Cactus lovers/growers?

[Fredwina]

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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!
Looks like a nice prickley pear there. Is that a real flower bud on that spiral-y one?

[Fredwina]

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.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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!

[nic840]

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!

[sandra]

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.

Thankyouverymuch.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Yer welcome, anytime!

(Hey, it's cheaper than collectinig bikes though!)

[sandra]

OK, I'm in. 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.

[Fredwina]

From the palace of Evil (aka Wal-mart) for $14:

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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?

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 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.
Those of you in CA and AZ are lucky to be able to keep plants going outside all year!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I decided to decorate one of my cacti instead of putting up a Christmas tree this year.....
If you look hard you can see the snow banks in the street beyond...got our first major snow today of 6"

[Aggie_Ama]

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.

[sandra]

Cool Lisa! Are those lights plugged in? Great idea. If I didnt already have my tree up, I'd do THAT!

[Brandi]

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!

[Brandi]

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.