Cactus lovers/growers?

[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


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[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:

[Fredwina]

I should have done something with this catcus:

[Aggie_Ama]

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. Maybe a blue agave from his nursery for the backyard?

[Fredwina]

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)

[Aggie_Ama]

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.

[Aggie_Ama]

My Graptapetalum has a little one coming up! I am going to research if it can be dug up to start a new plant.

For Mother's Day I ended up getting my mom's sister a "Black Prince" succulent and my mom's sister-in-law a neat little cacti from Omen. My aunts were totally shocked and loved them! I wish I had taken pictures of the plants.

DH surprised me this week with a new agave from his boss. It is a pretty decent size "weeping agave". I am pretty excited since it rare for our area.

I also have some new buds on two of mine, pictures when they open.

[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.

[Fredwina]

I think so!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I think so too.

I believe mine is a:

gymnocalycium saglione, and if so it will have pale pink flowers.

[Aggie_Ama]

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.

I saw one blooming today, can't wait for you to see what it does.

I got a few plants to put on my desk at work. I bought some quartz this time and there is a little froggy in there plus I added some rocks I found in our own flowerbed (after I took the picture).

Going counter clockwise: the pink blooming thing is Euphorbia milli ("Crown of Thorns") a native of Madagascar, the little short greyish-purple succulent is Echeveria ("Blushing Bride"), the dark succent with a bonus tag along is Gasteria and the bonus is Escheveria and the last one just said Euphorbia.



I also got this plant for my Mammaw for Mother's Day. She is a big fan of unique plants and plants that produce new plants. This one fits both bills because it shoots off stalks that the nursery owner said you can put a pot under to let root and viola you have another plant. Tag says it is a Kolanchoe.



I love this succulent nursery because if you spend more than $10 you get a free small plant. Last time it was this guy, I think it is in the agave family.



This time it was this plant.

[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!

[Aggie_Ama]

They take so long to open! I have new buds on two cacti and have been trying not to water hoping to promote the blooming. The prickly pear in west Texas were blooming like crazy this weekend, gorgeous yellow blooms. I hope one of my photos came out.