This and that, mid-July 2026

Sometimes it seems not much is happening, but when I look at my photos, I realize there’s more going on than I give the garden, the plants, and myself credit for.

On that note, another “This and that” post with random sightings that I hope you’ll find interesting.

BROMELIAD FLOWERS

I’ve lost most of the tags on my bromeliads so I can’t tell you what these are, other than Neoregelia and Billbergia, but the flowers are cool because they’re so different from the other kinds of flowers I usually see.

Many neoregelias produce a flush of color in the center just before they start to bloom

The flowers themselves are tiny and barely emerge from the cup. The leaves blush in vibrant colors to attract pollinators, which might otherwise have a hard time finding the inconspicuous flowers.

In contrast to neoregelias, billbergia flowers are highly visible

They emerge from the center on a long stem and feature colorful petals (red in this case) and bracts (greenish yellow, pink, and purple on this one)

CACTUS FLOWERS

The biggest wave of cactus flowers happened in April and May, but some echinopsis hybrids produce sporadic flushes throughout the summer. Here are several that bloomed in the last couple of weeks. These pops of color are a welcome sight when it’s 95° or 100° outside.

Echinopsis ‘June Noon’

Echinopsis ‘Sex on the Beach’

Echinopsis ‘Apricot Glow’

OTHER FLOWERS

There are lots of salvias in bloom right now, but you know what they look like. Instead, here are three plants with flowers that are more unusual.

➀ Hesperaloe parviflora ‘Straight Up Red’ is advertised as “an everblooming yucca that produces a summer-long display of red-pink flowers held on strongly upright growing flower spikes.” I bought it because I wanted a hesperaloe that isn’t as floppy as the species. I’m a little disappointed because I expected a) a more straight-up inflorescence (as the name says), and b) flowers that are more red than pink. Other than that, it’s a nice plant.

Hesperaloe parviflora ‘Straight Up Red’

➁ Hechtia stenopetala planted in a chimney flue liner in the driveway bed has three tall inflorescences with countless fluffy flowers. While the individual flowers are insignificant, the overall effect is striking:

Hechtia stenopetala

➂ Boophone disticha is a slow-growing geophyte (aka bulb) from South Africa. It forms a beautiful fan of leaves in the cooler seasons and goes dormant in the summer — at least sometimes. The potted specimen in the first photo lost its leaves months ago...

Boophone disticha (not the one currently in bloom)

...but another one, in the sidewalk bed, retains at least some leaves year-round AND is now flowering for the first time. That’s a nice surprise because it usually takes anywhere from 5 to 10 years for them to bloom (the bulb has to be a certain size). The flowers appear in large, pincushion-like umbels that can contain 150 to 300 individual florets.

Boophone disticha flower

MORE BULBILS

I recently wrote a post about mangave bulbils. Apparently, ×Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives’, a cross between Graptopetalum paraguayense and Echeveria gibbiflora, is able to produce bulbils, too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it do that before.

×Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives’

AGAVES ABOUT TO BLOOM

It’s been a while since I had an agave flower in the garden. That’s about to change. One, possibly two, smallish agaves planted not far from each other in one of the front yard succulent mounds are reaching the end of their lives. Blooming is a terminal event for most agaves so the blooming rosette will die. However, both of these have pups that will carry on.

The first one is Agave × leopoldii, supposedly a hybrid between the two closely related species Agave filifera and Agave schidigera. It’s a relatively common plant and a good choice for smaller gardens.

Agave × leopoldii on July 8. The flower stalk is barely poking out of the rosette

Agave × leopoldii on July 15. I think the kink in the flower stalk is because it got stuck while it was emerging.

July 16 update: I snapped off the flower stalk as my foot got caught on it. Grrrrr.

The second one is Agave toumeyana var. bella. Compared to the species, the variety bella (Latin for “beautiful”) supposedly has more, and shorter, leaves forming attractive dense rosettes. Like Agave × leopoldii above, it has curling threads on the leaf margins. Because it only gets 1-2 ft. wide and less than 1 ft. tall, it also makes a great choice for gardens where space is at a premium.

Agave toumeyana var. bella

And since we’re talking about agaves, here’s a beauty shot of one that (hopefully) still has many years ahead of it before it flowers and dies:

Agave ‘Sierra Azul’ (Agave cerulata × kristenii)

NEW GROWTH

I love seeing new growth on cacti, especially on those that are slow. New growth means the cactus is fine, doing its thing.

New growth on cardón (Pachycereus pringlei). The new red spines make for a good photo.

New growth on this Echinopsis ‘Vers 16’ × ‘Flying Saucer’ means new babies emerging from the ground

TINY CACTUS SEEDLINGS

As I mentioned in this post, I collected seeds from two echinopsis hybrids, ‘Magic Fire’ and ‘Pink Stripes’, and sowed them right away. Germination was great for both of them. Here are the seedlings from ‘Magic Fire’, if you can even call them seedlings when they’re this tiny — maybe I should call them germlings? Zoom in and look for the teeny pink orbs.

Echinopsis ‘Magic Fire’ seedlings

ONE AGAVE FROM OUR SAN MARCOS GROWERS HAUL IN MY GARDEN

Most of the plants Kyle and I got at San Marcos Growers last weekend are still parked at a friend’s property. Each of us took a few favorites home with us. Here’s one of mine in its new home in the backyard:

Agave oteroi ‘Filigree’, a spectacular selection found at San Marcos Growers

Who says agaves don’t go with begonias?

I’m sure that as soon as I post this, new photos for the next “This and that” post will start to accumulate. That’s with fine me.

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