Cactus Blog

Malacothamnus fremontii

California Native
Evergreen Shrub

Sun: Full Sun to Part Shade
Water: Low once established
Size: Bushy, erect stems 4 ft. to 6 ft.

The butterflies flock to the small silvery pink flowers that cover the plant throughout the summer. Good for hedges and along fences. Hardy to 10°F.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll get back to posting some cactus and some succulents on this here so-called Cactus Blog. Who knows!

Lotus crassifolius v. otayensis is the California native lotus that comes from Otay Mountain.

Lotus crassifolius var. otayensis
Otay Mountain Lotus

California
Herbaceous perennial

Sun: Moderate to Full
Water: Low to Moderate
Size: 3 feet

Furry grey upright stems, clusters of purple and white pea-sized flowers in spring, grey-green oblong leaves. Endemic to California.

They sure do look like pea flowers. I wonder if this is in the pea family?

It is! It is in the Pea Family – Fabaceae.

Did I forget to mention that Otay Mtn. is in San Diego County? Sounds like a desert down there.

Hi Peter – any help identifying this cactus would be much appreciated; we’ve had it for so long and it is finally blooming after a good cold rest last winter. Thanks!

-Marion

Marion,
The lovely blooming cactus is a Parodia ottonis. It’s probably time to repot into a larger pot.

Nice!

Peter

Earlier today I posted a botanical illustration from the Smithsonian Collection. Science!

And here we find an aircraft from the Smithsonian Collection.

Photo: Eric Long / Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

It goes without saying that the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum has some of the neatest collection of planes in the world… Designed and built by famed aircraft modeler Frank Ehling in the 1970s, they are the smallest flying models the Museum owns.

It’s a fly-powered aircraft, indeed. Science!

(h/t the straight dope)

Pereskia pereskia (Cactaceae)
Plate Number: 1722
Publication: The Cactaceae Vol. 1 Pl 2, Figs 1,2 and 3
Collection: M. Simon, U.S.A., New York; flowering branch, fruits.
Artist: Eaton, Mary Emily – Date unknown – watercolor

From the Catalog of Botanical Illustrations, Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution

© Smithsonian Institution

This cactus is now properly named Pereskia aculeata, P. Miller 1768. It’s from the Caribbean but can also sometimes be found in Florida. The pink flowers are fragrant and the fruit is edible. It is a climbing, semi-vining cactus with true spines and true non-succulent leaves.

Peter

Are you able to identify this one? It has the double heads and is really getting quite large. You’re welcome to post it, if you think it share-worthy.

Thanks!

Amy

Amy,
Beautiful photo! I think your Mammillaria might be Mammillaria grusonii. That’s my best guess.

Thanks for sharing!
Peter

Cotyledon orbiculata v. spuria has gorgeous flowers this time of year. Wow!

And then there’s the pest problem. Aphids. Don’t scroll down if you don’t want to see the gruesome little buggies in closeup. But just so you know, these are on a different plant than the one above.

As it is, aphids love succulent blooms, especially those in the Crassula Family (Crassulaceae) like Cotyledons and Echeverias. Often when the blooms get aphids I will just cut the bloom stalk off and be done with it. In the case of the flowers below, though, they are too pretty for that and too early in the bloom cycle, so we dipped a soft paintbrush in rubbing alcohol and very carefully wiped them off the flowers. Then we sprayed the stalk and area below the flowers with neem oil to try to prevent them from coming back. Good luck!

So now we get to the aphid picture. Turn away!

Oh. You looked. OK then.

Tokyo DIY Gardening has discovered an amazing little Peanut Cactus (Echinopsis chamaecereus) clinging to the pavement.

Volunteer Cactus in Akishima, Tokyo.

Sweet!

The Easter Lily Cactuses used to all be Lobivias, except this one which was never known as a Lobivia.

Echinopsis leucantha

This one used to be called Echinopsis melapotamica. Good to know!

Here’s a closeup looking deep inside the flower.

Wow! Interesting.

The cactus will get only around 5″ in diameter, and will grow to 14″ tall. They are generally solitary, but they do have huge wild spines. You can see a hint of that in the top picture, if you can look past those crazy beautiful flowers.

Found in nature in Argentina. Lucky Argentinians.

Euphorbia sap in the eye in Iowa?

Ow.

Let that be a lesson to you all to not get Euphorbia sap in your eye. Don’t get it on your hands and if you do wash your hands thoroughly and immediately. Don’t wait ’til later because you will have forgotten long enough to touch your eye and then look at what happens.

By the way, don’t touch your lips either.

In the meantime, here’s a Euphorbia picture.

Euphorbia lactea “Crest”

The secret of how I display Airplants in my own home.

That’s Bob’s fish tank in the background. Bob; that is the fish is Bob.

We have a couple more Osteospermums out at the nursery. These many Cape Daisies are both pretty and easy to grow and hardy. And colorful. And both bloomful for many months on end and in the Aster Family (Asteraceae) and prolific too.

That’s enough descriptions, lets see the flowers!

Osteospermum “Soprano White”

Osteospermum “Zion Red”

I was shopping earlier today and loved your nursery. Felt the plants were well cared for and a pleasure to visit the nursery. The succulents are in a small decorative wooden wheelbarrow.

Thanks so much for the help and I will see you again.
Carol

Thanks, Carol!

And just for fun – let’s name them from left  to right. “Moonstone”, Euphorbia, Oscularia, Aloe, Crassula. That was fun!

Hi there,

We bought my mammillaria at Cactus Jungle about four years ago, and it has been pretty healthy since then, though it never flowered since we got it (despite fertilizing).

About a week or two ago after watering it, it started to get smaller and paler, almost like it is collapsing in on itself. As pictured, it is now half the size it was before the last time I watered it. I always err on the side of not watering it since I know overwatering can kill them, but I’m not sure what went wrong this time. I usually water it every four weeks or so (sometimes longer). Is my cactus salvageable, and do you folks have any suggestions for reviving it?

I haven’t fertilized it yet this year, so that is also an option. I live in an apartment that I know doesn’t get as much light as the cactus needs, but it hasn’t proven to be an issue until now.

Any advice is welcome and appreciated. Thanks for your time!

Lisa

Lisa,
I don’t think the plant is savable. It’s hard to tell for sure from the photo, so if you want to bring it in to the nursery we can take a look and see what we can do to try and save it.

You were probably watering the correct amount for not getting a lot of light, however those conditions generally mean that a cactus will have a limited life. So 4 years without a lot of sun seems like you did a good job keeping it healthy as long as you could.

If you want we can suggest a spiny plant that can handle lower light levels to replace it.
Peter

Hi Peter,
I just potted a large piece from a gi-normous Peruvian apple cactus that my brother has growing in his yard in Long Beach. He cut the piece and gave it to me for Christmas and it has been drying out in in my garage since then. I thought I had left it too long, but the top sections seem fleshy and fine, with only the bottom cut part being nice a dried out. So, I potted it this morning, mixing in some of the soil I bought from you. My question is, should I water it now, or should I wait for several more weeks? Should I fertilize it soon? I have some of the kelp product.

My sister took a smaller piece last year and has it growing inside in her apartment in NYC! It’s doing fine (though no fruit yet…ever?). When she started, she waited 4-6 weeks for the cut to dry out, then potted it. She waited another month before watering it — based on internet research.

The fruit is really good!

Thanks,
Brooke

ps, I love receiving the newsletter and seeing all the names and photos of the plants.

Brooke,
It looks like the Cereus is doing well. If you potted it in our soil you don’t need to fertilize for a year. In general after planting a cactus cutting you want to wait at least a week before watering. Since you have Aeoniums planted in there with it you will need to water sometime in the next 2 weeks, and that’s OK.

Your sister’s plant in NY should grow fine if its in a sunny window, but it is unlikely to bloom. The flowers are pollinated by bats, so even if it does flower she would need to hand pollinate to get fruit (assuming she doesn’t have any bats in her apartment. I know it’s New York, but still…)

We don’t get fruit on ours here in the flats of Berkeley since we also don’t have bats, however up in the hills they do have bats and they do get fruit. Delicious fruit.

Peter

We’re very excited to see that one of our large Yucca rostratas is in full bloom!

This is not really the largest we have right now, but hopefully this means the single head at the top of this 3ft. tree will start to split and then maybe it will be a 2 head Yucca! Or even a 3 head Yucca? Maybe!

Here are pictures of 5 different individuals, all the same species, in full bloom. So much variation! They are all Parodia rutilans. Here I blogged another Parodia that had significant variation as well.

And finally what we have here is what we have identified as Notocactus roseiflorus, which my copy of Anderson insists is also Parodia rutilans.

That sure is a lot of natural variation for today! And to be clear, those really were all in bloom and fully open yesterday all at the same time. Nice!

Do we carry cactus mugs? No. We do not. But here, I’ve found one anyway.

They come in sets of 6.

I would buy them for myself but I don’t like raised designs on my drinking implements.