Happy Winter Holidays!

My Mammillaria and I wish you a very happy winter holiday! I hope that for all of us, 2018 is a more peaceful, joyful year. Our Hurricane Irma repairs are about 75% finished, and I was so happy to see most of my Tillies are pupping, and my lone Mammillaria is blooming. I'm replanting my outdoor garden with butterfly and bird friendly natives. Nature will continue.

Who put this hat on my head??

Weekend Walkabout: Infrared Beach and an Owl Cactus???

Well, yeah, it's been a little weird here, I guess. But fear not, I always share the fun.

Conversing, MRobb, mixed media

 Back in the Jurassic when cameras were manually controlled and film was actually made of stuff that you had to develop and print with other stuff, I loved to shoot in infrared. Ordinary scenes (which of course, were never ordinary, I was just used to them) turned sort of...mythical. So I was delighted to learn how to create infrared photographs, digitally. Here is my beach with our handsome terns, beloved winter visitors:

Terns on the Beach, MRobb, 2017

And here's what the scene looks like without all the high-tech tinkering:

Terns 2017

I really love their sassy orange beaks, and little black head tufts...!
In addition to all this, my Mammillaria is still blooming, after many months. Why? I do not know. She tries on different looks. This week, she is clearly an owl:

Mammillaria Owl Cactus, MRobb, 2017

Can a cactus be a frustrated actor? What do you think?

Weekend Walkabout? Not So Much....

I recently had major dental surgery so I am too zonked out to think of anything intelligent or amusing to post for y'all! Please forgive me, I'll be back in a few days. Happy gardening to you all in the meantime!

Lantana, MRobb

Frithia pulchra, MRobb

Mammillaria, MRobb

Now back to bed for me....

A Pink Crown for a Mammillaria

Genus Mammillaria, my very favorite cactus clan in the world, are known for their beautiful "crowns" of flowers. They open during the day, then close at night. Not all Mammillarias bloom this way, but most do. Here is a recent example- first, open during the day, then closed at night:

Mammillaria elegans in full "crown" bloom, MRobb, 2016

Blooms close in the evening.

What a beautiful sight! Most Mammillaria have bright pink flowers, as this one does, but others have light pink, red, or even yellow blossoms. Gorgeous! Interestingly, they can have a primary, "proto-bloom" of just a couple of flowers, which can give them a funny "face":

Mammillaria elegans "Funny Face", MRobb

Then a month or so later, the full crown appears. I have no idea why this happens.

Mammillaria elegans blooms!

Mammillaria elegans is a native of Mexico.  They bloom in early winter. And what a sweet "face"!

Mammillaria elegans in bloom, MRobb 2015

Plants from the Small Box Store

I've read in numerous places that the Era of the Big Box Store may be coming to an end. Could it be the dawn of the Small Box Store? I use that term to describe a smaller, regional chain where each manager has more latitude about how and when to stock the shelves. There are several in my area that have greenhouses. A couple of those greenhouses are well kept by actual paid gardeners who know their plants. The prices tend to be a bit higher than the Big Box Store's, but the plants are generally in better health; they tend to carry specialty plants from local nurseries, too. This Opuntia and Mammillaria in my collection were purchased from Small Box Stores....

What I particularly like about Small Box is that I can find plants from regional nurseries without having to drive hours to the nurseries themselves. I can even put special orders through by talking with one of the gardeners. The employees are generally happier and more knowledgeable, because they are better paid and have better support from management. It's just a more pleasant shopping experience, and we even get to know each other's names. Have you found specialty plants at your local small box?

The Annual Garden Tally: So What Am I Growing, Anyway?

I finally got around to my annual plant tally this week, and here are the results:
Type of Plant/Number of Plant

Lithops: 48. About a third now live outdoors in the ground rather than in pots. The seem to like it out there.

Tillandsias: 97. Yup, I'm closing in on 100. Good grief, somebody stop me! Most live indoors on my CD tower scaffolding, with about 7 living outside. Here's a shot from watering day (done outdoors, obviously).

Mesembs-That-Are-Not Lithops: 28
This includes quite a few Pleiospilos, Aloinopsis, Argyroderma, Marlothistella, and of course, Babytoes (Fenestraria). Others, too. About half live indoors, and half live outside.

Cacti: Mostly Mammillaria or hairy types, 17 all together....

So that's the tally, and obviously, I'd better get to watering these guys! Though my plants don't demand a lot of attention, with this many, it does add up. But hey, there's always room for one more, right? And we all need oxygen....

Not Particularly Pensive Tuesday: Ready To Bloom!

After a scary-big storm with multiple tornados swept over my sand dune this weekend, I was too tired to be pensive. I needn't have worried about the outdoor garden, however. Springtime plants are full of enthusiasm for whatever weather comes their way. They didn't mind the 8 inches of rain; in fact, they're ready to bloom!

Lantana, aka "stinkflower", does very well on the beaches; its glowing flowers belie its tough resilience.

Parodia uebelmanniana has been quiet for months. Suddenly, it's tufty and full of spring spirit!

Tillandsia concolor is nearly there. Can't wait to see the flowers.

Here's a Haworthia and a Gymnocalycium enjoying some sun, and growing some fine buds.

This little Mammillaria was a rescue- had some rot. But it's doing fine outside, and has put forth its first flower. It's a beauty!

And lastly, a Senecio articulatus. Senecios in general do very well in this beachy, subtropical climate. They don't mind the salty, alkaline soil, and they can take the heat well. This one put out buds in less than 24 hours, amazing!

Here's hoping all my readers are feeling ready to bloom as well. For the Southern Group, it's time to start getting warm and cozy, as autumn approacheth. And that's a wonderful season, too.

A Mammillaria For Monday

Mammillaria zeilmanniana, MR 2013

Mammillaria zeilmanniana is a real beauty with hot pink flowers and bright red, crazy-curled spines. Many Mammillaria have hooked spines, but they are especially prominent on this species, and the color really glows.

M. zeilmanniana is on the CITES list (App. II) of rare and endangered plants.  Though it's grown in cactus nurseries all over the US, and is very popular with gardeners, wild specimens are extremely rare, and limited to a small area in Mexico. Less than 250 remain in the wild today. This little guy came from a local commercial nursery.

Blooms, Offsets, Sunsets

We're having beautiful weather. Too beautiful, really. It's much more like the end of spring, sunny, hot and humid, than the middle of winter. My cacti should be entirely dormant now, and using cold nights to grow next years flower buds.

They are...confused.

Mammillaria hahniana

Another Mammilaria

 And yet another Mammillaria is not blooming, but ofsetting like crazy....

Of course, the flowers are beautiful, but this is unsettling to say the least. I feel a Pensive Tuesday post coming on...but for now, just a beautiful sunset over the river for a lovely weekend.

Another Bloomin' Monday!

Not just another pretty face, my Mammillaria hahniana is now in full, crowning bloom. Wonderful!

Many Mammillaria cacti have a distinct "crown" of flowers, usually in the pink-to-purple range. Here's a closer look at the crown:

And never one to say "No" to a flower party, my Fenestraria is...doing what it always does. I love that delicate shade of peachy pink with the bright yellow center. The other Babytoes is getting ready to bloom as well; they usually bloom in tandem.

More Lithops are starting to bloom also, as are some of the Tillies. So more flowers to come, stay tuned.

Pensive Tuesday: Poaching and Ex Situ Conservation

Today's post is just my early musings on the big problem of plant conservation on our planet these days. Two topics that interest me are the problem of plant poaching, and the promise of ex situ conservation. Those of us who grow endangered or extinct-in-the-wild plants and share our knowledge of them and enthusiasm about them for others are definitely engaged in good work. Botanical gardens and collections that preserve seed and DNA are very important as species go extinct.

I know in my part of the world, that some species of Mammillaria cacti, my favorite, are being poached to extinction in the wild.

 Ditto Tillandsias.

And habitat loss is a huge problem for both genera. So over the next few weeks, I'll be going over my collection with an eye to what needs to be conserved, and how best to do that. If you've got books or articles on the subject that you can recommend, let me know! I'm researching....

The Sweetest Little Arizona Cactus

This was an unnamed cactus when I bought it- but I believe it's a Mammillaria nana ssp. duwei. A lovely little fluffy globe about 3cm in diameter. Doesn't grow much, but always has a flower or two to show. So pretty!

The kids next door nicknamed this one "Babykins", which is a bit over the top, but understandable.

The genus Mammillaria has so many intriguing and just plain beautiful species, (about 250, I think); a cactus fanatic could just collect them and nothing else and be content. I particularly like the dwarf species such as this one. They hail from Mexico and the SW USA and are pretty easy to grow.

Mammillaria Mesmeria - Look Into My Spines!

Okay, I know that's not it's real name. This is my favorite Mammillaria, and it's M. microhelia. Very cool name for an amazing cactus with its own, built-in optical illusion. The areoles and spines are arranged and colored in such a way that if you look at them, they appear to be moving. Dr. Mesmer would have liked this cactus!

Mammillaria Crashes Panda Party!

I have one dish for leaf/offset propagation, and right now, there are panda kalanchoe leaves, and Mammillaria gracilis (Thimble cactus) offsets rooting there. They've all put out roots, and they seem to be having fun. Someone at the nursery knocked a large thimble cactus onto the ground, dislodging lots of offsets, and I asked if I could take some home to see if they grew. I dipped the ends in rooting hormone, let them dry a few days, planted them up in a mix of cactus soil, sand, and perlite, and so far, so good. Hope I have enough friends in the neighborhood to find homes for all these new plants in a few months!