Cactus or Succulent?

When I shared my Dudleya pulverulenta on March 6th this year, a few readers asked if it was an agave. No, it is a succulent native to Southern California. Both are succulent plants, and agaves are sometimes mislabeled as cactus, so the fact that there was some...

Dudleya Pulverulenta

The Cactus and Succulent Society of America (CSSA) held its biennial conference in July of 2019 in San Luis Obispo, California. Dudleyas are native to southern California, Guadalupe Island, and in the Baja area of Mexico and California. They love the Mediterranean...

Now My Other Albuca is Blooming

Last week I shared with you my Albuca humilis and its interesting flowers. I also have a form of an Albuca spiralis- you might remember I mentioned there are myriad varieties of this  species that are native to South Africa. If you google it, you will see...

Albucas and Their Artistic Flowers

I have shared albucas with you before, but you might have missed it. They are blooming now and are just such neat little flowers, I thought they deserved to be in the spotlight again. Albucas are in the Asparagaceae family, which means they are related to an...

Two Different Aloinopsis Bloomed

Back in November two Aloinopsis varieties bloomed for me, and I am just now getting around to sharing them with you. I wrote about Aloinopsis back in 2013, but since that was a while back, you may have missed it. So here we go. I had this Aloinposis aloides  in a...

Pumpkins and Succulents

I fear I’m a bit late with this, but perhaps it will be something you might want to do next year for some fall decorations. I bought one of those big, flat pumpkins that has a deep depression where the stem would be. Alas, I don’t remember what variety of pumpkin this...

Tiger Jaws Make Nice Flowers

Faucaria tigrina, commonly called Tiger Jaws, is a lovely little succulent plant  that is blooming now. The blooms open mid-day and evening for two or three days before they are spent. Look closely and you can see tips on the leaves shaped like teeth, which is...

Ariocarpus Flowers

I had been watching my Ariocarpus fissurata lloydii since late summer, expecting a flower to pop out of the pretty white wool in the center of the plant. Nothing. I failed to take a picture of all that wool, but eventually one pink flower barely opened in the overcast...

It’s not an Agave, but sort of looks like one

Leuchtenbergia principis really is a cactus, but looks like an agave, kind of, so its common name is Agave cactus. Confused yet? I wrote about this same plant September 21, 2014- “Leuchtenbergia Principis, aka Agave Cactus,”  but it has grown since then, and if you...