New Cacti

1/29/12

Echinofossulocactus albatus

     I recently purchased two new cacti, not for the cactus garden, but for the tables in the yard.  The first, Echinofossulocactus albatus, is a small size cactus that makes a good potted plant specimen.  It is a bluish-green sphere that has a white, wooly top.  It produces small, yellow or white flowers and can propagate by seeds or shoots.  It originated in Mexico.

Epostoa blossfeldiorum

     The second cactus is an Epostoa blossfeldiorum.  Right now it is a small, potted plant, but it can grow up to 13 feet tall (4 m).  Extremely slow-growing, it may reach 4 feet in 30 years.  It is a columnar plant that has yellowish wool and bristles and flowers nocturnally in mid-summer with creamy white flowers.  It originated in northern Peru.  It doesn't like frost.  The nighttime temperatures here now are 48-50 F (9 to 10 C), so it should be ok outdoors.

     Have you noticed in your area when there is 10 hours of daylight things start happening?  I feel seeds and bushes and trees start waking up from their winter's nap around the end of January when this happens.  There are two interesting websites where you can check the hours of daylight for your city or latitude.  Google "daylight hours explorer" for one of the sites where you can move a bar for the latitude and another bar for the day of the year, and it will give you hours of daylight.  The other site is timeanddate.com.  Click on sun&moon, and then click on sun calculator.  Here you can input or choose a city and the site will give you sunrise and sunset times and hours of daylight.

Royal Velvet amaryllis

     Hooray!  My amaryllis finally bloomed this week.  The second bud has not yet opened, so I am watching and waiting for that.

An Early Spring?

1/21/12

bulbs emerging early

     Many of the gardening blogs from all areas around the US have mentioned the warmer than normal temperatures.  We have experienced the same thing here in the desert.  The first week of January it was in the low 80's.  Normal is about 65 F (18 C) during the day.  The second week we were above normal too, but only in the low 70's.  We are finally back to normal this week with temperatures around 68 F (20 C).

petunias and pansies

     Many plants in the yard are showing the effects of the unseasonable warmth.  My bulbs are peeking up.  The petunias in the garden are flowering profusely. 

blue marguerite

     My blue marguerite  is blooming away.

gazania

     The gazania have all suddenly started flowering.



amaryllis two weeks ago



amaryllis one week ago



     Let's hope we don't have another freeze.  But for the last two years we had freezing weather the first week of February.  Oh, and the amaryllis I received as a Christmas gift from my brother and his wife is growing taller daily and will soon bloom.





amaryllis today

 
    

Two buds!

Waiting for Christmas

12/22/11

Lucy waiting for christmas

     The tree is up, the cards are sent and the gifts are wrapped.  Whew!  Now we have a few days to relax while we are waiting for Christmas.  My Christmas plants help span this time of the year while there is not much going on in the garden.

poinsettia

     Some people I know think poinsettias are so commercial and common.  But I love their bright red leaves.  I feel poinsettias give a feeling of warmth to the surroundings and brighten moods with their vibrant color.  I always have at least one at the holidays, and I keep it for months.  I just give it water every week to ten days.  One year I kept my poinsettia until well into June, but by then I had garden flowers to take its place in the house.

Royal Velvet amaryllis

     Amaryllis in bloom is spectacular.  My brother and his wife sent me an amaryllis bulb in a lovely blue and white porcelain pot.  It is a red Royal Velvet amaryllis.  I have been waiting for it to send up its stem, but it has been very slow to start.  I wanted to put it out into the sun every day to give it a jump start, but it has been cloudy and cold almost daily for the last two weeks.  So the dog is waiting for Christmas by the tree, and I'm waiting for my amaryllis to bloom.



  
                                                 MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL