daily news and photography about cacti and succulents
and some california natives too
"Drolly entertaining and informative at the same time." CSM
Any idea what this is advertising? I don’t know what Plant Vigor is, but it seems to make cactus lose all their spines except for one small ring at the top.
If you have courage, you can click through to this video, but be warned – not safe for work or home or kids or adults. Plus, I still don’t know what the product is.
This photo has nothing to do with this blog, but at least there’s bamboo in the background.
Here we see that our Epiphyllums are not yet in bloom.
But boy are they close. That’s a lot of buds just about to burst open. A lot of the buds have dropped already, as is the nature of Epi’s in my experience.
Too bad it’s such a crappy cell phone picture. I promise I’ll get a good quality photo when the flowers open.
The Mountain Goats sing about Lithops, Absolute Lithops Effect.
Here are the lyrics. Hint: it’s a metaphor.
Reader JBot is looking out for you. Recently he brought to our attention that there is a cactus statue available for sale in Richmond. Awesome! Now he wants to make sure you all know that it is still available, and has been marked down from $200 to $75. That seems like a good price. But wait! JBot says,
I bet y’all could get it for $50 or less now…. You know you want that crazy thing!
Jbot
He must be right about at least one of you out there; you know who you are and you know you want it.
Thanks JBot for the update!
If you don’t live in or near Dallas you may not know that there is not only a Dallas Magazine, D Magazine, but there are at least three more Dallas magazines to boot: D Home, D CEO and D Weddings. What, no D Fish Markets?
Anyway… back to D Home we find that a writer there has too many succulents. So many, in fact, that she can’t even take a vacation anymore.
In fact if you added up all the money I’ve spent feeding my succulent addiction over the past couple of years, it would be enough to pay for my family of four to go on a pretty spectacular trip… overseas. I do not exaggerate friends. It’s a bad scene.
Interesting. I do feel like her friend after reading the article, and I think if she stops this addiction and gets a vacation together she should invite ALL her new friends along. Her name is Joslyn, so now you too can be her friend.
Here’s a photo she included, and it’s got some nice succulents in it, so we can understand her ongoing lack of vacations.
Awesome Craigslist find by reader JBot.
Giant Eye-catching 9 foot Cactus Statue. Very very cool.
Must be Mascot for some Advertizement, not sure.
Metal skeleton with I think fiberglass exterior.
Very Sturdy. Very good shape.
$200
I think it may still be available if you’re interested. Don’t contact me, click through to the Craigslist page and contact the owner of this fine specimen.
Succulents Inspire Pillow Designer
San Francisco is a nice place to stroll the streets looking for inspiration from succulents. L.A. too, but the new store is in San Francisco so there’s that.
It’s not unusual to find textile designer Andrea Bernstein, founder of Los Angeles company Millworks… strolling her block with a camera and sketch pad ready to capture inspiration for her hand-painted, retro-inspired pillows and bedding.
“I walk around my neighborhood and look at the colors in… succulents, and I just start painting,” says Bernstein.
And what succulent inspired items has she designed?
I don’t know, I don’t see any succulents in those pillows.
Why did I blog this?
Helena from Australia passes along her cactus story.
A man from South Australia an avid collector of succulents visted South America, he brought a cacti back.
he used to go out and just give it a slight spray of water once a week, then he noticed, really strange! the cacti was shaking! it stopped, but made a point of watching it the next time he sprayed it, the same thing happened! he decided to ring a friend who was also a collector, explained where he had got the plant from, his friend said I’ll ring you back, 1/2 hr later he did, said take your family out of the house , next thing these firefighters in protective suits turned up, next door neighbours had to be evacuated, fire men round the back, then “whoosh” all over! the cacti was full of huge spiders deadly!!! growing inside this cacti, and every time i water it I think:-)
Interesting… That sounds like an urban myth. Nice!
A touch of the spring flowers on one of the succulent wreaths.
Kalanchoe delagoensis
Did you know that chameleons can’t turn blue? I didn’t. Until I saw this photo (Nat Geo). Now I know. And you do too.
Hah ha ha! That’s the way rumors get started! You saw the picture so you believe me, but is it true? Do you know for sure? Can chameleons not turn blue? Or is it just the Florida chameleons that can turn blue?
Now you may also choose to ask what this has to do with cactus and a blog about cactus, and the connection is that when cactus were first being cultivated for the trade in the 1920s in England, the lead nurseryman, Sir Albert Frosher, was also a chameleon fancier, and so ever since cactus and chameleons have been paired. It’s traditional!
Ceanothus “Joyce Coulter”
These grow low and wide. How wide? Maybe 8 feet wide. They will mound to about 3 feet high when mature.
You really want to make sure you have sun if you’re planting them on the coast. But the good news is they can handle some coastal clay soil.
In the mountains they can be hardy down to 10°F.
A few months ago I wrote the beginnings of a story about cactus in the Old West called Saucy Susie’s Waffle House on the Prairie. Now, finally, we have part 2…
It was a warm afternoon in Utah and the Waffle House on the Old Prairie was hopping when Saucy Susie grabbed a pitcher of Iced Tea and poured ole’ Greg “Handstands” Jaspers a tall glass….
Stay tuned for part 3.
In the meantime, here’s a picture of a Ferocactus surrounded by Agaves.
I don’t know where that picture came from. It was just sitting on my harddrive. Maybe I blogged it before? Who knows! I must be drunk!
This time it’s from Edmonton, Canada. Can it be considered local if it’s from the frozen tundra of Western Canada? Sure!
Question: This year I am planning on creating living plant gifts for birthdays and special occasions. Specifically, I want to make cactus bowls and I was hoping you could give me some advice on how I could do this. Thank you for all your great advice.
Answer: Cactus planters are easy to make and even easier to maintain, perfect for those of you with a brown thumb. All you need is a dish or bowl large enough to hold some soil, a layer of pebbles and cacti….
Some cacti for you to consider for your garden:
- Bunny ears cactus
- Prickly pear cactus
- Rose pincushion
Interesting list there. Some generic opuntia options, and then a couple very specific species. I wonder why this particular Aloe? And that particular Echinopsis? Has the writer been trading in cactus futures?
I got an email from someone named Joseph, location not known at this time, asking if we wanted to buy some of his prickly pears.
This one:
And this one is said to be at least 100 years old:
Let me know if you want to buy these from Joseph and I’ll pass along your bid. These photos are for real, and so I assume the offer is for real too.
You’d like a clown fish tea light set? What, are you making fun of me?
It’s 3 already. We’re closing soon.

But I’ll wait here and keep the gate open for you.
