Cactus Blog

Do we carry cactus mugs? No. We do not. But here, I’ve found one anyway.

They come in sets of 6.

I would buy them for myself but I don’t like raised designs on my drinking implements.

Did you know that there were plants in bloom this weekend? Maybe you thought they would all wilt in this heat, but No! Beautiful flowers popping up all over! And not just from the cactus. Although, especially from the cactus this weekend. Cactus flowers like the heat. But wait, this isn’t a post about cactus flowers. This is a post about California Native Perennials. Wildflowers! First up…. Fleabane!

Erigeron glaucus
Seaside Daisy, Fleabane

N. California Coastal Natuve
Evergreen Perennial

Sun: Sun
Water: Moderate
Size: 6-12″
Clay tolerant, found on clay coastal bluffs. A great butterfly plant, mixes well with coastal sages and monkey flowers. Lavender flowers spring through summer when it could use a little extra water. Hardy to 20F.

Salvia “Winifred Gilman”
Musk Sage

California Native
Evergreen perennial/shrub

Sun: Full Sun
Water: Low
Size: 3 to 4 ft.

Fragrant grey-green leaves. Strongly fragrant whorls of lavender blue flowers. Deer resistant, attracts butterflies. Hardy to 10F.

The whippet Benjamin

We are sending this to you in hope you can help. Mr. Stewart was not able to offer any help.
Jo

Hello Mr. Stewart,

My name is Jo Reynolds. I have a cactus given to me by a grandson on his first Mother’s Day. He passed away at 8. He would be 21 now so the plant is very dear. We used to have a florist who would repot as needed but they have gone out of business. It became so pot bound (cracked the pot) that we tried to repot it. Used cactus soil and one one size larger pot. The plant has many thumb sized, very prickly parts, and a number have turned very brown and opened up to a dead center. We would like to have someone with much more knowledge than us look at it and advise us. We live in Frederick County. Maybe some of the green shoots could be saved. Any help/advice you could give us would be appreciated. We have attached a picture of the poor thing.

John and Jo

Jo,
The news is not good, though there is still some hope. The soil you used looks too rich for cactus – too much bark in it. And it looks like the root-bound plant might have been potted with the roots still wound. The change as such was a shock to the plant, and most of the stems are not salvageable. However there are a few still-green stems that might be able to be saved. You will need to do some surgery, cutting them off from the rest of the plant.

In general you want to cut above any rot so that the fresh cut will be clean, no brown spots. Spray with hydrogen peroxide to help it heal, and let it callous over for a week. Then you will want to plant it in dry fast-draining cactus soil and not water for another 2 weeks. Make sure there are still no brown spots when you plant it. If any develop you will need to cut it higher up until again there is fresh clean flesh. If that doesn’t work then the infection has spread too far.

If you need cactus soil, we do ship our soil in 2 gallon boxes. You can call us at the nursery and we can send that off.
Peter

Tequila Agave at Tres Agaves on Townsend St., San Francisco. We’ve sold them a number if Tequila Agaves but Hap doesn’t think this one is ours.

I hope they’ve reinforced the unreinforced brick building before they moved in.

Hi Peter

As we discussed on the phone, may I ask you to help identify the attached
species .. perhaps an Echeveria …I appreciate the help.

Best
Gary

Gary,
Your plant is a Kalanchoe marmorata. Nice!
Peter

Dear Cactus Jungle,

I was recently examining my cacti and noticed two very strange (maybe) fungus/viruses on two of the four.

(one is a ‘Fairy Castle’/Cereus tetragonus,

the other might be a Coryphantha georgii,

though I’m not sure about that).

I scoured the internet in search of identification for these possible fungi or viruses, but was unsuccessful. I noticed this blog when looking for answers, and would be so grateful if you could help me. I love these little buggers and would hate to see them go. I’ve attached two photos to this e-mail.
Thank you very much for your time and help!

Sincerely,
Sophy

Sophy,
I’m not seeing any fungus on the Cereus. Maybe there’s some rot on the inner branch, but it doesn’t look like a fungus. If it’s soft it may be a problem of overwatering, or if the plant has been in the pot for a long time it may not have enough soil left. It looks like it’s ready to be potted into a larger pot – the brown things coming out of the branches are aerial roots looking for more soil.

The other cactus (possibly a Coryphantha, although I would guess a Mammillaria, but I would need to see the blooms to know for sure) looks like a fungus, possibly Rust. You can spray fungus with standard organic fungicides. We like to use Neem Oil.

Peter

Sisyrinchium bellum is a local favorite, Native to California, blue-eyed grass. We have a whole bunch of cultivars of this exact species out right now.

Sisyrinchium “Rocky Point”

Sisyrinchium “Quaint and Queer”

Sisyrinchium “Wayne’s Dwarf”

Sisyrinchium “Nanum”

Plus we now have one new non-native Sisyrinchium available and it is much bigger, and more iris-like.

Sisyrinchium “Aunt May”

That’s a lot of Sisyrinchiums. But wait! Here’s another and it’s another native, a local native!

Sisyrinchium californicum

Sweet!

Adam came in to the store on one of his many trips to Berkeley and bought a number of cactus and agaves to bring back with him to the East Coast. I believe this photo is in New York. Things sure look different there than here! This was taken a few weeks ago, so maybe there’s been a flourish of green on the trees since then.

Nice!

I received this picture from someone’s cell phone, texted to my email. Because cell phone emails aren’t real email addresses I don’t know who this comes from.

Is it from you????

Anyway, someone was very excited to share their Echinocereus grandiflora hybrid from us in full bloom.

Nice!

Below is a tricky one to identify.

First we have what is unquestionably Parodia rutilans:

Here’s a picture of the cactus under that giant yellow flower:

Every source I have indicates that P. rutilans and all of its subspecies all have brown spines. Now they can have a more purplish flower too. But the edges are purple, while the center still remains at least yellowish.

Then there’s this plant:

The cactus is superficially similar to the one above. But this one has very clear black spines that fade to gray. You can really see that in the picture. Other aspects of the spination are also very clear and clearly not Parodia rutilans or related subspecies. And while P. rutilans can have a purplish flower, it still has a yellow throat while this one has a whitish throat (the photo shows some reflection of the yellow stamens on the petals).

Also, this flower has had a lot of trouble opening without heat. It’s a spring bloomer and we usually do not have enough heat this time of year for this flower to fully open. So I have lots of pictures from the last few years of this plant with buds, but this is my first one with a fully open flower. Previously, from the spination and the buds I thought this might be an Echinocereus, and with the heat issue that makes a lot of sense too. But now that this flower is finally open I can say very clearly that this is not an Echinocereus.

What is the one factor that makes me certain? The purple stigma.

So what is it?

I have a book that very clearly indicates that this is Notocactus roseiflorus. Case Closed? No! All Notocactuses have been moved into Parodia for a couple decades now, so then the question is what Parodia would this species name have been moved to. And unfortunately the answer is Parodia rutilans. Which clearly this is not. No way. Not even close. Not a subspecies. So I went back and did some more research on Parodia rutilans and the plant at the top and really, it’s quite certain. To quote my copy of Anderson, “Aureoles densely white wooly… Central spines light reddish brown, straight or pointed slightly downward…”

Now I had been using a made up name, Parodia rutilans ssp. roseiflorus to indicate the P. rutilans that had the purplish flowers as mentioned above, but that’s not a real name. I just made it up. So that’s gone by the wayside. So now I have to live with the fact that Parodia rutilans’ flowers can vary and rename all the ones with the brown spines to just simply Parodia rutilans.

And since I can’t come up with any other name ever attached to this black-spined purple-flowered cactus I will have to suffice with Notocactus roseiflorus for now. Unless someone can help me come up with another name that is current.

Science!

June is a big month for succulents in Great Britain.

A local branch of a national organisation for cacti enthusiasts is holding its annual plant show in June.

The Bradford branch of the British Cactus and Succulent Society, which also covers Keighley, is staging the event on Saturday, June 8 at Shipley library.

Are you going to be there, too?

In case you are going, here’s what the library looks like.

Nice!

Who knew that if you attached some balloons to a Beavertail Cactus you could sell tickets to it.

(In) Rodney Graham’s latest exhibition at Lisson Gallery (29 Bell Street, London, UK),… Cactus Fan depicts a scientist pondering a strange object, perhaps a gift: a cactus plant with four vibrantly coloured helium balloons attached to it.

I’m guessing that what we have a here is a scientist, or more specifically a botanist, who is experimenting with the effects of weightlessness in outer-space on the growth habits of a common cactus. However this particular scientist does not have the budget to complete the experiment in space, so instead we get balloons. The helium will have dissipated in a day or two, so the scientist in question must constantly remain on vigil and replace these balloons quickly and efficiently multiple times per week.

I can’t get the video to embed so you will have to click the link.

Here’s the link:

LINK.

But do click the link. Well worth it for the Pygmy cactus Owl chicks! Baby owls!!!!

We have a lot of native, and native-hybrids out in full bloom this weekend. Pictures ensue.

Beeblossom

Gaura lindheimeri “Passionate Rainbow” is a compact version of this ever-scrabbly wildflower. It also has very good color not just in the flowers but in the foliage too. I love colorful foliage!

Iris PCH – we have only a few more still in bloom. Like this very deeply colored blue hybrid.

Wooly Sunflower

Eriophyllum “Siskiyou” works well in your garden. They are in full bloom right now and will rebloom throughout the year anyway, just not quite as full as this.

Blue Witch

Solanum “Indian’s Grey” is one of our favorite blue-flowered native perennials in the deadly nightshade family (Solanaceae).

White Witch

Solanum “Spring Frost” is one of our favorite white-flowered native perennials in the deadly nightshade family (Solanaceae).

Achillea x kelleri is a stunning white addition to all your very colorful yarrows. These are really stunning. You should come see them in person, along with the yellow and red yarrows currently in bloom too. I highly recommend this hybrid for planting in your mom’s garden when you help her out next weekend. She will thank you.

A redacted letter from a concerned citizen:

Cactus Jungle:

You have on your list Fouquieria xxxx from California, this incorrect (sic)….. Fouquieria splendens is the only one that grows in the United States, all the others grow in Mexico and Baja. Your Fouquieria xxxx looks more like Fouquieria xxxx from Baja….. Do you have any more information on your plant? I have grown all of the known Fouquieria’s (sic) and have been in Mexico many times studying and collecting them.

Mxxx

Mxxx,
Thank you for your concerns. The word “California” can refer to the current political boundaries of the state formerly governed by Arnold Schwartzenegger, or they can refer to the ecological and geological physical area (among other options). We prefer to include plants native to Baja California as part of the ecological area of California.

Thank you,
Peter

Editors Note: Science!

Reilly sends along a photo of his Echinopsis (formerly known as a Lobivia) that has 3 giant buds getting ready to open. Those are going to be pretty.

We have a couple new (for us) cultivars of the classic California favorite Blue Eyed Grass.

Sisyrinchium bellum “Nanum” is low growing, to 6″ high, with wide leaves and particularly pale blue flowers. Very productive.

Sisyrinchium bellum “Wayne’s Dwarf” is also low growing, but not as low as Nanum. This might even get 10″ tall. We see there are the very classic deep blue flowers.

In general if you keep these members of the Iris Family (Iridaceae) a little bit irrigated through the summer you can get more flowers all summer long. However they are expecting a dormant period by fall.

Here’s a closeup of “Wayne’s Dwarf” for good measure.