Cactus Blog

Ferocactus glauca has mid-winter buds. I wonder why? Still, it will be months before we see blooms. I bet on June.

Action 4 News from the far southern Texas border region warns you to look for Meth in your Cactus shipments. Or if you don’t get truck shipments, then the grocery store would be a good place to check.

Two men are behind bars after authorities found more than 132 pounds of crystal meth hidden inside a prickly pear cactus shipment….

The truck was carrying 1,380 boxes of “nopales,” which are prickly pear cactus pads used for cooking…

Officials found 94 packages with 132.2 pounds of crystal meth hidden inside the produce.

A scintillating video of a sleeping whippet. Isn’t Jason cute? And look – he twitches! Enjoy!

San Pablo Ave.

I hope you like the “vignette blur” feature I’m now using to make the local Berkeley succulent photos look more interesting. I mean, this wheelbarrow is already very interesting, for sure, you know, and all, but maybe a little more interesting with the weird blur effect that makes it look like a toy?

The Cactus Garden Mobile Home Park in Tucson is quite lovely in these photos they have on their website. A nice deserty experience.

I wonder why they’re in the news recently?

Police say they seized more than 100 grams of cocaine on Wednesday night… at a residence in the Cactus Garden Trailer Court. The cocaine had a street value of more than $10,000…

Some $6,500 in cash was also seized

Oh.

Well, are there other pretty pictures? Yes, why yes there are.

[Late Update from the Editor: We apologize for any misunderstandings from this post. The cocaine bust was from an entirely different trailer park. In an entirely different state. This was not from Tucson, Arizona, but from Powell, MN. Sorry for the confusion.]

[2nd Late (Later?) Update from the Editor: Once AGAIN I must apologize. The cocaine story was not from Minnesota at all. It was from Wyoming. There, that should set the record straight. Are we OK now?]

Barry Goldwater was a Senator from Arizona, so it makes sense that if he was sketching he might sketch a cactus. And now that cactus sketch is in a gallery show in Los Angeles. Anyone from the gallery have a picture they want to share with us?

Art Made by U.S. Senators
Every once in a while, Margo Leavin Gallery pulls out one of the most precious artworks in its vaults, Jeffrey Vallance’s Drawings and Statements by U.S. Senators. In 1978, Vallance sent letters to senators in office, telling them he was working on a project about art and government, and asking if they’d send a drawing to support his project. The result? A quirky, almost intimate portrait of our elected leaders. One senator sent a snowman drawn by his daughter; two assigned their staff members to draw the Capitol (Jake Garn’s staffer was particularly precise); Dick Stone sent an autographed photo. Jesse Helms took the opportunity to espouse on regionalism, Barry Goldwater drew a delightfully abstract cactus (with a caption, in case Vallance didn’t recognize it), and Ted Kennedy explained that he used to paint but hadn’t had even “a moment to make a sketch” since taking office. 812 N. Robertson Blvd.; through March 10. (310) 273-0603, margoleavingallery.com.

Curtis Street

A galvanized tub along the sidewalk with Aeoniums. Very green.

Keith’s latest creation for a customer, to be delivered sometime. I wonder when?

Not that kind of cactus, but a cactus that was a christmas gift cactus.

Hello Peter,

Evidently my son and husband visited you a few weeks ago and picked up a little something for me for Christmas! Thanks for helping them make an excellent choice! I love my new, big, Cleistocactus, yay! For the two weeks prior to xmas, my daughter kept it in her apartment right by the couch. She watched it bloom and more buds get ready to bloom! You can see in the picture that Jack and Mike made a tall gift wrapped box for it. I had to wait for a while before I could “open” the box.

I will keep it just outside my kitchen window where I can see it every day…it’s near all my other cactus and succulents as well. Is there anything special I should know or do for it? It looks like it could use more red rock…oh, should I keep the supports tied around the four of them?

Perhaps I will visit you in the next month or two and redeem my cactus punch cards!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and Hap…

~Karen

A happy story indeed!

Hello guys-
I was just at your store last week visiting from San Diego. I wish I lived closer so I could buy more than the pink garden gloves I got! My sister lives in Berkeley and she takes me to your nursery every time I come up. We love to roam around and find out the names of some things in our garden which are unnamed.

I’d like to know if you could please identify this aloe for me. Seen here, it is about 3 years old and was given to my sister by her succulent guru who has a fantastic garden, but doesn’t always remember the names of her plants!

Thanks very much,
Pat

Pat,

You have an Aloe striata v. karasbergensis. We love this aloe but it is a lot slower growing than the Coral Aloe species it comes from.

Peter

From Biologist and Photographer of biologically active subjects, Alex Wild, comes a picture of a beetle. A longhorn beetle on a cactus. An Opuntia.

You’ll have to click through to see what I’m talking about. Click away!

Beautiful!

Miami is in on the terrarium bandwagon.

Terrariums, miniature gardens enclosed in glass, are bigger than ever in home decor. And the current crop of indoor displays for your house or office feature an amazing selection of containers.

Everything from succulents to ferns and moss can be grown in these indoor gardens, which have been popular as far back as the 1800s. Elegant Victorian-style cases remain popular, but contemporary styles include delicate hanging orbs, hand-blown pitchers and simple jars.

Actually, the article was a wire service article, written in Kentucky, so it probably has been published in newspapers across the country and not just in the Miami Herald News Local Times of the Day.

Here, have a photo of one of our terrariums.

Wait that’s not really a terrarium at all. Here, try this one instead.

That’s better!

In Ohio they recommend you plant your succulents in large stone troughs. That way you can put them on wheels and move them inside for the winter, so I presume, since the Aloes in their aren’t going to survive. Now the Sempervivums on the other hand…

SHNS photo courtesy Maureen Gilmer

This large stone trough features a number of different Sempervivum plants as well as small aloes.

Enjoy!

Another article about Don Campbell! With video! From KJCT TV News Watch Eye Over Colorado.

Don Campbell founded the Chinle Cactus & Succulent Society on the Western Slope.

Now he’s been presented with the very first Mary Ann Heacock lifetime achievement award by the Colorado Cactus & Succulent Society for his contributions.

Now that is Awesome. And what about the promised video? You’ll have to click through the link to view it, and see Mr. Campbell Live on TV because they won’t let me embed their videos. Stupid KJCT TV News Watch Eye Over Colorado.

This time it’s from Edmonton, Canada. Can it be considered local if it’s from the frozen tundra of Western Canada? Sure!

Question: This year I am planning on creating living plant gifts for birthdays and special occasions. Specifically, I want to make cactus bowls and I was hoping you could give me some advice on how I could do this. Thank you for all your great advice.

Answer: Cactus planters are easy to make and even easier to maintain, perfect for those of you with a brown thumb. All you need is a dish or bowl large enough to hold some soil, a layer of pebbles and cacti….

Some cacti for you to consider for your garden:

- Bunny ears cactus

- Prickly pear cactus

- Rose pincushion

- Aloe bellatula

- Echinopsis oxygona

Interesting list there. Some generic opuntia options, and then a couple very specific species. I wonder why this particular Aloe? And that particular Echinopsis? Has the writer been trading in cactus futures?

According to the garden writer in Appleton, Wisconsin the succulent trend has reached home.

One of the most popular trends in wedding arrangements is the use of succulents.
Garden Talk with Rob Zimmer

OK, go to it, all you cheeseheads.

I think my winter slowdown is coming to an end. Maybe. For now. We’ll see. I guess I shouldn’t make any promises. Here, have some local news.

All around the country local communities have individuals who are the go-to people for cactus and succulents. They also make good subjects for the local newspaper, as long as the local newspaper still survives, which it still does in Grand Junction, CO.

Don Campbell among the many cacti he has grown at his house in Grand Junction.
Photo by Dean Humphrey

That is a very attractive looking collection. I’ll bet Mr. Campbell has lots of knowledge to share with you if you join the Grand Junction Cactus and Succulent Society and go to their monthly meetings too.

I see the new mini’s are in and we now apparently carry purple dragons. Good to know.

Hello,

My fiance and I bought a jade tree from you (which we love!). However, this morning, we noticed what looks to be an infestation of aphids(?) all over the leaves (I’ve attached a picture). Can you suggest what type of pet-safe spray we might use or what might be the best way to safely get rid of them?

Thanks in advance,
Susan

Susan,
That is a lot of aphids. I would check for ants, as the plant is in bloom and ants bring aphids to crassula blooms to farm them.

We carry a pet-safe organic insecticide called Eco Smart we can recommend for the aphids, and if you find that ants have moved into the pot or nearby, we also have an Eco Smart ant product too.
Peter

Hi Peter,

Ooooh, you’re good! We recently found a nest of ants in another plant which (we thought) we’d cleaned out in time, but alas, apparently not. Clever little buggers…

We’ll try to stop in tomorrow afternoon for the Eco Smart.

Thank you so much!
-Susan