Cactus Blog

It’s the last day to order your succulent wreaths from us online and still be able to get them by Christmas.

If you prefer to come by the nursery then you can get one right up until the bitter end. We’ll be staying open until 5pm on the 24th.

5pm!!

Brrrr, it gets bitter cold out at 5.

I could tell you they come from an interior design blog that looks to inspire people to better design, but then you would have to assume that there is something about these cactus chairs that is inspirational and clearly that is not so.

This one is yellow. That is an inspirational color for modern home decor? You could have a yellow stove top to match or a yellow kitchen table?

This one compresses when you sit on it. Maybe it’s not so inspirational for your interior design but it is very inspirational for your photography. I think I like this photo of a headless man squishing a cactus ottoman. I’m now inspired to take headless photos with squishy objects. Yes!

How many cactus-themed pinball machines are there?

Here’s one called Cactus Canyon.

This one is Cactus Jack’s

And the cacti are not just painted on the back, but there are 3-d cactus on the bumpers too.

And here is Dogie’s. Clearly from an earlier era than the 2 above. I like it!

These all come from IPMD, the Internet Pinball Machine Database. Nice!

Any cactus pinballs that IPMD missed?

I’m making up a bunch of last minute terrariums, some with air plants, some with succulents. All have a little mini animal in them.

At a holiday party last night we saw a lovely little Euphorbia with Christmas lights. Its a holiday miracle!

They’re crocheted. The website link is dead so you can’t buy them, so no link just image. On the other hand, maybe by the time you read this they will have paid their internet bill and the website will be back up. You never know on the internets.

Shall we have a contest to name the species? You’ll have to ignore the flowers to be able to guess at a name.

It’s not cactus flavored. But it is a Flowering Cactus Cake.

PRICKLY as it might appear, this dessert from the desert is one your guests will get their hands on in a hurry!

Click through for more puns and the whole recipe. In case you were wondering but didn’t want to click through, the spines are licorice. Yum.

This is an interesting art form – Paper Cactus. By Chokipeta KOBO.

Impressive. I’d suggest it’s a Cereus. Night blooming type.

You can download the pattern from the website and make your own.

And here the same artist has made a Sansevieria “Golden Hahnii”. Very convincing.

Hap’s latest is…

Hens and Chicks (Sempervivums) in a Nest!

You know it’s too cute for words. Get it? Hens and chicks… nest…. awwww, adorable.

Not only do we have a large selection of fancy glass terrariums at the store, we also have a small selection of cheap plastic terrariums too.

I know what I’m getting for all my nephews and nieces. Now you know what to get for your younger brother too.

And now for the pièce de résistance, the culmination of all our hard work for Cast Iron Day.

with Ironstone Godzilla

It’s Cast Iron Day at the nursery. Now don’t get the wrong idea here – this is not a promotion at the nursery or anything, but rather a simple blog gambit to get your attention.

It’s inflatable, it’s bouncy, and it’s got cactus.

What more could you want for your party?

Unfortunately the website is for the manufacturer in China, not a local rental outfit. So you’d have to buy an entire container load of these just to have one special bouncy jumpy party for New Year’s.

The less common of the 2 Partridge aloe, Aloe dinteri is from South Africa and the blooms are getting ready to open, so you know what that means. Hummingbirds!

I have a 16″ saguaro, about 20 years old (germinated from seed by a friend of mine). Last summer, it was accidentally knocked over causing a split about halfway up, one that looks to be about halfway through the cactus. Today, the saguaro is doing well, continues to grow, but I worry about the split. Is there some substance (silicon?) I can inject into it that will not harm the plant while filling in the cut and stabilizing the cactus? Thanks!

Jordan

Jordan,

Unfortunately trying to repair plant injuries usually just leads to rot and hidden infection. Since plants don’t really have the same type of active cell replacement and immune systems that animals do, they deal with trauma and injuries in a different way. The best that they can do is seal off the injury and sort of build up a layer of bark or scar-tissue to keep out infections and pests, they don’t seem to be able to replace damaged tissue with living, growing cells like we do. Being people with nurturing attitudes, we want to fix them and add band-aids like “prune-seal” or in your case silicone, but all that does is create a warm safe spot for fungi to grow where we can’t see it or treat it. It is best to just clean injuries when they happen and let the plant seal it off. Over time layers of dead cells will build up a woody-corky layer that will hopefully be strong enough to support the new growth above.I would just leave the split as it is, just make sure to keep water out of it and watch for any signs of infection.

Take care,

Hap

From Doug Savage’s Chickens Series.

The hummingbirds will finally be soooo happy.

Aloe ferox