Cactus Blog

We put together some mixed succulent pot centerpieces for Zeny for her husband’s surprise 60th birthday party, which I hear really was a surprise, and a big success.

Here’s another mixed pot Zeny put together from our plants.

Nice! They tell me the Senecio in back is already outgrowing the pot and may need to be cut back.

Hi! I have an enormous cactus that is eating my house. I need to remove it but didn’t want to just throw it away, it’s quite impressive but unfortunately it’s ruining the foundation. Do you know anyone that would want this cactus? I attached a picture.

Thank you! Krista

Yowza, that’s a big Cereus!

I don’t know anyone in Southern Cal off hand, but I’ll post it on the blog for you. Also, we find Craigslist works well.

Peter

If anyone is interested, email me and I’ll forward it along to Krista in the 310. Just a warning, though, if you do go to cut it down, make sure you don’t let the giant branches fall on the roof, or yourself either. Just sayin’.

JoTo sends along a photo from probably 4 years ago of a trough we had out on the floor filled with Cleistocactus strausii, and wants to know if we still have the trough with the cactus in it.

Oh, how things have changed around here since then. We no longer have our growing troughs out on display, filling up retail floor space. Now we have plants for sale everywhere. Not an inch to spare, though if there is one, I’ll find it and use it.

As it turns out, those plants have just been finally put out on the floor in 18″ clay pots 2 weeks ago, and they’re about 6ft. tall.

This is one of them:

Judy W. sends along these photos of a cactus she got from us, that was about to bloom – and then did!

Almost open

Later that night

By dawn, it’s fully open! Cereus spegazinni

Hi Peter,

Back at the beginning of May you identified my Huernia macrocarpa. Yesterday morning I looked and this is what I saw:

Found 3 blossoms and by last night there was a 4th. It is such a dark red!

Thanks again for your help last month.

Jan

We’re delivering some big spiny cactus this afternoon to some designers that are making some spectacular concrete planters on steel bases, The Ranch Design Group.

A very bloomful Echinopsis eyriesii sent to us from reader A Deacon’s Wife.

You never know what kind of common names you’re going to get from a cactus.

(Here’s) a picture of a cactus I have that blooms once every May.  Four tall white flowers that look like umbrellas. I would like to know what kind of cactus it is. Thanks.

Nancy

Nancy,
That’s an Echinopsis alright, formerly known as a Lobivia. As for the particular species, it’s hard to tell from the photo, but it might be Echinopsis subdenudata from Bolivia.
Peter

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.

More pictures from Matt in Portland.

Now that’s a nice Echinopsis.

We’re guessing Mammillaria for this one.

Matt sure gets a lot of blooms out of his cactus. Thanks for sharing, Matt!

From Lillian we get 2 pictures of gorgeous Epiphyllums in bloom.

Hello Peter,

These are 2 Orchid Cactus I bought from your place a few years ago. They bloom gigantic  flowers every year.

Lillian

Success!

Last year we planted a cactus garden in Saratoga, above San Jose. The owners have sent along 1-year later photos.

And they’re in bloom!

More bloom photos after the break… (more…)

More reader photos of Echinocereus grandifloras in bloom. This one is from Muk.

Hi,

I really enjoy your blog. Really getting into succulents now. Went to a garage sale a few weeks ago and bought this cactus . Could it be a rat tail?? Or an Aporophyllum??

Would appreciate any help you can give me.

Thanks,
Jan

Jan,
It turns out your plant isn’t a cactus at all, but a stapeliad (in the asclepiad family) and the species is Huernia macrocarpa, also known as the dragon flower. Check out the cute as a button carrion flower here.

Nice!

Peter

Janet sends along photos of her succulent planters that Keith helped her with.

Auntie Rachel was near Vulture Mine Rd. NW of Wickenburg, Az when she took these last week.

Opuntia basilaris

Ferocactus wislizenii with the less common yellow blooms.

From Aunt Rachel, NE of Hyder, Az up in the hills.

Any guesses as to the Opuntia species? I think we can eliminate the Mojave Grizzly Bear cactus, since it’s not in the Mojave. And yet, it’s almost certainly one of the Opuntia  polyacantha’s, and the spination does look most like O.  polyacantha v. erinacea. I’ve only ever seen it with yellow flowers, but my copy of Anderson says it can have pink flowers. Thus I think we can determine that this is a Grizzly Bear cactus, just not a Mojave Grizzly Bear. Since it’s found in the Sonoran Desert, I think we can call this a Sonoran Grizzly Bear, also O.  polyacantha v. erinacea, and chalk up the flower color to natural variation.

Science!

You are all welcome come over to see our beautiful bloom! Only 24 hrs!
There are 7 more on this plant and several more on ajoining one!

Sent from my iPhone. Shelley
Aloha!

I think there are more than 7 coming, I see some small buds just getting started there.

Yes we can!

First, we have the preliminaries:

Hello,

My name is Liz and I had been looking on your site for awhile to find out the type of wonderful cactus that I have. I have had this cactus for a long time but never knew what type it was. I have looked into books and browsed around I have seen many that look similar but can not pin point it. I was wondering if I could email you a picture and you could help me identify it?

Thank you,
Liz

Hello Liz,

We would be happy to try and ID your plant, email a photo or two and we will do our best.

Hap

Now we have the main event:

Good Afternoon Hap,

Thank you for taking the time to do this for me! Here I sent a couple of pics!

And finally, the ID:

Hello again Liz,

It looks like you have a nice Echinopsis aurea or commonly known as “Golden Easter Lily Cactus”. Native to Northern Argentina. It can be a bit rot prone so watch so be careful not to over-water and next time you repot I would suggest a chunkier cactus blend that is mostly 1/4″ lava or pumice, since these guys will often turn to mush if they stay too wet.

Take care,

Hap