Pachypodium Lealii Saundersii is Full of Blooms

I’m a little late sharing this with you, but my two Pachypodium lealii saundersii  plants outdid themselves this year with flowers. They started blooming in October before I had to bring them in for the winter, and the flowers continued even after I brought them...

A Look at Several Stapeliads

I have talked about stapeliads before, but I’ve gone through a dry spell with no flowers lately. The spell was finally broken the other day, and I just had to share again!Stapeliads  can be found in a variety of countries, but this one, Stapelia lepida, is native...

The Cluttered Cactus Garden in Winter

The cactus garden looks a mess in winter. The poor cholla and prickly pear do their sad droopy thing. Boxes, gallon cans, and five-gallon buckets stand upside down over plants needing protection; blankets and comforters do the same. Plants that are truly cold-hardy...

Stapelia Grandiflora Puts on a Show

I’ve written about these stinky flowers before-“The Stinky Flower,” August 4, 2014, but that’s been a while back, and this time the plant just outdid itself with blooms, so I thought I’d share again. I realized the plant was loaded with buds the end of October. One...

Agave Utahensis is a Little Different Agave

When agaves bloom, we expect the bloom mast to look pretty much like the one on my Agave harvardiana that bloomed in 2019, like this:Agave utahensis is a smaller agave and its inflorescence looks like this.I’ve had this little agave for maybe fifteen-twenty years, and...

Another Surprise Flower

I bought a Pleiospilos nelii this year simply because it had a bud ready to open. I thought. Brought it home, repotted it with two others that I bought with it, Pleiospilos nelii royal flush, just because they were a pretty purple color. I waited a couple of days in...

The Conophytum Bloomed!

Three years ago I ordered this little plant from Plants for the Southwest, a specialty nursery in Tucson I learned about at one of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America’s conventions a few years ago. Conophytum pearsonii is not a variety you will see in the big...

One Agave Bed Calls for Another!

I had so much fun creating the new agave bed I told you about a few days ago (“The New Agave Bed,” August 9, 2020), I decided to do another one. The patch of zebra grass at the back of the garden had not looked good for the last few years. I couldn’t keep it wet...

My New Agave Bed

The Russian sage was not performing well. I realized that part of the garden had nothing going on; it was basically wasted space. Then I watched a Cactus and Succulent Society of America webinar with Kelly Griffin talking about agaves. He shared a picture of one of...