Easter Greetings!

Did you realize that this is the earliest date for Easter that you will experience in your lifetime? The earliest date possible is March 22 and that won't happen now for a couple hundred years! Just what you always wanted to know, right?

We send our best wishes for a Happy Easter, or - if you don't celebrate Easter - belated wishes for a blessed Vernal Equinox -----or Autumnal Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere!

More North Portland cacti

Yes, this is Portland. The homeowner's son brought some Opuntia from Nebraska and threw them under the tree. They spread and eventually crowded out the weeds. She lives in North Portland.

Oreocereus trollii

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.

Out & Around in North Portland

A nice stand of Opuntia here in North Portland in the University Park neighborhood, growing on the Southeast side of the house.

Mammillaria aureilanata

Another nice Mammillaria - M. aureilanata.. The largest genus in the cactus family, Mammillaria display a huge diversity. After raising them for nearly 40 years, we still enjoy them as much as ever.

New Plant Images

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.
I always enjoy this. It gives me a chance to spend "quality time" with each plant...to get to know them a little better. So, thought I, why not share some of these "new friends" with you out in the blogosphere.
The first one I'll share is an old timer which we used to have under its old name "Mamilopsis", but now is simply "Mammillaria senilis." I just love the flowers - and the beautiful silver, hooked spines. Wow!

Things are popping up all over

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.
But I guess I'm easily entertained. I can hear it now. "What do you do for entertainment?" "I go out and watch the Lithops grow!"

I'm back!

I apologize for not posting anything for so long. Has it really been that long? I could say I've just been terribly busy, and that would be true, but not a valid excuse.

We just received a huge order of wholesale plants which we've been potting up - about 400 plants in two days...and more are coming. It's a lot of work, but it also allows me to spend more time with the plants and observe the plants budding up.

I'm back, and I'll post some photos tomorrow.