Trimming the Yucca

One of my oldest cactus beds is a raised rock garden with very few cactus, a constant supply of agaves that come up from the roots of deceased plants, sedum for ground cover, snowy mound artemisia, rocks, and large yuccas. I always keep the bed weeded but have been...

Trimming from Top to Bottom

My two adenium obesums, aka desert roses, were looking pretty sad coming out of the winter back in February, having dropped their leaves through the winter as these arid-land natives are wont to do in cold weather. I couldn’t remember the last time they had bloomed,...

Coryphantha Rungonii

My coryphantha rungonii always surprises me when it blooms, and it did again just the other day. I googled coryphantha to find out more about this particular cactus and looked at some of the images of coryphanthas and really couldn’t find one that looked much like...

Chamaelobivia Blooms are a Stunning Color

This little cactus bloomed yesterday and reopened today, so I thought it deserved some recognition. Chamaelobivia is a hybrid of chamaecereus (peanut cactus) and lobivia, which happen to both now be classified in the echinopsis family. Chamaelobivia rose quartz...

I Wish I Had More Blue Barrel Cactus

I was given permission to collect cactus at a ranch in the Marfa, Texas, area a few years ago and was delighted to find these chubby little blue barrels that I thought were just a fatter version of the horse cripplers I had gathered in Muleshoe and in the Texas Hill...