Succulents Provide Good Color
If you are not familiar with using succulents for a touch of color, may I recommend ice plant, dew plant, and Autumn Joy sedum. The advantages are that they don’t wilt when you take trip for a few days and have no one to water them, they grow relatively...
Agaves Macrocantha and Sharkskin
Two more agaves I would recommend for your collection are these two that are smaller and slower growers, which makes it nice for collectors like me who have to drag plants in for the winter. Agave sharkskin, sometimes called sharkskin shoes, is a...
Agaves Kissho Kan and Blue Glow
Two good choices to add to your agave collection, Kissho Kan and Blue Glow, are relatively new in the mass market, at least in Texas, but those of you in California may tell me they have been around a long time. As you can see, they make fairly large potted specimens,...
The Stinky Flower
I told the story in my other blog, The Bright Lights of Muleshoe-(“Cactus and Kerrville,” October 5, 2011) of driving home from the Austin area with the distinct smell of rotting flesh lurking around me. Turned out the smell was coming from the orbea lutea, a...
But You Can Also Break the Rule of Three
Last week was all about using the rule of three to plant your dish gardens. But that rule can be broken-you were thinking about doing that all along, right?-so here are some examples to to help you flaunt the rule. Two plants can work well together, but choosing...
The Dish Garden Rule of Three
Artists know all about the magic number three when composing their work, the idea of grouping things in odd numbers rather than even, and three seems to be the most popular uneven number to work with. That works when arranging a dish garden as well. Not only do three...
When It Finally Rains, It Pours
Or, “How to Drown Your Cactus!’' Keep in mind that we have been in a severe drought for, what, about six years? But today, June 18, the bottom fell out of a cloud, not once, but twice, serving up a quintessential example of the classic gully-washer/turd floater...
Cactus and Rain
Cactus, being drought-tolerant plants, don’t like rain, right? Select ones may not, but it has been my experience that while cactus and succulents certainly survive without water, they thrive with it. In moderate amounts, of course. Give them a good rain shower...
A Toad in the Dish Garden
I was checking on a little cactus that was not looking too perky and had this feeling that I was being watched. And I was! Hunkered down in the gray-blue gravel, this mid-sized toad was quietly watching me, no doubt hoping I would overlook him in his comfy...
Another Reason I Like Cactus
I walked out to the cactus bed while the sun was shining just right on this echinocereus, a claret cup hedgehog. The sun’s rays gave the blooms a lovely shine and iridescence. It almost looked surreal. I grabbed the camera and tried to capture the glow, but was not as...
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