We're off!

We finally were able to get our trip off the ground. While we're gone, our son stays at our place and takes care of the animals (the dogs go with us) and for security purposes. I'll try to blog from the road, but during the first few days we're traveling fairly long distances so I'll probably be too beat to blog. But I will be taking pictures and I'll post as able. In the meantime, you get a little break from my babbling on!

Enjoy your plants!

How did this Redwood get in our backyard?

Not succulents. Just potentially big trees. This is a Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) in our back yard, outside our greenhouses. (The first picture includes a magnolia blossom.) The first owners of our house brought home a burl as a souvenir and planted it, and off it went. The bark, which is quite soft but very thick is a favorite of the squirrels, who take big chunks. These are just small samples, growing as tall as a 30 story building (115 meters) and living to the ripe old age of 2200 years in the coastal forests of Southern Oregon and central and northern California. They really are best in the forest, as they're a little messy as a landscaping tree...but, hey, we take what we get and...enjoy our plants!

Getting Ready

While we were sipping our morning lattes, Lynn-Marie commented that it seemed like it was a whole lot easier to prepare for a road trip when we were a whole lot younger. Now it seems that every step of preparation is harder than ever. So...no photos today. Too tired. Heading out on Thursday morning -- at least that's the plan!
Later...

Mammillaria hahniana

Mammillaria hahniana is also flowering now and putting on quite a display. I love this time of year in the greenhouses; something new happening almost every day. And then we go on our road trip and miss so much of it! (But then we'll see so much more in Arizona and Southern Cal where the flowers always come on a bit earlier than here.)

Senecio rowleyanus / Oregon Cactus & Succulent Society Sales

This is a reminder that the Oregon Cactus & Succulent Society will have two shows and sales this year, and from my perspective, they're coming up all too fast! But by then these Senecio rowleyanus (String of Beads) starts should going gangbusters. The first sale is at the Portland Nursery on Division St., June 18-20 and the second one will be at Portland Nursery on Stark St., July 16-18. On July 11 (1 pm) at the Stark St. store, I'll be doing a basic introduction to growing cacti and succulents. If you live within striking distance, I encourage you to come to any or all of the above.

They're going to be looking quite nice by June.

Enjoy your plants!

Echeveria 'Blue Waves'

A couple of pictures of Echeveria 'Blue Waves' tonight, first of the plant and then of the flower (sorry it's a little fuzzy). There are lots of "blue" Echeveria hybrids and some are surely synonyms. This is one of the ones which certainly deserves it's name.

Enjoy your plants!

Lithops fulviceps 'aurea'

I've posted photos of this plant before. They're easy to overlook at this time of year, what with all the succulent flowering going on! But they just continue doing their thing. They're almost through growing their new leaves as you can see. The old leaves will soon be a thing of the past.

Echeveria ensemble

Finally for tonight a generic view across some echeverias in the greenhouse. Aren't they amazing? (And, by the way, this is another photo taken by Lynn-Marie.)