Cactus Blog

The Manila Times, or some such newspaper, reports the diet and beauty secrets of the local celebrities. And not to ruin the surprise, or anything, but it’s cactus.

Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos, whose svelte figure and flawless skin are the envy of women half her age. Known to be a health buff, she uses exercise facilities at home to squeeze workouts in between official appointments and inspection trips. Vegetables and fruits are the mainstay of her daily fare. This diet includes a colorful exotic fruit that will soon be one of her province’s major crops: dragon fruit.

Dragon fruit, that is the fruit of the mysterious jungle cactus, Hylocereus. Unlike ferocactus, hylocereus fruit is delicious.

I love local news reports like this. It really makes no sense, and yet that’s my sense of humor for you.

Mystery!

And not really all that mysterious since it’s available in grocery stores around the world, apparently. Maybe not Iowa, but we could all go over to Plants are the Strangest People and ask.

I was wondering what the most popular CactusBlog entry is. So I looked it up and it’s this one from 2008.

What’s sad about this is that isn’t even my photo. But apparently google loves it, so what can I do?

It’s Plants are the Strangest People and fun with Photoshop.

A Growing Obsession uses broken pieces of glass as a succulent mulch, and calls it “Succulents on Ice“. Better than petunias on ice any day.

It’s a cactus flower photo gallery! Add your cactus flower photos too!

Hello… I’m a regular reader, and very occasional commenter on your blog… you may remember me from a prickly pear cactus jelly post you linked to… [Ed: Yes we do remember!] regardless…

I bought this plant in July of 2008. When I bought it, it was labeled Mammillaria species… and that’s it. Nothing else…

I’ve included 4 pics… 2 of the plant when I first bought it, which I posted on the blog in hopes that some kind, kind person out there knew or could blindly guess the species. They couldn’t…

there’s also one with blooms from last year, and a current pic showing fruit…

If you could help me ID the thing, I’d really really be grateful… thanks for your trouble…

Claude from Random Rants and Prickly Plants…

Claude,
I typed up a response and saved it in drafts, and now its missing, so I don’t know if you’ve already received an answer from me, but you have a lovely Mammillaria perbella. The fruit in one of the photos is edible, though tiny, and only if you haven’t used chemical insecticides. If grown outdoors, it would be way more spiny, but yours is looking great.
Hap

Also, see here on Claude’s blog another picture of the Mammillaria in question. And don’t miss out on the beer can garden post. Really, you don’t want to miss it.

I’m updating the blog to the latest version of WordPress, due to some security flaws in the last version, and we just had our first glitch – the blog was down for half an hour. But we’re back! Hopefully, the rest of this update will be smoooooth sailing all the way.

Jacque at The Creative Gardener is somewhere in Northern California and has a greenhouse full of succulents, and some blooming cacti too.

Earth’s Little Gems may not post a whole lot, but they do have up some adorable gasteria bloom photos right now.

Danger Garden picked up some Aloe Yucca hybrid that may be called Yucca aloifolia or Aloe Yucca.

To the google! And… Yucca aloifolia it is, also known as Spanish Bayonet, and it’s not a hybrid at all.

Here’s a photo of an impressive clump via Floridata.

Kelly’s Imaginary Garden appears to be a new blog in the East Bay, and they have a neighbor with giant Echinocereus grandiflora blooms, not to mention the Aloe striatas going crazy too.

Impressive.

The Alaska Squirrel Cam blog has a cactus bloom photo. Anyone have any guesses as to which opuntia species it is that is surviving in Alaska?

Teri found a nest in the middle of a very spiny cactus. Photos ensued.

From the Baltimore Sun’s Garden Variety Blog by Susan Reimer, we find out that Debra Lee Baldwin has been inspiring succulent lovers all over the country.

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

Try keeping container gardens alive on my deck during the heat of July and August and you will find yourself a convert to succulent container gardens, too.

That’s how I spent the weekend, assembling this collection of glazed pots and the very few varieties of succulents I could find in my quadrant of Maryland….

I have been enchanted by the idea of succulents in containers since I wrote about Debra Lee Baldwin’s new book, “Succulent Container Gardens.” These plants look soooo exotic.

Ian has started an urban farm blog, Oakland Farming, and it turns out that the organic lettuce he planted last year re-seeded itself and has provided more food than he can possibly eat.

Check the link in the sidebar, too.

Hopefully he’ll add some photos…

An Alameda Garden kicks off their new Succulent Sundays with a picture of Aeoniums and Agaves on Alcatraz.

Mr. Subjunctive has a blooming Stapelia gigantea. They stink.

Idora Design is featuring a pink echeveria hybrid in the garden. Any ideas what c.v. it may be?

Lara, at enidlifestyle.com has been collecting vintage pots to fill with succulents. See the results, on enidlifestyle.com. There’s some really nice vintage glazes.

I’m not so sure about the owl, though.

Benjamin and Jason are famous! Paula Wirth has posted their photos on her flickriver stream.