Cactus Blog

And I don’t mean eggs…

Anyway, the BBC tells you what’s going on down in Mexico.

But in Mexico, organised crime has moved into a different market: cactus plants.

It has become a multi-million dollar business, so sought after are some of the species.

I know none of you do this, so I guess I should stop my harangue, as if I had even started one. Maybe someday.

Mallorca Daily Photo Blog has a lovely photo of a Cleistocactus at the…

Botanicactus near Ses Salines in South East Mallorca is a huge botanical garden.

I’d click through to see the full size photo if I were you.

Benjamin likes to collect his toys by his food dish.

And then he looks at me wondering where those flashes of light are coming from.

In Denver they had never thought to plant succulents in a trough before. Never. I find this to be a mysterious use of valuable newspaper real estate. Anyway, it was a TV report. TV9 News.

The newest use for troughs is in growing small cactus and succulents. In the next few years, look for succulents in particular to have a more visible presence…

Whatever plants you select for trough growing, you’ll create unique miniature gardens with great visual impact.

It’s good to know they are catching up to the rest of the world in Colorado.

It looks like we’re in for some water rationing in the East Bay. Reservoirs are moderate, but it seems that erratic rainfall has made the water board worried about 2 bad years in a row on water levels. They’re considering restrictions and rationing this summer. From the SF Chronicle.

EBMUD… said that although January and February were wet months, March was the second driest March in the district’s 85-year history and April is the driest to date.

That means the Sierra snowpack, which melts into the Pardee Reservoir where 90 percent of EBMUD water comes from, is yielding half its normal runoff….

More from the Chronicle

“All the research around the impact of climate change in California shows potential prolonged droughts, drier winters, more wild swings between drier years and wet years,” said Tony Winnicker, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which provides water to residents of the city as well as communities on the Peninsula. “As water agencies and as consumers, we need to manage our water more wisely. There will never again be a period in California where we don’t have to think about water conservation.”

Winnicker and officials from 10 other regional water agencies met Wednesday to renew a campaign urging consumers to use less water. The meeting came one day after the East Bay Municipal Utility District, which provides water to 1.3 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, announced that its board is examining mandatory water restrictions, price increases and even water allotments in an effort to stretch its dwindling supply.

This is sounding like serious stuff. We’ve already had customers (yesterday) mention changing over to low-water gardens because of this.

Tis true that most cactus are spiky

So too is my nephew named Mikey.

When walking to school

He fell into a pool

Filled with cactus, so he screamed out “krikey!”

Arctostaphylos pajaroensis “Paradise”
This is one of my favorite manzanitas. Great leave color and texture, beautiful bloom sprays, and delicious berries (for the birds).

This specimen was photographed at the UC Berkeley Botanic Garden.

In this video, cactus are being used improperly. Please, do not do this with your own cactus at home, it’s not fair to the cactus. Please be kind to your cactus. You know, I’m rambling, when you’ve probably skipped ahead to view the video anyway.

Now I know that you’ve finished watching the video, I can continue with my harangue. Where was I? Oh yeah, please stop harassing your cactus. We should all be kind to puppies and kids and cactus. Practice kindness on your cactus.

North of us got a bad freeze last weekend. The SF Chronicle says that Sonoma and Napa Counties got into the 20s. We got down to about 40, maybe the high 30s, which was very cold for us this late, but no frost. Our succulents have come through it just fine. I didn’t even know they had such a freeze just a few miles north of here until the paper told me so.

The worst spring cold snap in more than 30 years is threatening to wreak havoc on the wine industry as three recent days of frost have killed grapevine buds up and down the crucial North Coast vineyard region.

Poor little grapes, frozen before they even had a chance. I hope this doesn’t disturb the bees. We’ve had a resurgence of bees at the nursery this year, what with all the new California Natives we’ve been growing. They love the Ceanothus griseus.

Q: Dear Client Support, [ed: Woohoo! someone finally addresses a letter to us using our real name!]

I was wondering if there was a preferred air/soil temperature range for overwintered plant varieties such as Echeveria and Graptopetalum. I wasn’t sure if temperatures should be in the vicinity of 35 to 50 degrees for dormant plants, while Aeoniums, Haworthii, ect. should be temporarily provided warmer temperatures (above 60 degrees) during their growing phases in the fall and early Spring.

I also wanted to know if plants in dormancy should only be watered when either their leaves or root systems exhibit a certain degree of dehydration.

My thanks for your time and efforts in the matter.
Sincerely,
Joe

A: Joe,

Echeveria and Graptopetalum need to be kept above freezing and the colder it is, the drier they should be kept. Between 35 & 50 degrees they should be watered only once every 4-6 weeks, though again if it is very cold keep them dry. They need to concentrate the sugars in their leaves to keep from getting cold damage. Winter growing succulents do need more water in the winter since they come form locations that get most or all of their rain in the winter months. Our winter growers are outdoors year round and usually get down to the upper 20’s over night now and then. If it is expected to get that low we usually cover with frost blankets, though some have dealt with 25 degrees just fine.

Hap

Cleistocactus azerensis
The hummingbirds love these cacti. Our specimen plants have literally billions of blooms on them right now, and all summer long. I counted. First they bloom on the south side of the plant, all up and down. Then the blooms migrate around to the west and east sides, with a few on the north side popping by late summer.

The hummingbirds are territorial, so we see the same pair every day, checking for new buds here when they’re not finishing off the last of the Aloe striatas, which are just dripping with nectar.

Holly’s Hystrionics (great blog name!) really lives up to her name in dealing with repotting her agaves.

I free up a large enough hole in the wound-up roots to pass a thin transplanter spade through. Now I can begin the REAL work. I start removing the tired out dirt spadeful by spadeful. I am from the school of thought that figures, once a plant has grown so much it’s root-bound…the soil in that pot is depleted of any nutrients it once held. SO I just threw that dirt on the ground.

I had already prepared the new, larger pot with gravel in the bottom. YES, it has drainage holes. I’m cautious, sue me. I like a thin layer of gravel for ALL my plants.

Read the whole thing, as they say.

It’s true, there are succulents in Iowa.

I know this because I read the Davenport Library Info Cafe online newsletter. You should too, you know.

Gwen Kelaidis’ Hardy Succulents will open your eyes to the many forms, varieties and colors succulents come in, and will show you how to integrate them in your existing landscape. She also offers tips for how best to grow them, the best varieties for cold regions, and combinations for container gardens.

Well, I guess that was obvious - it’s a library newsletter, so they’re not talking about succulents in Iowa, they’re talking about books in Iowa. Books about Succulents. Good grief, what was I thinking reading the Davenport Library Info Cafe newsletter? Will someone please get me some coffee this morning?

In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll 69% disapprove… of the job Bush is doing …the highest disapproval rating of any president in the 70-year history of the Gallup Poll.

AP, via atrios

The thousand+ entries of the blog archives are fully restored, over here, plus I’ve imported this year’s entries to the new blog. Good stuff.