Agave’s).
It will sometimes “pup” around the base and those will grow in to replace the “mother” rosette, but not always. If it is Yucca rostrata, it will not die, but will grow several new rosettes and eventually become a multibranched tree yucca and will bloom again when it has enough energy stored up to do so. Either way yours is a great looking plant and congratulations in getting it to bloom! It should bloom over the next few months and will look spectacular!
In which it is revealed that Chris is one of the nursery’s customers.
Now what did Chris say about this one? He claims we had it mislabeled! Actually, we never labeled it in the first place, since we weren’t sure, but we did bring out the big book of cactus when he bought it and picked out a mamillaria that we thought it might be. But now that the bloom is open it appears we were wrong. It…
is a picture of that “mammilaria” I bought a few weeks ago in bloom. I think it’s Thelocactus conothelos (I found a copy of Preston-Mafham’s “Cactus: The Illustrated Dictionary” at Moe’s — woo hoo!).
That’s not fair, I went to Moe’s on Tuesday and found nothing. However, looking in Anderson’s The Cactus Family, it certainly seems possible that Chris is correct! And I love the lemon yellow.
OLETE MAIA from Brasil sent me a published report from 1977 on the nutritional content of Pereskia leaves, among some other documents I’ll be looking through too. On the other hand, I’m not a scientist, so at best I can read the abstracts. But this one has a picture to go with it, and a lovely picture it is.
It seems that Brasilians have been eating the leaves of the Pereskia aculeata and nobody had bothered to check on their nutritional value before 1977. After checking,
Food efficiency, apparent net protein utilization and apparent digestibility were also determined. The fibrous residue showed a high digestibility…
It’s protein content is 25.4%… suggests it is a good protein source…. On the other hand some leaves do not yield protein concentrate of good quality.
The rest of it is equations and tables and percentages.
I turn the photography of the blog over to Chris again today.
Now, clearly this needs some explanation. So Chris says this,
is the front yard of the house immediately adjacent to the previous house with the grusonii/concrete balls combo. I call it “Cactus-henge.” I think the cacti are S. pringlei. The sad background is that in the space where “Cactus-henge” now sits, the prior owner had a wonderful cactus garden with many interesting cacti and other succulents. My friend said that a few specimens were saved prior to the move-out, but most of the garden was “bulldozed.” Anyway, I guess Cactus-henge is the coolest thing ever if you are really into S. pringlei …
