The Cluttered Cactus Garden in Winter

by | Dec 14, 2020 | Cactus Are Cool

The cactus garden looks a mess in winter. The poor cholla and prickly pear do their sad droopy thing. Boxes, gallon cans, and five-gallon buckets stand upside down over plants needing protection; blankets and comforters do the same. Plants that are truly cold-hardy...

Stapelia Grandiflora Puts on a Show

by | Nov 22, 2020 | Cactus Are Cool

I’ve written about these stinky flowers before-“The Stinky Flower,” August 4, 2014, but that’s been a while back, and this time the plant just outdid itself with blooms, so I thought I’d share again. I realized the plant was loaded with buds the end of October. One...

Agave Utahensis is a Little Different Agave

by | Oct 27, 2020 | Cactus Are Cool

When agaves bloom, we expect the bloom mast to look pretty much like the one on my Agave harvardiana that bloomed in 2019, like this:Agave utahensis is a smaller agave and its inflorescence looks like this.I’ve had this little agave for maybe fifteen-twenty years, and...

Another Surprise Flower

by | Oct 17, 2020 | Cactus Are Cool

I bought a Pleiospilos nelii this year simply because it had a bud ready to open. I thought. Brought it home, repotted it with two others that I bought with it, Pleiospilos nelii royal flush, just because they were a pretty purple color. I waited a couple of days in...

The Conophytum Bloomed!

by | Sep 8, 2020 | Cactus Are Cool

Three years ago I ordered this little plant from Plants for the Southwest, a specialty nursery in Tucson I learned about at one of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America’s conventions a few years ago. Conophytum pearsonii is not a variety you will see in the big...