New Plants at Cactus Jungle

New Plants at Cactus Jungle, Now coming to you every month. Monthly plants!

September New Plants

I was a little slow last month, but this month just takes this to a new record – 2 whole weeks into September and I’m just getting around to sending out this email. And on a Friday afternoon – absolutely the worst time of week to be sending out an email blast. What was I thinking!? Someone should get to the bottom of this.

OK, so I had a family wedding in Massachusetts and then tacked on a few days on Cape Cod. Now you know the truth; you know everything!

OK, so you don’t know everything, for instance, you don’t know that I’m from Massachusetts and a lot of my family still lives there, which is why the wedding might have been there. Though next year’s family wedding of a niece will be in Colorado, so not everyone still lives there. In fact I have family here in the Bay Area, in Texas, in Colorado, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island. That’s everywhere.

Where are you originally from? How much of your family still lives there? We want to know! Don’t send me the details – instead you should start a substack and get a lot of subscribers to your weekly or monthly email and when you hit 1000 subscribers, let me know and I’ll post a link to your substack or other email blast that includes your family info like where you are from. Expect lots of links next month from all our readers! It’s very exciting.

In case you are wondering how many subscribers I have, there’s over 7000 of you all, and around half open the email in any given month. So thousands of you! Sweet.

 

LOCAL DELIVERIES

Our online store is here. Delivering to areas near to our 2 stores, and to SF.

Deliveries are usually in 1-3 days but may take up to 1 week, Monday thru Friday. We will call to let you know when we will be by before we come.

List of the communities in the Bay Area we deliver to is here.

Pickup in store
Our online shop also has a way when you are checking out to click Pickup in Store, and then you can pick it up in store, especially useful for everyone who are outside our local delivery zones but still want to shop online and come in to our store, or if you just prefer to avoid people that works too.

Cactus Jungle, Berkeley
1509 4th Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 558-8650

Hours:
Tue-Sun 9:30a – 5p
Closed Mondays

 

Ross Valley Nursery and
Cactus Jungle, Marin
130 Sir Francis Drake Blvd
San Anselmo, CA 94960
(415) 870-9930

Hours:
Wed-Sun 10a – 5p
Closed Mon-Tue

 

SUCCULENTS

Oh yeah, this is a plant email, not a personal account of my wanderings. I forgot you subscribed for plant photos. Here, have a Pedilanthus bracteatus bloom. I love these weird green sticks that come up with these weird red petal-less flowering cyathia blooms. The weight of the blooms can cause the green sticks to bend over like this, so this is the actual angle of incidence. Don’t click that link unless you’re interested in learning some ….  SCIENCE! Then you’ll know how I used that phrase all wrong.

Euphorbia horrida v. striata is the naturally gray-green spiky plant from South Africa, found near Steytlerville.

Aeonium holochrysum is starting to grow new leaves just in time for fall, when it starts to grow new leaves. But I did forget to pull off one of those older dead leaves too. I thought about photoshopping it out of the picture but then this plant doesn’t have enough excitement all by itself, it needed this dead leaf to really bring out all its best qualities.

Aeonium subplanum is also just starting it’s growth season. These are some of the largest rosettes in the Aeonium family.

Dudleya attenuata are from San Diego and down into Baja. Coastal California natives are great, we like them. I hope the coyotes don’t eat them. You really should click that link.

Dudleya palmeri are less common and come to us from their native habitat of Central Coastal California. Nearby! You can head about 2 hours south to find them in Quail Hollow Ranch County Park, Santa Cruz County, near Ben Lomond. Or 8 hours by bike.

Haworthia fasciata v. concolor or is it Haworthia “Enon”? are pretty solid for a Haworthiopsis that we still call Haworthia because we’re stubborn that way.

Crassula marnieriana “Grey” or is it “Gray”? Does it matter if this was named in the UK or the US? Let us check with the fine folks at the Merriam Webster online dictionary. Linguistics! (Orthographics? Philology?)

Sempervivum “Silverine” just to remind you that we here at the Jungle like all types of Hens and Chicks succulents.

Cotyledon “Silver Peak” to remind you that here at the Jungle we have succulents known as Pig’s Ears. Oy.

CACTUS

Parodia mammulosa is just another pretty picture. I don’t think we’re actually featuring this cactus this month. We do have lots of Parodias, so you will have your choice.

Myrtillocactus geometrizans new crop is looking particularly photogenic this month. We always have so many cactus for you to peruse, I wonder why this is one of our favorites? Oh yeah, it’s the edible fruit.

The Myrtillos also provide us with these spectacular and variable “Elite Crests”. We grow them in so many sizes and different cresting styles. But the classic fan crest is fine.

Mammillaria rekoi ssp. aureispina is a classic white-spined globular cactus from Mexico. What makes it a classic? Is it because it gets 6″ across? Do I think that it being native to Oaxaca makes it classic? Is it the little red fruit that are so classic?

Cleistocactus morawetzianus is pretty rare for a cactus that I’m not putting into the rare plants section. But it doesn’t look rare. You have to be a real connoisseur to see what it is that makes this special. Do you see it yet? Do you want one yet? I’m not feeling the excitement from you. Never mind, someone else will like this, you’re off the hook. On the other hand, it will get 8ft tall with many branches from the base. Are you on board now? No? Oh.

It’s the Opuntia section of the Cactus section of the September edition of this Cactus Jungle based email! And first up is a former Opuntia, the now well known Austrocylindropuntia subulata, or Eve’s Needles cactus.

And now we feature the Opuntia microdasys subsection of that classic Opuntia section mentioned above. This month we have THREE different colored Opuntia microdasys cultivars, each one more dangerous than the next. Like this Opuntia microdasys “Aurea” with the yellow glochids. Don’t breathe those in!

And the Opuntia microdasys “Alba” with the white spines. Such a cute Bunny Ear Cactus! Looks soft and fuzzy like a bunny’s ears! But it’s not.

And we finish up with the Opuntia microdasys “Rufida”, the most dangerous of them all, with the orange spines. This one is classically known as the Cow Blinder Cactus, se keep your cattle back please.

Cereus “Ming Thing” is a lot of fun. Kid’s will have hours of fun! Adults may only have 15 minutes of fun, but that’s pretty good too. Better than a hot potato.

RARE PLANTS

Euphorbia bupleurifolia is one of my favorite species names to say out loud. I usually pronounce it “Boo-pler-pler-pler”.

What have I done??? Don’t play that, I think I’m losing it…

Dioscorea bulbifera with nice large caudexes poking up above the soil level. Good vines growing too.

📢 Penis Plant new crop alert 🚨 Echinopsis lageniformis cv monstrose, always at their best when the new branches split right out of that main fleshy stem.

Haemanthus pauculifolius is a single leafed bulb. That one leaf is evergreen. That’s so weird! It’s a Blood Lily so you know those flowers are going to be spectacular.

Euphorbia croizatii doesn’t have a lot of information available about it. We need it’s shrubby, spiny, and endemic to Madagascar. We know it has large yellow and red flowers. Anyone know anything more about it?

Gymnocalycium friedrichii often has vibrant pink flowers, but they are variable so here, have a white flower! Right up close.

Decarya madagascariensis is another rare plant endemic to Madagascar that we don’t know a lot about. But it is very fine. In the Didiereaceae Family, so related to the Alluaudias. Seems to be a Zig Zag Plant.

Euphorbias are some of the weirdest species out there. Case in point, Euphorbia suzannae. Native to South Africa, presumably, where all the weirdest Euphorbias are from. “It is endemic to a few limited areas in little Karroo. Landsmith district, Cape Province, South Africa” (llifle.com)

Euphorbia humbertii is similar to other spurges related to the milii group.

Piaranthus geminatus has great flowers. You should see them! Let me know if you buy one, grow it on, get it to flower, and take a picture. I want to see too.

Another Stapeliad with great flowers is Orbea lutea ssp. vaga. I have a picture of the unbelievable flowers right here for you. No really, click the link, I took the picture myself. Why do I fear you may not trust my links?

Another Stapliad? This must be Stapeliad month. Stapelia gigantea has giant flowers, very stinky, kind of gross if you ask me. I can’t stand them, but then I’m not the flies that pollinate these carrion flowers. Giant Stapelia gigantea flower pictures are here for you, if you still trust me after that last link.

Thelocactus macdowellii has so many white spines all over that they call it the Snowball Cactus. Because snowballs have white spines. Right? I mean, right!

HOUSEPLANTS AND CARNIVORES

Aglaonema “Red Valentine”. We love these very colorful Chinese Evergreens, though they’re actually from New Guinea.

Philodendron “Pink Princess” is the best houseplant I’ve seen in awhile. Those colors just twinkle in my eyes.I’m mesmerized, but then I am easily mesmerized after all. Mesmer was a German astronomer who believed in a magnetism between animals that he call mesmerism. Haha.

Sarracenia x swaniana. Pitcher plants are always so photogenic, I love them. Also they eat flies.

Peperomia “Luna Red” is one of the Ripple Peperomias, Peperomia caperata cultivars, but it’s practically painted red, it’s so red. Easy to grow if you know what you’re doing. We can help with that, we can tell you what to do, so it’s easy to grow for you too, so you know.

Philodendron “Ring of Fire Variegated”, you have no idea what you’re going to do when you get this into your home. It will change your life forever. Haha, just kidding, it’s a leafy houseplant not a god-like sacred plant. It’s got nothing! Just it’s beauty.

Alocasia “African Mask” is probably the most popular Alocasia we carry. It keeps coming back because it keeps selling. Do you have one yet? If not, don’t worry, there’ll be more later too. We do have a bunch of rare Alocasias that you should probably buy when you see them since they aren’t coming back so soon, but this one can wait.

We’re well stocked up on Ficuses, like this Ficus “Ruby” rubber tree.

PERENNIALS

Euphorbia “Ascot Rainbow” is featured this month because we ordered some other plants but got a lot of these instead so please buy them, we have lots. Also they’re nice. And deer and gopher resistant. Nice!

Uncinia uncinata looks like fall colors all year round, but is especially nice right now. Looks like there’s some pumpkin spice coming soon.

Anigozanthos “Big Roo Yellow” is a small-flowered, but tall-stalked, Kangaroo Paw cultivar.

Achillea “Salmon Beauty” has what is it let me see I think they’re beautiful salmon-colored flowers. Clever.

Datura wrightii is sacred. Also called Sacred Datura, it’s poisonous and called sacred so it must be ethnobotanical!

TOYS

Spooky! Tokidoki coming through for us – Unicornos, After Dark Series 4 and Delicious Series 2. Mermicorno Series 8 too. More toys coming this fall!