Wow!!!!!!! Those are so pretty!!
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Wow!!!!!!! Those are so pretty!!
I have a Euphorbia Obesa that was 7 years old when I pursuaded a greenhouse owner to sell it to me 17 years ago. He raised it from seed and was quite fond of it and its siblings.
Here's a link to an article and picture. I don't have a picture of mine.
http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantefg/euphorbobesa.htm
At the same time I bought one of those little cactus gardens with several tiny plants in one pot. There were probably 8 little cacti in a 8" pot.
Over the years I have had to move several of them to larger pots. One of them is nearly five feet tall now. (My husband wanted to throw it away until he saw the price of a smaller one for sale in a greenhouse.) Another is huge and round, and I just bought an antique dishpan to repot it in. A few of the others have stayed tiny and are still in the original pot. I don't know the names of any of them, and don't have any pictures. (I really should get a digital camera.)
I have good windows that reach to the floor, so they're happy all winter in the house. In the spring I move them outside.
I also have a Christmas Cactus that is at least 100 years old. It was given to us by my husband's uncle, who had it more than 40 years. He received it in trust from an "old lady" who had it many years and had received it from someone before that. Some families can trace their old christmas cacti back for generations but ours has changed families when the owners couldn't find a relative to take it. I do have pictures of it, but not digital. It blooms with hundreds of flowers every winter, and again in the late winter/early spring.
Well, enough about my flowers. Get me going and you'll be sorry!;)
Lisa- I love that plant!! Does it have a name other than it's description?
My Agave had a pup which I am carefully growing into a birthday present for my Mother-in-law. It had taken off when I moved it to the hot August sun, but after over 2" of rain the past two days I had to move it to the shaded patio. :(
On another note, my poor flower bed is draining poorly. The Zinnias closest to the agave flooded out and look horrible. Anyone know a resource for building it up? Our shrubs are also turning yellow. :o You would think a husband who works at a nursery would know what we need to do, but he doesn't.
If the shrubs are evergreens, or the soil is poor, they may need nitrogen. I like the pellets that you can just scatter on the ground around the plants. For the flowerbed, is it possible dig a little trench to let the water drain off? It may not be a permenant solution but you may want to wait till the soil dries out....dry soil is not as heavy to work with as moist soil. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama
It's Latin name is Fenestraria. It's a pretty commonly sold succulent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama
Hey Fredwina- watch out it's addictive!
You live in the perfect place for cactus and succulents. Me, I have to scrounge up every bit of sun for them I can on my windowsills....and still leave room for the cats! :rolleyes:
Looks like a nice prickley pear there. Is that a real flower bud on that spiral-y one?
sure is! I 'd like to switch with you now, as my a.c went on the Fritz once the temp went past 112 today.
Oh I just had to post this new picture of my babytoes succulent- it's in full flower now! It clearly loved being out on the sunny porch all summer and has been flowering off and on, but this week I had to finally bring it indoors because it's getting cold now in autumn.
After this bunch of flowers, I'm sure it will settle down to a slow lazy indoor pace through the winter inside on the windowsill where it gets less sun than outdoors.
But see how it has grown this summer! :p
Attachment 4616
Funny thread! It makes my fingers start to tingle. When I was in college I spent a whole summer working for the International Succulant Institute transplanting and propogating cactus. It was actually a small farm/ranch in Moraga, CA that had thousands of different types of cactus and succulants.
My fingers were raw by the end of the summer. Yes I wore gloves but it still didn't help all that much. I did make enough money to buy a scooter for school transport. Good Times!
I've been meaning to tell y'all this. Just so you know.
NOW I'm wanting to grow cactus! All I need is another addiction. :eek:
Thankyouverymuch.:p
Yer welcome, anytime! :D :D ;) :cool:
(Hey, it's cheaper than collectinig bikes though!) :D
OK, I'm in. :D Yesterday just after posting this I went with hubby to Lowe's for chrome polish for my bike. My sidewalk sale find for $4, potted and everything. The pot alone is worth $4.
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...v/IMG_0317.jpg
From the palace of Evil (aka Wal-mart) for $14:
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...SUNP0001-1.jpg
Oooh...Fredwina, a good find! It's like this one:
http://www.cactusweb.us/euphorbia__trigonum.html
It's hard to tell how tall yours is, but it looks like maybe more than 2 feet tall? :p
I have a multi branched one of those that is thriving nicely indoors in a bright window.
You know, if you repot it into a giant pot and can bring yourself to cut it into 3 segments :eek: then plant them in a trio and put in the full sun, the pieces will branch out and form several new spires each and become a wonderful bushy specimen! One must be careful to not plant the segments upside down though, and you should let the cut pieces lie out to dry for about a week before planting so the ends won't rot.
Sandra- that's a lovely succulent, and look, it's blooming!! Amazing how it matches the pretty pot color. It will grow bushy and fuller if it gets lots of sun.
I should have put all my cactus outside in the sun all summer. But i couldn't bear to not have them in the house with me, so I didn't... this year. As a result some of them are showing slightly anemic new top growth because of the less bright sun they get in my windows as opposed to outside. Now it's autumn and too cold outside. I will force myself to put them out on the sunny porch next summer. :rolleyes:
Those of you in CA and AZ are lucky to be able to keep plants going outside all year!
I decided to decorate one of my cacti instead of putting up a Christmas tree this year.....Attachment 4999
If you look hard you can see the snow banks in the street beyond...got our first major snow today of 6" :p
Lisa- I love it!!
We are expecting a freeze this weekend, may have to pull in my 50 pound agave if it is a long one. :eek:
Cool Lisa! Are those lights plugged in? Great idea. If I didnt already have my tree up, I'd do THAT!
Wow great picture! i love it too!
I have never posted onthis tread but I have several christmas cactus and a couple other's not sure what they are called though. My christmas cactus bloom at least 4 times a year for me! They all just bloomed about a month ago. I tried to get them to wait till christmas but they didn't listen! I have white, red and fusia. One of my plants is a great grand child of a cactus that lived for over 20 years. She was huge! Then one day she just started to die. It was sad for my friend. But mine has been with me now for wow going on 15 years. It's funny we moved into this house i put the cactus down by this one window with the intention of moving it later, well it did so well in that spot I never moved it. Got a special peice of furniture for it to be on too. Now it has brother's and sister's. Everyone love's them when they are in bloom. I have made baby plants for friends and gave them out as christmas gifts before too. ok I am a geek!
I had a friend who wantd me to send her a tumbleweed so she could use it as a christmas tree instead. It might be really cool looking. If it wasn't for the fact that they have a ton of seeds! And theare ouchy to the touch. But no more then cactus I guess.
http://z.about.com/d/phoenix/1/0/y/K/tumbleweeds08.jpg
look a a whole tree made of tumbleweeds.
Fredwina, that is COOL!
I know that's an aloe in the top photo, with flower shoots.
But what is the second photo of? Is it a snake plant? Are those big whorly things coming up flower stalks or just another type of succulent in the same pot as the snake plant? I'm confused...
I have a friend who has a green thumb. She has a snake plant that bloomed in her bathroom and filled her whole house with the loveliest fragrance for days. I've never seen a snake plant in bloom other than that one time.
I am excited over a succulent cutting a friend gave me a couple of days ago.
The common name for it is "Flapjacks" because the leaves are so round and flat and fairly large. The edges are very rosy if it spends the summer outside in the sun. Her plant is large and beautiful. Her is my cutting which is about 5" across:
Attachment 5485
Here is a picture from the internet showing a full plant (my friend's plant was way prettier, though!):
Attachment 5486
I am letting my fresh cutting "heal" for a few days before planting it. The cut end needs to seal and dry before planting, otherwise rot can set in.
The second photo is another aloe. I'll try and get another pic this weekend
I was recently in aruba, which since it's a desert island, has lots of cacti. Below are 2 pics, one showing the unusual juxtaposition of cactus near beautiful blue ocean and the other showing the cactus fences that we saw all over the place.
Look at this agave from the Indian Lodge in Davis Mountain State Park! For reference I am 5'2". DH stood by it and it is taller than him, he is 6'2"
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...a/bigagave.jpg
I thought an update is in order. apologies for the quality:
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...SUNP0018-3.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...o/SUNP0022.jpg
I have a plant stand on my front porch, I tried annuals which didn't work because they are water hogs and I forgot to water them. DH suggested trying cacti/succulents so I went to a cool local nursery that only sells cacti and succulents, picked some cold hardy ones that can live outside in our heat and am giving it a go. All of these guys were living outside so I am hoping they are okay on my shaded porch and not in the house. PS the nursery ships and has an interesting selection on their site! I wish the photos were clearer.
The group:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...eAma/group.jpg
Graptopetalum pentandrum
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...Ama/grapto.jpg
Ferocactus Glaucescens
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...09-MISC082.jpg
Astrophytum myriostignia v. coahuilense (this is supposed to bloom real pretty according to the owner)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...Ama/echino.jpg
Echinocereus reichenbachii- those little buds will bloom fuschia
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...eAma/astro.jpg
And my Agave I love so much is still going strong. I want to repot it but I can't figure out how short of breaking the pot I like.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...09-MISC081.jpg
Amanda, those are such pretty specimens!! I love the pale blue-greens and rosy tints near each other.
In New York here, I have to take my collection inside for 6 months! Tonight will be 32F, and it won't be warm enough to put them outside for the summer for a few more weeks yet.
But they are all doing pretty well despite their winter indoors with little sun.
In fact, one is sporting tiny tiny yellow flowers now, and another is developing big flower buds! I will take a photo of that one tomorrow and will post it here, along with a pic of the very same cactus from May 2007 so you can appreciate how it's grown. :) It's this one, from page one of this thread:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showp...11&postcount=6
.
Here is my little gymno cactus from two years ago:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showp...11&postcount=6
And here are what look to be some FLOWER BUDS on it now!:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3649/...e86ec5aac8.jpg
It's hard to see that it's bigger overall now, but it's in a bigger pot than the original photo- it totally outgrew that pot from two years ago. I think the cactus has gone from about 4" in diameter to 5". I do notice it has many more spine clusters than two years ago, and the spines are larger and redder.
I can't wait to see what the flowers look like! :)
I managed to kill every little potted cactus I ever had in the Midwest by taking care of them exactly how I thought I was supposed to. But I live in Arizona now, so who knows...the house my boyfriend and I are renting starting in June has all sorts of cacti in the front and back yards, so I hope my Typhoid Mary streak with cacti doesn't spread to established ones living outside. :eek:
Oh! and my forum avatar is a cactus flower in my aunt/uncle's yard. :D
My Crasslius has gone crazy:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sd...0/100_0431.jpg
But My blue aloe is blooming. Occasionally, I have a Hummingbird visit the flowers
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sd...0/100_0433.jpg
some more aloe:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sd...0/100_0434.jpg
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sd...0/100_0435.jpg
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sd...0/100_0437.jpg
I should have done something with this catcus:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_vuerRrNlUQI/Sd...0/100_0440.jpg
Lisa- I saw that same plant at Spicewood Spines and was intrigued by it but only had room for 4 and decided on the Astrophytum because I already had the ferocactus that was "spikey" but I may get more plants eventually. We are having an usual late spring cold snap (36 this morning) so I brought the little guys inside last night, I didn't want to stress out the newly potted plants.
Fredwina- You have really built your collection, I thought everything died? This gives me hope because I am convinced I will kill my plants!
Good news is DH is convinced we can repot the Agave and save my pot. What he does not know is that means I am scheming to find another large plant for the pot. :p Maybe a blue agave from his nursery for the backyard?
I'v think I've only killed two catci. I'm probably going to repot the aloe Vera this weekend.
Most of those plant were $2 wal mart or Target specials that were half dead(most of them had been drowned)
Oh I see, well I didn't buy the real expensive plants and I bought the ones the owner said were a little less finicky. They are supposed to be cold hardy. I brought them in to protect them though because I know repotting is stressful. :)
The agave and I have been great friends because I potted it and ignored it. Look at her go! I think if I put it in a bigger pot it will get bigger but mostly I just admire it when I pull in the drive and beam when people compliment it. I even had a nightmare once someone stole it, I was devastated.
Hey! So this little succulent that I've had for 2 years has started blooming for the first time! She's tiny (about 2 inches across) but I'm worried about the little brown dots. Any ideas?
Fidl- That is a cool little plant but I don't know what might be making it brown.
Astrophytum is blooming! I will snap a photo tonight, looks like they are going to be yellow blooms.
Fidlfreak,
To me that looks like some sort of scale....they are little sucking bugs that build a hard shell over themselves. Florida red scale is an example. Here in the northeast I got some white scale on one of my cactus, and I read up a bit and got rid of it by rubbing a Q-tip soaked in alcohol on each scale several times over a couple of weeks. Mine were only a few dozen scales though, so it was easy.
You seem to have a lot, and you might want to cut off the most badly affected leaves, and perhaps swish the whole plant in a mild dish-soapy bath, followed by the alcohol treatment? Make sure your plant is in an airy place that is not stuffy.
Just a few thoughts but I don't know for sure.
Ok so I have to do something drastic or my beautiful little gem will die! Ahhh!! I'm a bad mother. She is on a windowsill w/ other succulents. Plenty of air, I mean as much as anywhere else in the apartment. Will get right on it. Thanks Bleecker!