A Nice Surprise from Turbinicarpus Horripilus

I brought home a nice Turbinicarpus horripilus gold spines from the CCSA (Cactus and Succulent Society of America) convention last year in San Luis Obispo, planted it in a dish garden, and then  got busy doing other things and didn’t look at it very closely as I...

Blue Barrel Cactus Make a Beautiful Bloom

Echinocactus horizonthalonius, sometimes called eagle claw or blue barrel and sometimes mistaken for Echinocactus texensis, the horse crippler,  is native to the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts, northern Mexico and the Trans-Pecos area of Texas. I have six...

The Catmint Caper

Last September when I was visiting Woody and Kathy Minnich in Edgewood, New Mexico, their neighbor across the way shared a start of catmint with me. Blue mounds of the flowering plant were dotted here and there in the neighbor’s cactus garden and really added a nice...

The Cholla Says It’s Spring

Today is Good Friday, my daddy’s marker that it was time to plant his garden. Well, of course, in Rosenberg on the Gulf Coast of Texas, by Good Friday that part of the world had already had about a month of spring weather. Good Friday just pretty much cinched the deal...

Signs of Spring

I read in the paper on March 19th or 20th, I forget, that the spring equinox was a day early this year. Don’t remember what the groundhog said about the changing of the seasons, but I am still waiting for the warm weather. Perhaps we will have no late freezes, but I...

Adenium Obesum in the Winter

Adenium obesum, commonly called the desert rose, is a native to the warm climates of sub-Sahara, eastern and southern Africa, Arabia, and Socotra, so I shouldn’t be surprised when my adeniums drop their leaves every winter. Even though I have talked to you about these...

A Surprise Flower

This is why it’s a good idea to go into the greenhouse everyday, and maybe more than once-you never know what you will find. I was in the greenhouse yesterday and apparently overlooked the bud on this plant. Today I wander in, and Bam! there it was. And thank goodness...

On the Road Again: Cactus at Sonora

Since around 2003 a group of cactus lovers has converged on the McPherson 4M Ranch in Sonora, Texas, to appreciate cactus in its natural habitat and to also take home a few for personal gardens. I took part in the adventure this year. The story goes that around 2003,...

Another Look at the Coryphantha Rungonii

The first time I wrote about the coryphantha rungonii was on July 1, 2017, but it has outdone itself again, and I wanted to share it again. Some of you missed it the first time around, and it’s only fair to shower the plant with praise for an even more spectacular...