The idea of Christmas Cacti isn't new (for me); I made these about 18 years ago when I worked as a cookbook editor for Publications International, Ltd., and had an obsession, at that time, for collecting oddball cookie cutters.Just what I need for Christmas, some "cactus" cookie cutters... Anybody listening?
"I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a larger scale."Maybe it's time to rethink our whole financial structures in the light of the issues of global warming. It's already happening on the local level as more and more people make changes in their lifestyle. Isn't it time for this to percolate up to our national and international leaders?
The coolest new trend that has evolved out of the mid-mod movement is succulents. They bear distinct forms that are bold and graphic, standing out against the walls and surfaces of these simplified homes. Even in colder climates, succulents are a great choice, because the plants can come indoors for the winter, thriving in the bright light of these open homes.She then adds:
Potted-succulent artists have evolved distinctly different approaches well-suited to modern homes.
The first style is modern minimal and quite masculine in look and feel. Forms are rectilinear, using square or rectangular pots to create bold geometry...
The second approach is far more free-form and really sexy. It depends on the plants themselves to create a bold form. Upright cacti and other succulents can produce some truly spectacular poles, rosettes or balls that are geometric in their own right. The trick is to combine them with an interesting pot, then to select a stone or glass mulch to create a beautiful surface within the pot.
A third style has its roots in Japan, where many elements of modern design were born. Some succulents — which have fleshy leaves to retain water, plus a thickened stem called a "caudex" — are outstanding bonsai specimens. When planted in bonsai-style pots, they make a superior focal point for any room, whether indoors or out. Creative shaping of the plants, plus the use of naturalistic stones, makes them fabulous for a mid-mod apartment patio or in a winter kitchen.Aren't you glad you've been discovered?
The genus consists of quite a few species of salt-tolerant shrubby plants from Australia.
Such fun!
We grew up knowing this as Neoporteria gerocephala, which turned out to be an illegitimate name. Since 1994 it has been placed in Eriocyse as a result of Fred Kattermann's field work. There are three subspecies recognized, of which this is subspecies senilis.
This is a closeup of Mammillaria saboae, a small growing plant with relatively large flowers.
The same plant from a different view:
Not exactly a new plant to most collectors, the "Old Man of the Mountains" is from Argentina and Bolivia. It's beautiful plant and quite easy to grow. Let the potting mix dry out between waterings and let it have a dry winter period. If dry, it can take temperatures down to around 20F. Grows to about two feet tall.
A nice stand of Opuntia here in North Portland in the University Park neighborhood, growing on the Southeast side of the house.
The last few days I've been photographing some of the plants that we'll be adding to our nursery list as well as some that needed new images.
These are fun times in the greenhouses. Flowers are appearing all over the place and beginning to show themselves. But over on the back table, a slower but fascinating process is exhibited. The Lithops are growing. As Meg Lynch, Horticulture editor, noted in her blog,"On March 1...the green one, which I dubbed Gerard, “started to open a pinhole and that turned into a large oval-shaped separation and inside there are what look like tiny Gerards.” I had been hoping it was going to flower. But it was just going through the routine of a living stone: to shed its leaves each year, revealing new leaves inside. Sometimes they open to show more pairs than the last year, and form large clumps this way. (Gerard has held steady at two pairs.)To me this is one of the most fantastic of growth processes around and never fails to amaze me.
Remember plants accumulate dust as much as any other surface in your home. Clean plant leaves, especially succulent plants, with a damp cloth and cold water.Have you ever done this? The other day I was at the dentist's office when I noticed the Sansevierias near the elevators. They were filthy. Reaching for the tissue in my pocket, and checking to make sure no-one was watching, I proceeded to clean every one of those leaves.
Just what we need; another succulent plant being commercialized for diet use.Apatrim, according to the story, is a "newly released diet pill" which contains an extract of Caralluma Fimbriata, a cactus-like plant widely grown in India where it is eaten as a vegetable and used as an ingredient in curries and chutneys.
What we can confirm is that Caralluma Fimbriata, like the South African "succulent" plant Hoodia Gordonii, has indeed been chewed for many years by Indian tribesmen during long hunts to suppress appetite and enhance endurance.
But from there, the breathless weight-loss claims for Apatrim not only become more suspect, but seem likely to ultimately involve its distributor, PatentHEALTH, LLC , with the judicial system.
And the battle of the diet scammers goes on. Referred to on one online site as "Indian Cactus," it may have appetite suppression properties, but demand for such can lead to so many negative effects. I guess one good side effect is that it might take away some of the demand for Hoodia.
I also noticed while browsing that on at least one "New Breakthrough in Dieting" website, a very nice photo by Gerald Barad on the Cactus-Mall, is used - probably without permission - and another photo identified as C. fimbriata is actualy Hoodia gordonii. O well, who really cares hey?
Hardy agaves and yuccas add spikiness and structure. There are even cactus that live through our winters if you provide good drainage, including the cartoon-shaped prickly pear (Opuntia cycloides).I always like to see garden sections pointing out some of the succulent options for our area, but why be so limiting. There's so much more that's possible than yuccas and agaves and "prickly pear." And what's O. cycloides? I guess it's a variety of O. engelmannii. Though that name doesn't appear in Anderson's The Cactus Family, it does appear in a few limited on-line sites, but primarily as a variety. There are whole bunches of Opuntias which are hardy here. In our own neighborhood, I know of at least 8 different opuntias growing at people's homes (though I have no clue if any of them are O. cycloides).
I am a lazy gardener, and cacti are really easy and really pretty cool, not to mention the fact that there are a lot of weird guys out there (meaning cactus, of course) with really great shapes and they are just an all-around fun sort of a plant. I am a really bad waterer and most of my plants must live in drought conditions, so cacti fit the bill. Besides, I really do love the textures and feel of them too.Meaning cactus, of course! :-)
Lithops come in various sizes, markings and colors, like mottled pink, brown and gray. Flat-topped and stout, they look like cute fireplugs or, possibly, distant relatives of SpongeBob SquarePants.
I'd never thought of them in that light, but I'll have to ask my granddaughter if she sees the resemblance. She's the expert on SpongeBob in our family. the article continues:Lou Kilbert of West Bloomfield, president of the Michigan Cacti and Succulent Society, has raised many lithops in a greenhouse, but says the plants are difficult for the average home gardener to keep alive.That may be true enough for the "average home gardener", Lou, but most of my cactus and succulent friends are anything but average home gardeners.
Another leg stretching excuse is to carefully prowl the slopes in search of the red blooms and sharp spines of hedgehog and prickly pear cactus. I meant it when I said carefully. Once I had been inclined to photograph the roadside flower bonanza when I experienced my first Oregon cactus; its piercing needles bayoneted my foot, right through my shoe!Hmmm. Hedgehog cactus? In Oregon? Pediocacti, Opuntias, maybe Coryphanthas...but Echinocereus? Hey, any of you more experienced Oregon cactus explorers, help me out here! Though they could grow there, I don't know of any Echinocereus stands in the state. But, hey...
Apparently this couple from Scotland is crazy enough about cacti & succulents to travel to South Africa and get married in Soekeshof Gardens, the largest collection of Succulent plants in South Africa. It contains the oldest cactus in S.A. (1910). (They appear to be standing next to a metal plant sculpture.) Find out more at Soekeshof Gardens.
Every family has one and I happen to be yours. I have a small obsession with succulent plants. I research them, buy them, grow them, cultivate them and make them grow on anything and everything they will cling to.And so she has created a unique form of wedding decor for her upcoming wedding: a succulent wreath.
It has a little growing to do, but, hey...Go for it "Crazy Plant Lady"!
'Avant-gardists will tend to pick strong plants that grow especially large,' says Klaus Wagener, a world champion florist from Minden.
Guenther Sator, a feng-shui expert based in Mattsee in Austria adds that avant-gardists love succulent plants because they grow in unusual shapes and are easy to care for.
'Thanks to their slow growth, you can retain their structural elements for a long time,' he adds. Smaller plants can be arranged in a glass bowl or ceramic block filled with sand, rocks and gnarled roots to create a miniature desert garden.
Cacti are another good idea. 'You create attractive views, scenery and niches by potting them in large earth toned, sand-filled pots,' says John Langley, a professional florist from Hamburg.
"Tired of blossoms in your flower garden that dazzle and sizzle but are quick to fade? Maybe it's time for some dependable succulents — the enduring plants that last through the good times but also, especially, the bad."He then adds:
There's a growing appreciation among gardeners of plants ''for their shape and their form and their geometry and the elegance that comes with that, as opposed to the 'I just want to grow annuals' or 'Give me my petunias or roses,' '' said Debra Lee Baldwin of Escondido, Calif., author of Designing With Succulents (Timber Press, 2007).I'll second that!
