Succulents and More™

In our garden, late winter to early spring is all about aloe flowers . When the aloes are done blooming, around mid-April, that’s when the cacti start . I’ve been so focused on the sun-loving cacti in the front yard that I almost forgot I also have a few shade-loving cacti in planters hanging from trees in the backyard. I briefly posted about them three years ago , but have largely ignored them since then. That has started to change. The epiphyllums I was given in 2021 have survived (all but one), but life in coir liners hasn’t been ideal – the material doesn’t retain water and doesn’t offer much in the way of thermal insulation. I’ve recently moved two of them into proper planters, and one of them promptly flowered for the first time. It’s a night-blooming epiphytic cactus with cream-colored flowers, commonly called “queen of the night.” According to the label, its botanical name is Disocactus crenatus ‘Chichicastenango’. The cultivar name is based on its place of origin, near the tow...

April is the busiest month of the year for the cacti in our garden. As you’ll see below, we’ve had some spectacular sights this year. With some rare exceptions, cactus flowers are very short-lived; many only last a day or maybe two. I suppose this element of impermanence adds to their allure and mystique. Since this is a post about beauty and transcendence, I’ll keep my running commentary to a minimum. Echinopsis ‘First Light’ Let’s start with a bang. Echinopsis ‘First Light’ has the most beautiful flowers of any cactus in our garden—and the most ephemeral. They open in the morning and are closed again by late afternoon. But what a spectacle they are! Echinopsis ‘First Light’ Echinopsis ‘First Light’ Echinopsis ‘First Light’, first flower Echinopsis ‘First Light’ with multiple flowers open Echinopsis ‘First Light’ Echinopsis ‘First Light’ Echinopsis ‘First Light’ Echinopsis ‘June Noon’ ‘June Noon’ produces several flushes in late spring. This was the first one, just a single ...

It's been hot—high 90s, a few times even above the century mark—and the air quality has been verging on unhealthy because of the Caldor Fire  about 100 miles east of here. As a result, I haven't spent as much time in the garden as I would have liked. The plants, however, keep trucking on, heat and bad air and all, even cooking up a few surprises! As I chronicled in this post from June , I was given a bunch of Epiphyllum  cuttings, which I stuck in hanging planters suspended from the chaste tree in the backyard. Epiphyllums bloom in the spring, but this one apparently didn't get the message or got its seasons mixed up: Red-flowering NOID Epiphyllum ↴ I was gifted this clump by Megan and Matti of Far Out Flora  when they moved from Davis to Madison, Wisconsin earlier this summer. Megan didn't know what hybrid/cultivar it was, just that it has red flowers. And it does! Red-flowering NOID  Epiphyllum ↴  Another flowering surprise came courtesy of a potted Agave stri...