Try Autumn Joy Sedum for Fall Color
Try Autumn Joy Sedum for Fall Color I have mentioned autumn joy for fall color before, but let’s take another, closer look at this reliable succulent. Autumn joy sedum is a plant in the crassulaceae family also known as stonecrop sedum and...
Praying Mantis Like Cactus, Too.
I discovered this praying mantis on the euphorbia trigona the other day. Just to simplify a bit, mantises are from the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, and order Mantodea and I suspect most of us take them for granted as a native insect. Not so; they were introduced...
Create An Entrance to Your Garden
We recently added two new features to my cactus garden, cedar post arches that invite you to meander through its pathways. I shared the genesis of these rustic portals yesterday-“Look What My Husband Built for Me!”-The Bright Lights of Muleshoe, September 15,...
How To Landscape Without Plants
The entrance to the club house at our country club had become an eyesore, did nothing but collect trash, Jeanetta Precure complained. So we set about to change that. Due to location and sun issues, plants didn’t always do well in that spot, plus Jeanetta didn’t have...
Add an Aeonium to Your Collection
One of my first really spectacular succulents was an aeonium. I think it was an aeonium sunburst. It grew tall and the rosette was about the size of a dinner plate. I never measured it, but it really was that big. Just a beautiful plant. Then it bloomed. And then it...
A New Huernia
I have been looking for more stapeliads and huernias to add to my collection because of their striking flowers with their intricate designs and wonderful colors. I was finally at the right place at the right time the other day and came across this huernia zebrina de...
One Last Look at the Yuccas
In West Texas and the Hill Country, Spring does bring on wildflowers, but it also blesses us with yucca blooms. Bear grass, they call it here, but yucca is what it is. I don’t know the exact variety, and there are many, but it grows wild here, and if left to its...
Moving Up to a Larger Container
Beware the perils of waiting too long to repot when your plant outgrows its container. For the last year or so, I would look at this gasteria Batesiana and think, I really need to repot that, and then do something else instead. This year I decided the time had...
Redesigning Wasted Space in the Garden
A spot in the cactus garden was going to waste. Years of falling leaves, dust settling from the road, and time in general had made what used to be a raised bed lined with rocks pretty sad and in need of an update. I wanted a place to put pots of succulents, so rather...
Another Reason I Like Cactus
As I mentioned on Facebook the other day, the cactus blooming season is upon us. All of the pictures I am about to share with you were taken on the same day, April 29th. I found one lovely surprise after another as I walked through my outdoor cactus garden. And the...
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