Done with cleanup work - and a Rebutia flower

OK. I can get back to adding some photos this week. We have a large drop box here which I was filling with a variety of stuff to get rid of - including a whole bunch of rambling blackberry vines (trees!). (No one should ever go without luscious berries here in Western Oregon during the summer. The native vines aren't too bad, but the others, brought in by European settlers, are very aggressive!) I'll never ever complain about cactus spines again! Never!

To be honest, I didn't have time to do any photography this week, but this little rascal was flowering (Rebutia muscula). Maybe the nice weather we're having has got it's inner clock whacked out of shape, but there it was, with several flowers on December 1. Hey, I'll take it whenever I can get it!

Fall in the greenhouse

No flowers here, but with Echeverias, who needs flowers?

Happy Thanksgiving!

We wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating this holiday. We give thanks, not for the excess accumulation of things which has come to signify our culture, but for the gifts of life and love and hope for all of you, wherever you my live.

Gibbaeum dispar

Another plant which has been blooming like mad is Gibbaeum dispar. I especially appreciate the neat little clumps with their bright flowers at this time of year.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S., so I'll be taking a day off. We'll be having a small simple meal, including a small "free range" turkey, with our younger son, Naiche.  No big huge over-consumption here. And on Friday we'll be assiduously avoiding the madness which has come to be called "Black Friday" for the day the stores break into the black financially. Huge sales. Huge crowds. Yuk!

Fenestraria flowers II

Like I said, the Fenestrarias are flowering. So I went out to the greenhouse and took a couple of photos today.

Fenestraria (Baby Toes) Flower

Another mesemb that's sending out its flowers, good old "Baby Toes". They can have yellow or white flowers.

Now, to be honest. This is an older photo. I didn't have time to photograph the plants today, but tomorrow - both the white and yellow flowered ones.

And another "to be honest". We tend to forget to water these plants when they need it in the winter because most of our other plants don't especially want to be watered. We're trying to do better and they like us for it.

Tomorrow then...

A plethera of Echeverias

It was a late afternoon Autumn sun that brought out the colors of so many of the plants in the greenhouse today. So, as I was pulling an order for a customer in Texas, I took my camera with me and caught the following pictures of some Echeveria hybrids:

 

 

I just don't know how people resist them!

Lithops olivicea

Another Lithops with a white center to the flower is Lithops olivicea, which has been flowering the last couple of days. I think this photo catches the "shimmery" vitality of these little flowers.