The Cholla Says Winter Is Over

When winter arrives and the weather gets colder and icier, prickly pear and cholla get progressively droopy and sad-looking. Both plants are in the same cactus family of opuntia, so I guess they respond similarly to the cold. By the end of winter, this is what one of...

Weeds and Cactus- A Few Things I Forgot

As I was finishing my weeding for the day, some things came up that I should have mentioned in the last post about weeding the garden. So let me add to the list of helpful hints. I have found that if the ground is wet, or damp from rain or human watering, the weeds...

Weeds and Cactus

I was told once that the reason my cactus garden looks good is that I keep it free of weeds. Well, isn’t that a given? That the weeds should come out? Then I thought about it and realized that in fact too many cactus gardens don’t get weeded. I think that’s another...

Trichocereus Grandiforus Blooms in Neon

When I see the buds forming on my trichocereus grandiflorus, I get really exited. The flowers are quite large, and the petals literally glow with iridescent color, like, well, neon. Pictures just don’t do them justice, although every year I drag out the camera and try...

It is Springtime in the Greenhouse

I am just having more fun walking into the greenhouse every morning to see what is blooming. First it was the blizzarde. Now we are having dustbowl-worthy winds and dirt, sand dunes where there should be lawns, and still no rain in sight, but the greenhouse provides a...

The Wyoming Cactus Are Blooming

On February 25 we endured a classic blizzard that left us with four inches of snow and higher drifts all over the place. Six days later, March 2, the sun finally came out; the wind was still blowing, but the snow had melted, leaving us with the brown and barren...