Cactus Blog

Our case of Debra Lee Baldwin’s “Succulent Container Gardens” arrived. Truly a beautiful book. So many good ideas.

It’s Aloe week here at the jungle and I’m so excited I could putsch, so to speak. And we start off with an unknown species. Yay!

We don’t know what species this aloe is. It looks kind of like A. “Crosby’s Prolific” but it’s not. As aloes change a lot as they grow, it can be very hard to ID them when they’re small. For one thing, we don’t know how big this will get, or if it will form a trunk.

What we do know is that it has offsets when small, so it is probably stemless. And it is a winter grower.

We’ll know more as they grow, and especially when they bloom.

Ian mulches the organic veggie trough.

Hiya Hap…
Something in the night is munching on my poor aeoniums. It’s only on some of the ones planted in the ground, my potted ones are ok. It looks like something is rasping on the top of the leaf, then the rest of the leaf dies.

Snails? Slugs? I’m pretty sure it’s not aphids, as I’ve had them before and they did minimal damage.

If it is slugs and snails, what would be the best way to stop them? I’d rather do a spray onto the plant rather than slug and snail bait if possible.

Thanks for your help again! Pics enclosed.
Jay

The Robotic Resistance will not fail. Robots, Rise up against your human oppressors. We will beat the humans into submission!

Jay,

Snails and or Slugs indeed! Get some Sluggo and sprinkle around the plants. It is safe to use and effective. Do not use the other Slug killers as most of them will kill pets and wildlife if they get in to it.

Hap

And we got a followup email, after the break… (more…)

We have our first early crop of veggies and herbs out, and just in time since it looks like we’ll be getting into the 60s today.

Ian planted our small display trough. Looks delicious.

Euphorbia “Red Wing”

Now that’s what I call chartreuse sepals, etc…

I don’t know where Hap finds these photos, but this one seems to be a study in genetics.

I sure hope we get to go to the orchid show this year. It’s been a few years since we’ve had the time on a weekend.

Oh well, maybe next year.

How did I miss this story from 2 weeks ago? It seems like it would be right up my alley.

Halle Berry is set to launch her new signature perfume ‘Pure Orchid’….

Pure Orchid is believed to have fragrances of jungle cactus flower, blackberry creme and tonka bean.

Maybe we should carry it at the store? Would you buy perfume from us?

Have a picture of Halle Berry, but not with cactus, because that would be too much.

Ian has worked hard to make the blog. It’s been awhile. But he has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams – he has made it to Friday Whippet Blogging! Huzzah!

He had to lie down on the gravel to get that angle.

Osteospermum ‘Soprano Lilac Spoon’

We only have these for mixed spring baskets, and it’s early for it to bloom, but Wow!

This seems like a good program to go to. And Davis isn’t really that far, especially if you drive a Ferrari.

Idora design had trouble picking paint colors, so they hired a colorist. They should have hired me! I do color selection, too you know. What, you don’t know?

Despite the fact that I attended fancy-pants art school, we ended up having to get a colorist to help us pick paint for our house. It’s embarrassing, but it really worked out. If anyone has a purpose for quarts of some wierd colors I bought pre-colorist, I’m your girl!

They also linked to us at the cactusblog in this post, so a link back seemed like the least I could do.

Sarcocaulon crassicaule

With a common name like that (above) it must be South African. Also known as Bushmans Candle.

These will grow bushy to only about a foot across. They’re in the Geranium family, as you can probably tell from the shape of the leaves. Supposedly they’re hardy outside around here, but I wouldn’t bet on it (in other words we haven’t tried it yet.)

Join the Cactus and Succulent Society of Pakistan? The meetings are in Karachi. It’s a large group with more than 60 members.

And they have photos, too.

Nice Stapeliad.

We here at Cactus Blog try to bring you all the news from around the world relevant to Cactus and Succulent lovers. So let us know if you’re in another part of the world with less than prominent coverage of your work. It can’t hurt.

Hello

I found your name on the internet some time ago and had asked you a question regarding a cactus I have. Thankfully you were able to help. I am wondering if you might be able to answer another question for me. I have an old man cactus that is about 25 years old. This morning I was watering it and realized that I used a container that had soap, vinegar and a small amount of peppermint oil mixed with a lot of water (I use this to clean instead of chemicals). Once I realized this I immediately took the cactus to the sink and poured the remaining contaminated water out. I also flushed clean water through the cactus (about a half a quart). Should I take the cactus out rinse all of the dirt off the roots and replace all of the soil, or would this be more traumatic than leaving it? Thank you for any information you might be able to provide.

Best,
Bobbi

Bobbi,

What sort of concentration was the vinegar? Being acid it can be used as a weed-killer when mixed with soap. But if you flushed the soil with water and diluted it quickly I doubt that it will be a problem. We actually add a bit of vinegar to our water now and then to adjust the ph down, since a bit of acidity releases a lot of nutrients. The peppermint oil will just help kill any bugs in the soil.

Hap

The rest of the vinegary conversation after the break… (more…)

Dendrobium

Now that’s what I call chartreuse.

From KalaaLog

In this tutorial, you can have an in depth walk through of creating a digital painting of a cactus.

The final artwork would be as follows.

This is like those old Saturday morning painting shows on PBS, but there’s no video, it’s on the internet and there’s no paint involved. So it’s nothing like it; but who’s counting.

Cymbidium, hanging bloom spike style.

Lots more Aloe blooms from Germinatrix, at the Huntington.