Cactus lovers/growers?

[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.

[Brandi]

http://z.about.com/d/phoenix/1/0/y/K/tumbleweeds08.jpg
look a a whole tree made of tumbleweeds.

[Fredwina]

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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:


Here is a picture from the internet showing a full plant (my friend's plant was way prettier, though!):


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.

[Fredwina]

The second photo is another aloe. I'll try and get another pic this weekend

[Beane]

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.

[Aggie_Ama]

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:



Graptopetalum pentandrum



Ferocactus Glaucescens



Astrophytum myriostignia v. coahuilense (this is supposed to bloom real pretty according to the owner)



Echinocereus reichenbachii- those little buds will bloom fuschia



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.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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


.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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!:

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!

[badgercat]

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.

Oh! and my forum avatar is a cactus flower in my aunt/uncle's yard.

[Fredwina]

My Crasslius has gone crazy:

But My blue aloe is blooming. Occasionally, I have a Hummingbird visit the flowers

some more aloe:

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Fredwina, that is gorgeous! Is that a mammillaria?

The flower buds are substantially larger now, and I'm expecting them to open any day....can't wait to see what the flowers look like! I will take pictures when the first bloom opens.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

The 5 flower buds on my gymnocalysium (sp?) are way larger now and the first one is trying to open! It will bloom tomorrow morning for the first time and I'll post a picture here!! I was right about it likely being a pale pink flower- seems pretty obviously pale peachy/pink even though it has not quite opened yet.
I'm very excited!