daily news and photography about cacti and succulents
and some california natives too
"Drolly entertaining and informative at the same time." CSM
Dendrobium kingianum is hardy down to around freezing around here, and works well both inside or out. It blooms late winter, as you can see, through spring.
We grow them in orchid bark, or as we prefer coconut husk chunks. I think we will be watering weekly indoor, and every 2 weeks if they’re in a shady spot outdoor. Fertilize every month. Easy!
Leucadendron “Wilson’s Wonder”
Conebush
Native to South Africa
Evergreen Shrub
Sun: Full Sun
Water: Low
Size: 4 to 5ft.
Red-tipped leaves, reddish stems; gets covered in moderately large yellow cone flowers in late winter. Hardy to 25°F.
Ribes “Barrie Coate” is coming into full bloom. I see that it has probably the most saturated color of the flowering currants, all native to California, that I am aware of.
I like it!
Ribes malvaceum “Barrie Coate”
Chaparral CurrantCalifornia Native
Deciduous shrubSun: Full Sun to Part Shade
Water: Occasional
Size: 6 ft.Winter blooming hummingbird plant. Very dark pink flower clusters February-March. Woody branches have peeling red bark as they age. Hardy to 25F.
Hoya australis is a vining succulent in the Asclepiad (Milkweed) Family (Asclepiadaceae).
According to the Australia Native Plant Society:
Hoya australis
Family: Asclepiadaceae
Distribution: Rainforests and rainforest margins from north-eastern New South Wales to north-eastern Queensland.
Common Name: Common waxflower.
Derivation of Name: Hoya; after Thomas Hoy, English gardener. australis; southern, referring to the global distribution of the species.
Conservation Status: Not considered to be at risk in the wild
A lot of our shrubby Euphorbias, i.e. the Spurges, are blooming right now or coming into bloom soon enough. While not strictly succulents, they are very drought tolerant and can easily mix in a succulent garden.
Euphorbia characias ssp. wulfenii
And just for fun, here’s one blooming succulent spurge – so many Euphorbias are succulent, and this one is succulent:
Some people think that our cute little blooming Delospermas are Ice Plants, just like along the highways and coastlines of California.
But they’re not! I mean, sure, they’re related and all, and the leaves are similar enough and the fruits are also edible enough so that maybe you could call them Ice Plants if you really wanted to, but the biggest difference is that these are not invasive. So I choose not to call them Ice Plants.
Here are some in bloom right now at the nursery. Look at all the pretty flower colors!
Would you call that Magenta? I would. Maybe some would say it veers toward fuschia. I would not.
Yellow is easy to ID. Plus it is particularly popular with the native bees. They like yellow! There must be lots of native yellow flowers, like the Mimuluses. I would like to name this color, Rapeseed Yellow.
Pink is a varied color. Is there a shade of pink that would match this? It kind of matches MAC Eyeshadow’s “Swish” Swatch.
Red! Finally! Actually kind of a crimson red, so you know its good.
By the way, the most popular Delosperma flower color on my Instagram feed is…
Wait for it…
Pink!
Science!
Ribes sanguineum
The California native currants are in full bloom now, with fresh new green leaves popping up everywhere too. We have 3 or 4 varieties right now, so you know they must be gorgeous too.
3 Adeniums and 1 Pachypodium.
First up we have three hybridized Adenium obesum flowers with very different colors. How do they get so many colors?
1. A fairly standard, but very saturated, solid pink.
2. A crazy bi-color. Most 2-color Adenium flowers are center/edge colored, not striped like this.
3. This one is closest to the true species. And you can see the 2-colored with the petals being white towards the center and pink along the edges.
And then we have a very lovely solid yellow colored Pachypodium rosulatum flower.
Crassula perforata have the tiniest of blooms. They don’t really look like much. They crowd together at the tips of a growing stem which will then benefit when you cut the spent blooms off. It’s hard to tell without a magnifier when they’re spent or still in bloom. I would guess the tiny flowers are only 2mm across, but then I don’t know the metric system at all so I could be wrong. Here’s a life-size metric ruler, so they say, that shows what 2mm is.
The macro photo is not so clear. But it’s the best I’ve been able to get. It almost looks like a watercolor. Here is the same photo with a watercolor filter applied.
Nice!
It must be winter-growing-aloe-bloom-season in the Bay Area!
Aloe africana is an African Aloe also known as African Aloe. It’s from South Africa, of course. The Eastern Cape. These are some very orange flowers. The plant itself is a single-stemmed, generally solitary tree aloe to 10ft. tall. The marginal spines are vigorous, though not so large or numerous as to be hazardous.
The Aloe speciosa’s blooms are coming along nicely. This particular bloom spike should last a couple more weeks.
Cleistocactus straussii is the first cactus I have blogged around here in ages. It’s been so long I practically forgot what a cactus even looks like. It looks like this.
They are summer bloomers, but there’s often stragglers on and off throughout the year.
I wonder what they look like at the tip of the plant, against a sky blue backdrop?
From the high altitude plains of the Himalayan mountains. I mean the Andes, sorry about that.
Hummingbirds love them. I do too. Am I a hummingbird? No, I am not. I am your faithful blogger, a person. And I have never been to South America.
We’re getting into bloom season for a whole bunch of native currants.
Ribes “Barrie Coate” is a favorite for the rich deep color of the blooms. The berries are edible of course, but it is grown primarily for the flowers. Because, I mean, look at them.
California Native
Deciduous shrubSun: Full Sun to Part Shade
Water: Occasional
Size: 6 ft.Winter blooming hummingbird plant. Very dark pink flower clusters February-March. Woody branches have peeling red bark as they age. Hardy to 25F.
You can see from the photo that the blooms come before the leaves with this species. By spring it will be a gorgeous green shrub and will still have more blooms too!
A tiny Tillandsia attached to a tree amongst the lichens. In Sarasota! (that’s Florida)
Arctostaphylos rudis “Vandenberg” is a very attractive manzanita from the wilds of California. Wild indeed. Found originally on Vandenberg Air Force Base, near San Diego, it is a satisfying 7 foot tall tree with shaggy red bark. Left in its wild state it will be much wider than tall, even over 10ft. wide, but it can be kept pruned for shape to as wide as tall, though I wouldn’t recommend trying to prune this into a vertical tree.
California Native
Evergreen shrubSun: Full Sun
Water: Low, summer-drought
Size: 6t x 10w.Dense foliage forms a deep green garden backdrop, or perfect as a hedge. Clusters of small pink flowers in spring. Hardy to 15F.
The pretty pink bell shaped flowers are great for attracting hummingbirds.
Oregon Sunshine Still Blooming
Eriophyllum lanatum “Siskiyou” just never wants to give up with the blooming. This is a strange time of year to see even one of these cute yellow daisy flowers.
Unusual!
Eriophyllum lanatum “Siskiyou”
Native to California and Oregon
Evergreen Perennial GroundcoverSun: Full to Partial Sun
Water: Low
Size: 12″h, spreads 3ft. wide
Pretty whitish to grey-green woolly leaves with stunning displays of yellow daisy flowers throughout the spring. Tidy and low-growing groundcover, blooms pop up to 12″h. Cut back after blooming. Hardy to 15F.
Achillea “Red Velvet” has some of the deepest purplish maroony reds around. In the flowers that is, the leaves are still green. You can be sure there will ber a lot more blooms than this measly spray by the time summer rolls around. It’s nice to even have these late blooms this time of year. I appreciate them. Do you too?
North America; Cultivated variety
Herbaceous PerennialSun: Full Sun
Water: Low
Size: Low, blooms to 3 feetGreen gray foliage. Flowers summer thru fall. Often used for cut or dried flowers. Attracts butterflies and birds. Hardy to below 0F.
Arctostaphylos densiflora “Howard McMinn” is another California tree. This one is shorter than yesterday’s Catalina Ironwood, topping out at below 10ft., vs. the 40ft. tall Ironwood.
Arctostaphylos densiflora “Howard McMinn”
California Native
Evergreen shrubSun: Full Sun
Water: Low
Size: 7ft.h. x 10ft.w.Large evergreen mounding shrub with clusters of small flowers, white to light pink, in winter through spring. Berries are favored by native birds. Dark red trunk.
Also…
A. “Howard McMinn” is a nectar source for the Monarch Butterfly and the California Dogface Butterfly
Mediterranean
Evergreen ShrubSun: Full Sun
Water: Low, Good drainage
Size: 4ft. tall x 5ft. wideThis Mediterranean evergreen shrub grows well in the Bay Area. Silvery gray foliage. Deep blue flowers cover the plant most of the year – spring thru fall. Hardy to 20F.
