Cactus Blog

The final photo in our series. First we had a horizontal composition, and then a vertical closeup. Let’s finish up a bit further back, see more of the plant.

Now we can really see the cactus, in shadow, but still clearly there. This also allows us to see the extreme funnels leading up to those fluffy white flowers. Now we’re focused on the front flower, so there is no other foreground element at all. I like the large amount of black space at the top. It really helps to exaggerate the dizzying height.

Since we’re a little further back than the other two shots, this one takes on a painterly style, little daubs of white against a black background, with hints of color on one side of the cactus - almost a Rembrandt effect, if I may be so bold, of deep thickly painted shadows. Well, that’s how I see it.

So oto review, the 3 photos are very similar, since obviously they’re the same plant, and almost even the same angles, and yet the effect is so different that I just can’t decide between them.

Echinopsis subdenudata

Here we have the classic closeup posed flower picture. I like the way the other 2 blooms frame the picture, but they’re barely there. The focus is definitely on the one flower. It kind of makes you want to dive right in, like a bee.

Today I’ll be exploring composition of a photograph, using a single plant in bloom. I’ve taken 3 pictures, all with the same background, all with the same cactus with 3 blooms open.

Echinopsis subdenudata

Here we have the focus on one bloom, but with the other 2 blooms providing both the foreground and the background. Plus there’s the hint of the cactus at the bottom that these blooms are protruding from.

The angle gives us a good look inside the bloom to the reproductive parts and stuff.

Man, those white fluffy flowers….

There are so many Echinocereuses and so many of them are hybrids that I just can’t keep track. So I don’t know if this is a species Echinocereus or a c.v. or a hybrid. I just don’t know, and you’ll just have to live with that. However, I can tell you that the plant is small. And someday I’ll post a picture of the inside of these flowers, since they’re pretty special when they open….

I featured this blooming plant last month here and here. But I just can’t resist another shot of the giant flower on top of these small columnar hedgehogs.

Echinocereus armatus

Rebutia narvaecense

These little rebutias are amazing bloomers, with dozens of over-sized pink flowers coming from each and every one of those tiny little 1″ barrels. Just imagine after they’ve pupped and there’s a whole cluster of them! Dozens of blooms multiplied by dozens of stems! That’s a whole gross of flowers. And we can thank the good deserts of Bolivia for this spectacular show.

I wonder if I should try to edit the wikipedia entry for Bolivia? Nahhh, my recent adventure with the bontaka was enough.

Pachypodium baronii v. baronii

Shrubby to 2 feet tall. Shrubby really doesn’t do this plant justice. Thick, long spiny branches off in all directions. Great heaps of fluorescent blooms on long stalks in spring, with masses of thick green leaves following.

Doesn’t it look lickable? That little yellow center must taste like honey. Let me lean in just a little closer…

On the other hand, there’s this description of the habitat from Wikipedia,

This plant is endemic to Madagascar, where it grows in open deciduous forest on Mesozoic calcareous rock and granite or gneiss on the western side of the island at low elevations. It is known in Madagascar as “Bontaka”. It is also endemic from Befandriana Nord to Mandritsara.

A very different style of writing from mine, wouldn’t you say? Denser, and yet not more informative at all. I love that you might like to read both styles in one place, right here on my blog that is, since I suspect if I edited my paragraph about licking into the wikipedia article it would be edited right back out within  minutes. Shall we try?…

Actually, it’s a bloom photo of a cactus that was planted in a trough and featured in a post yesterday.

Mammillaria spinosissima ssp pilcayensis

I don’t know much about this plant. I believe it is a cactus, or as they say, “in the cactaceae family.” The flowers are pink, the plant is spiny, the background is black. Cylindrical stems 2″ around to 20″ tall.

If you really want to get to know this plant, check out yesterday’s photo from the Bingleys of the plant in its new home.

Echinocereus grandiflora hybrid in yellow.

These Echinocereus grandifloras come in so many colors. They’re blooming up a storm. I’m sure I’ll have more colors coming up on the blog in the weeks ahead. Today is yellow. Tomorrow, too.

Here we see the bloom from below. I t doesn’t look so giant in this photo, but just wait for tomorrow’s portrait. This shot really shows the relationship of the bloom to the cactus below, and the buds yet to come, along with the fruit from last year’s blooms too.

The sun is quite bright as reflected in the washed out yellows in the center of the bloom.

Formerly Lobivia maximiliana caespitosa

now Echinopsis maximiliana subs. caespitosa

or to decipher the botanical epithets:
maximiliana = “superlative of magnus, large, great, high, extensive”
caespitosa = “plenitude or notable”

so translated to english:

the super-duper big and happy cactus!

Plumeria acuminata c.v.

They always come in different colors. We should mark the plants when they bloom, doncha think? And fragrant too. We grow them inside here in the Bay Area. They grow them outside in Southern Cal, up to Santa Barbara.

We always have trouble getting them to rebloom. We use fish bone meal. This year, I have 3 that are in the process of blooming right about now, out of 6 we have that bloomed last year. I think that’s a pretty good percentage. Even when they don’t bloom, they make a great multi-branched tree houseplant, doncha think? Well, it’s hard to tell from the photo of the bloom, but you can trust me on this one; they do.

Mammillaria bocasana

Small multi-stemmed cactus from Mexico, usually globose. I love that word. Globose. Use it daily, and you will be a happy person. Anyway, the flower color varies on this species. We have both yellow and pink. I think this may be the subspecies roseiflora. I think that because, well, look at that subspecies name, “roseiflora”. I think that fits this one, don’t you? Of course you do.

Anyway, these small globose stems are sometimes a little taller than other small globose mammillarias.

Well, you really have to click through to the full size original.

It’s a bee on a Hoya carnosa bloom. The one bloom and the bee are both in amazingly clear focus. You do know how small those hoya flowers are, now don’t you? Well, they’re only about 1/2″ across. And apparently, if you look very closely, fuzzy, just like the bee. Plus, if you click through to the original, you can see the pollen on the bee’s knees.

Photo © Martin Heigan, from his Flickr stream.

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.