Cactus Candy

Ferocactus macrodiscus

Have you ever eaten cactus candy? Chances are that it contained the pulp of the Biznaga de Dulce or Ferocactus macrodiscus. Prickly Pear pulp is also used to make the candy, but many folks like the Ferocactus better as it is easier to slice and cube.

This cactus is also called Pancake Barrel. The pink and white striped flowers are quite unusual for Ferocactus. The pattern on the maroon and pink flower buds is interesting and some think the buds are as attractive as the flowers. (I'm one of them). This cactus even has pink tinged spines. It is color coordinated eye candy!

F. Macrodiscus is one of a few species of barrels that requires light shade in Phoenix to keep it from burning. It does not need supplemental water. Flowers arrive in March and continue until early summer.

Cactus Candy

Cactus pulp preparation:

Remove spines and outside layer of a barrel cactus with a large knife. Cut pulp in one-inch thick slices. Soak overnight in cold water. Remove from water, cut in one-inch cubes, and boil until tender. Drain.

Syrup for 2 quarts of cactus cubes:

3 c Granulated sugar
1 c Water
2 tb Orange juice
1 tb Lemon juice

Heat all ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Add the cactus cubes, and cook the cubes slowly in the prepared syrup until most of the syrup is absorbed. Do not let burn. Remove cactus cubes from syrup, drain and roll in granulated or powdered sugar. For color, any vegetable food coloring may be added to the syrup.

Mammillaria geminispina

The long, snow-white spines on the Mammillaria geminispina make it a stunning cactus, especially in a certain light. In late afternoon when the sun is low, it almost glows. This species freely clumps to about two feet wide. The heads form mounds that seem stacked on top of each other.

My M. geminispina has gone from a pot to the garden, and I'm hoping that a nearby tree will provide it with light shade this summer. The more I look at my placement, the more concerned I am that I may have miscalculated the depth of shade the tree will cast in summer. This cactus takes full sun most everywhere, but in Phoenix, it requires some shade. If I've judged wrong, I may just use a shade cloth rather than relocate it this year.

If grown from seed, M. geminispina can take seven to eight years before flowering, so most collectors buy older specimens rather than wait. Although it is a popular species, it is not easily found, except in cactus nurseries. It is not a reliable bloomer, and the carmine red flowers are somewhat sparse when it does bloom. I really don't think it needs flowers to make it beautiful cactus.

Twelve Hour Wonder

After years of practice, I'm pretty good at guessing when my Argentine Giant (Echinopsis candicans) will bloom. The huge red buds grow rapidly to about six inches long, and then begin to expand in the center. Within a couple of days, the tips of the buds start showing a bit of white. Once that happens, I know the buds will open that evening. Flowering happens in March and April, and occasionally in late summer after the Monsoon storms.

It happened Thursday evening. I had my camera ready, and by 8 pm, the flowers were completely open and at their most fragrant. Their fragrance reminds me of a light bergamot. Later on, I went out to see if any pollinators had arrived, but no moths or bats were flitting around. They don't have much time to do their thing. The flowers will last through the night and as dawn approaches, they will wilt.

Argentine Giant is a "must have" for Arizona home landscaping, and it seems as if there is one in every yard. Some older specimens are quite large, about four feet high and clumping to seven feet wide. The huge cactus stems can have numerous flowers along the length of each stem. Most of the flowers open at the same time and are about six to eight inches in diameter, completely hiding the stems. It is an amazing sight to see.

For more information on this cactus see a previous post.

Gone With The Wind

All along the highways and byways and in my garden, Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) is in full bloom. This shrub is a great xeriscape plant because once established it does better with no supplemental water, which is the main reason it's used so much on freeways in this part of the country. The shrub grows quickly to about five feet high and wide. Daisy-like flowers are abundant in spring, and then appear intermittently throughout the summer.

The flowers grow on long stems, and make the plant look as if it has a golden halo surrounding it. My plant had a wonderful halo of flowers on 18-inch stems until gusty winds whipped them around helter-skelter. Although the flowers are still there, the halo effect is gone for the season.

The leaves of this plant are silvery gray and contrast perfectly with the bright yellow flowers, and are quite attractive in their own right. If given supplemental water, the leaves become quite large, but the plant doesn't produce many flowers.

Brittlebush, also called Incienso, has some other uses. The hint is in the name. I wrote about this in a previous post.

Red Headed Irishman

Mammillaria spinosissima

I love the common name of this cactus species. The Red Headed Irishman definitely earns its name with the bristly red spines. These spines may fade to a lighter color as the cactus ages--sort of like my head of hair has done. I wrote about this cactus back in July if anyone is interested in the species. It was one my successful entries in the local Cactus and Succulent Society show last year.

Mammillaria In Bloom

Mammillaria elongata 'Copper King'

Mammillaria hahiana

Mammillaria mystax

Mammillaria flowers form a ring on new tissue that's grown during the previous growing season. To get flowers, it is necessary to watch watering and fertilizing schedules during the growing season to assure flowers for the next year.

Sometimes it's hard to tell that a cactus has grown from the previous year because in the dormant months when the cactus is kept dry, it has a tendancy to shrink as internal moisture is absorbed. Once watering begins again in early spring, the cactus will plump up and flowers will form.

Claret Cup Hedgehog

The first time I saw a Claret Cup Hedgehog cactus in bloom was during a spring garden tour. The red flowers were unusual compared to other Hedgehog species, many of which have pink or purplish flowers. Since that tour, I looked for, and finally found, a suitable specimen, and here it is. Unlike many other cactus flowers, these stay open day and night, and last for three to five days. Red fruits follow the flowers.

The Claret Cup Hedgehog’s origin is the Southwest U.S. and Mexico. In Phoenix, it can be located in full sun, as long as it gets afternoon shade, and it will tolerate temperatures into the low 20s. There are about ten varieties of the Claret Cup Hedgehog, with differing spines and ribs. However, all varieties have the red cup-shaped flower.

The scientific name for Claret Cup Hedgehog is Echinocereus triglochidiatus. The word Echinos is of Greek origin, and means hedgehog. Cereus means a wax taper. The combination word for this genus of cacti is supposed to describe the cactus. I’m not sure what kind of hedgehog and candle those who named this genus were used to seeing. I don’t see any resemblance to either.

Happy Easter

Easter is not a time for groping through dusty, musty tomes or tombs to disprove spontaneous generation or even to prove life eternal. It is a day to fan the ashes of dead hope, a day to banish doubts and seek the slopes where the sun is rising, to revel in the faith which transports us out of ourselves and the dead past into the vast and inviting unknown.

~ Author Unknown

Desert Garden Stroll

Lately, most of my time in the garden has been dedicated to picking and chopping weeds, trimming trees, thinning Agave, checking for Agave Snout Weevil, replacing plugged emitters, and repotting cacti and succulents into new pots. So, this afternoon I took a leisurely stroll with my camera to capture some of the fruits of my labor.

I love the quality of light in very late afternoon, so I take a lot of photos just before the sun goes down. Colors look richer then, and the photos take on a painterly quality. The dark green of the Agave desmettiana provides a nice background for the yellow Baileya multiradiata, or Desert Marigold.

At first glance, the new pads forming on an Opuntia basilaris look like maroon flower buds. This Prickly Pear retains its purple margins all year, but the purple in the pads will fade as the weather gets warmer. If I want to limit the number of pads, it is easy to clip off the pad buds at this stage.

We had some strong wind gusts late last week and it wreaked havoc on the fragile Chuparosa (Justicia californica) stems, which are now leaning in all directions, providing an interesting tangle of Chuparosa and Desert Bluebells.

This is my favorite Gazania rigens cultivar. It is from the Daybreak Series. I like to plant these on the slopes of the raised areas of my garden where they are not visible until you walk around the corner... and then, pow! An unexpected burst of brilliant sunny color.

The flower stalk of a Coral Aloe will last for at least two months. Bush Morning Glory is in the background.

The Eremophila maculata v. brevifolia 'Valentine', or Valentine Emu Bush, is so loaded with flowers that its branches are dragging on the ground. This year I'm going to have to trim it after the flowers are gone. I've avoided trimming to gain maximum flowering, and I certainly reached my goal with this shrub.

The Drosanthemum hispidum (Desert Ice Plant) has just started flowering. By May this trailing groundcover will be totally covered in these hot pink flowers.

I decided to try a lighter color Gazania in my garden this year. I usually go for the brilliant shades, but I had just the place for these. It recently occurred to me that I've never purchased a purple or pink Gazania. Perhaps I should change that!

Last but not least, the Trailing Purple Lantana (Lantana montevidensis ‘Imperial Purple’) is at its best right now. When it fades in warmer weather, the New Gold Lantana (Lantana camara 'New Gold') will be ready to burst out in bloom and will provide color well into fall.

Glorious Bush Morning Glory

Convolvulus cneorum

March is the month that Bush Morning Glory (Convolvulus cneorum) really struts its stuff in the low desert. It is a silvery mounding shrub that looks good year-round, but when it blooms, it is glorious. It will continue its heavy blooming from now until about May 15, and then it will have intermittent bloom periods through early fall, but none will match its current copiousness. The white funnel flowers completely cover the shrubs, which are about four feet in diameter.

I’ve found that Bush Morning Glory shrubs are not particularly long-lived. Each summer, I lose a few, as I discussed in a previous post. My first thought was over watering, so last fall I changed the irrigation emitters from one gallon per hour emitters to ½ gallon per hour. However, the shrubs were never leggy, a sure sign of over watering. I asked a local nurseryman about my problem and he told me that I could reasonably expect a two to five year life span for these shrubs. My shrubs are now three years old. If I lose more this summer, I’m going to assume it’s from old age.

Blackfoot Daisy

In spring, bees are attracted to the honey scent of the Blackfoot Daisy (Melampodium leucanthum), a short-lived mounding perennial that does well in our low desert environment. It flowers from early spring to late fall, and will grow to about one foot high and wide. It is heat, drought, and cold tolerant, and lives longer in our climate than it does in milder regions. The trade-off is that in milder climates with richer soil, it produces far more flowers, but dies sooner.

In Arizona, we claim Blackfoot Daisy to be a native plant, but it’s also called a native plant in Texas and Colorado. Depending on the region where it's grown, other names for it are Desert Daisy, Plains Daisy, or Rock Daisy.

The Blackfoot Daisy is a popular desert garden plant. It looks good tucked around landscape boulders and on slopes, or mixed in with cacti and succulents.

Florescence

The first flower to open on this Eriosyce kunzei ‘multicolor’, is just the florescent pink color I expected! To read more about this water sensitive cactus, see my previous post about it.


For each petal on the shamrock

This brings a wish your way--

Good health, good luck, and happiness

For today and every day.

In The Pink

According to the label on this Mammillaria microhelia, the flowers were supposed to be pale yellow, but instead they've turned out to pink. Sometimes I wonder if the growers just make guesses when listing info!
Flowers on the M. microhelia can be yellow, cream, pink, or purple. I usually choose cacti based not only on the species, but also by what color flowers I can expect. This isn't my first surprise, so I've learned to take them in stride.
To read more about M. microhelia, see a previous post.

March Desert Garden

My garden is in full bloom right now and this will continue until about May 1, when the heat will take car of all the wildflowers. The Bush Morning Glory shrubs (Convolvulus cneorum) have opened their flowers. They are among the very few white flowers I have in my garden.

My garden, considered a xeriscape, uses drought tolerant plants with very low water needs. Many varieties in my garden need only rainfall. The rest need some supplemental water, mostly in summer. My irrigation/emitter system is off from early November until mid-March. This causes trees to be slower growing, which resulting in fewer trimmings. Plants will now begin to receive water about once a month until May, and then from May to September, about twice a month. When we have long periods of heat above 107º F, I’ll up the water frequency to every seven to ten days.

Parry's Penstemon (Penstemon parryi) in various colors is in full bloom, and the Firecracker Penstemon (Penstemon eatonii) has just started. All my Penstemon plants are volunteers from a couple of original plants when I started my garden. There are thousands growing all over, mostly in unwanted areas.

California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica) and Desert Bluebells (Phacelia campanularia) growing on a slope in my garden. On the right is a Santa Rita Prickly Pear (Opuntia santa-rita).

Bougainvillea 'Barbara Karst' is totally loaded with fresh bracts. I have two of these in my front yard.


This is in a portion of my front yard. I am the only one in the neighborhood with wildflowers. I hope the neighbors understand. Before wildflowers bloom they look like weeds, so I crossed my fingers and hoped the neighbors wouldn't report me as a yard slacker before the Desert Bluebells bloomed.



The Feathery Cassia (Senna artemisioides) is so loaded with flowers that it had to be staked and tied to keep it from falling over. The scent is wonderful!

One last view of a portion of my garden. All the green on the ground to the left are thousands of Penstemon seedlings. These will have to go.

"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."

~ Margaret Atwood

Blooming Bottlebrush

Callistemon viminalis 'Little John'

All the Dwarf Bottlebrush shrubs in my garden have bloomed. We didn't get any frost this past winter, so there's an abundance of the little brush-like flowers. Read more about Dwarf Bottle Brush in this previous post.

Mini Pet Cactus Update

Most mini pet cactus key chains probably are, by now, lying in junk drawers or have long since been thrown in the trash as the young people who started the fad last year have moved on to the next new thing. Since I love cacti, I was glad to receive this little novelty as a Christmas gift, and I've treated it with care. It receives water once a month, and hangs by a hook in a kitchen window where it receives morning sun.

When I took it down today for its monthly watering, I was amazed to see that this little cactus, which is a seedling of unknown genus and species, has a bloom and will flower in the next few days. It has also clumped and there are two new stems growing. It is following the growth and bloom cycle of many of the other cacti in my garden.

Since it is now pressed up against the wall of its dome, I may try to break open the mini-terrarium and place it in a larger container. I think it would be interesting to see if it will thrive outside its protected environment. If it does, I may be able to identify it as it develops the characteristics of its genus.

One thing for sure, it won’t end up in a dark drawer somewhere!

A Real Stinker!

Caralluma russeliana is an odd succulent originating from Africa and India. The four-angled stems are somewhat flat rather than fleshy. It is one of the largest of the Stapeliads and can grow to two feet tall. Its flowers, coming in late summer, are notorious as the stinkiest of the stinky. The flowers of the C. russeliana are different from many of the others in the genus; they produce a large round cluster of small, nasty-smelling flowers that are such a dark purple they appear to be black. If you’ve ever gotten a whiff of the foul-smelling flowers of a Stapeliad, imagine it ten times worse! The rank smell attracts numerous flies that pollinate the flowers.

This is new to my collection, and since it is still young and only eight inches high, I will have to wait for flowers until it is more mature. I do think the angled gray green stems are interesting, but my main reason for acquiring it was to see (not smell) the baseball-sized flower cluster. I borrowed this flower photo from Living Stones Nursery, where I purchased my plant.

Many people have heard of the succulent Hoodia, not because of their interest in succulents, but because Hoodia is used as a natural weight loss supplement. Several species in the Caralluma genus, including C. russeliana, are emerging as a new and better replacement for Hoodia.

Desert Wildflowers

California Poppy, White Alyssum

Thanks to the January and February rains this year, our desert mountains and arroyos are awash with many wildflowers, and two of the most prevalent are the yellow-orange California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica) and the Desert Lupine (Lupinus sparsiflorus).

Back in my garden, the California Poppies have just started blooming, and although I don’t have any Desert Lupine, I do have Desert Bluebells (Phacelia campanulari). The bluebells have been blooming for a while, and I’m hoping the poppies come out in full force very soon. The bluebells don’t do as well in heat as the poppies, which is a shame because together, they are spectacular.

Desert Bluebells

Saturday Stuff

The tailless lizard resting on my garden monk's head is a tragic victim of my neighbor's roaming cat. The cat has become braver now, showing himself in my garden during the day. He's chased off most of the hummingbirds, and now he's going for the lizards. We now have a mesh screen for the fire pit he was using as a litter box. It seems that thwarting him from using the litter box has caused him to act out. I've sent a letter to the neighbors asking them to keep the cat out of my garden. (I don't know them--they don't seem to be home most of the time. These are huge properties, and their yard is beyond my back eight-foot wall. Besides the errant cat, they have about six dogs, or at least that's how many I suspect, from the dogfights coming from their back yard every morning about 5 a.m.!)

On to more pleasant things. I've found a few garden related websites that may be worth a visit. The first is TerraCycle, a company that turns trash and waste into usable garden products. They have organic potting mix, worm poop and many other interesting products, and use recycled bottles and things to package them.

Learn2Grow is a site sponsored by Lowe's that has a ton of garden info and even garden courses to take--but not free. There are forums for gardeners and just a myriad of things to learn.

Then, if you need info on the various insects in your garden, there's Bug Bios and Bug Guide. I've found these two sites invaluable when trying to identify a new bug in my garden.

Another site is Backyardgardener.com, which has a wonderful list of plants by botanical and common name. The site also has hundreds of other interesting categories to peruse.

Procrastination Reward

Flower of

Brassica oleracea var. acephala

Once the weather warms, I discard all the Ornamental Kale and spring flowers take its place. I'm usually prompt in performing this transition, but with all the extra weeding this year, I let it go. Now, I have the prettiest flower stalk! This is the first time I've ever seen one, and everything about it is pretty. The purple stalk, the green and white-striped buds and the beautiful yellow flowers rival the beauty of the leaves when they are at their peak.

Sometimes, procrastination pays off in unexpected ways.

Parry's Penstemon

The first of my many Parry's Penstemon (Penstemon parryi) shrubs bloomed this week, and over the next two months, hummingbirds will gather in abundance, drawn there by these self-seeding perennial wildflowers. P. parryi is native to Arizona and northern Mexico. The flower colors of P. parryi can vary from a hot pink to almost red. I have Parry's, Superb, Firecracker, Desert Surprise, and Rocky Mountain Penstemon plants ready to flower. They provide a variety of flower and foliage colors and shapes. Penstemon easily hybridizes, so identification is difficult among the various shrubs after a couple of years.

Penstemon shrubs are about three feet tall and wide, so when the blooming stops I have a lot of cleanup to do. By that time, millions of seeds will have scattered throughout my garden. If I want the flowers, I have to take the seeds. Before long, these plants will be out of control. Luckily, mature shrubs have extremely shallow roots and just pull right up. Thousands of seedlings are currently growing. Some won't make it, many others will continue to mature and be ready to bloom next year, and even more seeds will remain dormant for a couple of years. The only way to deal with this overgrowth is to have pre-emergent treatment in the areas where wildflowers aren't wanted.

Living Stones Are Growing On Me

Watching the progress of my tiny Lithops collection has been fascinating. The changes are so dramatic that these little oddities are growing on me, even though initially I did not want to get involved with learning about a completely new succulent family. When I posted a photo of my new purchase one month ago, there was no evidence that new leaves were forming inside the plants. Now, new leaves have completely emerged on three Lithops and the other two have new leaves just starting to push through the split sections.

As you can see, the new leaves have pushed aside the old leaves. These new leaves gradually consume the old leaves for moisture and nutrients. The plants receive no water during this process. Probably by May, all that will be left of the old leaves will be their dried skins. At that time, the plants will receive water for the first time since the start of winter. In the fall, if the plants have received enough light, flowers will emerge from the center of the leaves. Watering will continue until winter and then the process begins again.

Agave potatorum var. verschaffeltii

Agave potatorum var. verschaffeltii is also known as A. potatorum minor. The minor refers to the very small size of this variety compared to the regular A. potatorum. If I keep this miniature Agave in a small pot, it will only get about 6 inches high and 8 inches wide. This particular variety is blue-gray with well-defined leaf imprints on each fleshy leaf, and it is usually solitary. It is not as frost tolerant as many Agave species and it does require light shade in Phoenix. It is the perfect Agave for container gardening.

There is an A. potatorum cultivar called Shoji-Raijin developed in Japan that is gaining popularity here. There are two differences in the Shojii-Raijin and the A. potatorum minor. The cultivar has no leaf imprints and it readily produces offsets, quickly filling small pots.

Next month I plan to transfer this miniature Agave into an expensive piece of Picante Planter pottery that I’ve been saving for just the perfect specimen. This A. potatorum minor fits the bill!

Euphorbia obesa

At first glance, one may think this is some type of cactus in the Astrophytum genus, but it is actually a succulent in the Euphorbiaceae family. Its scientific name is Euphorbia obesa, but most folks call it the Gingham Golf Ball, Baseball Plant, or Klipnoors. It is endemic to the South African Karoo region, where it is endangered. In cultivation, it is grown from seeds.

The E. obesa is a dioecious succulent. There are male and female plants, identified by the flower. I’m convinced these are male because of the yellow pollen grains in the center of the “bumps” on the surface of the seams. The female plants have tiny stigma that protrude from the flowers. Once pollinated, the female flowers produce fruit that contain a few seeds each.

This fat little plant will become columnar with age, and can eventually get about eight inches high. Some collectors have specimens that are much taller, but that is not common. E. obesa likes morning light, and light shade in the afternoon because they can easily scorch.

Many collectors buy this plant because of its unusual coloring; a dull gray-green with purple hued horizontal stripes, reminiscent of gingham. It is a summer grower and requires moderate water and soil with good drainage, and in winter, it should be kept dry.

Fairy Bouquet

While I was down on my hands and knees picking weeds, I saw this pretty miniature bouquet, only ¾ inch wide. It looked like something a fairy would have in its garden. I have no idea what type of weed it is, but it was unique enough that I put it in a glass and took a photo of it.
Fairies? Taking photos of weeds? I think I need a break from spring garden chores!

Cat Rant

This is a natural gas fire pit with silica sand, a high purity, fine sand that’s also known as industrial sand. The sand covers a fire ring, and when I light it, blue flames come up through the sand and appear to be dancing just above the surface. This is not a giant litter box. The neighbor’s cat obviously doesn’t know the difference. Instead of staying in his back yard, he jumps an eight-foot wall each night to come into my garden. He does his business in my fire pit, and then howls under my bedroom windows at 3 a.m. He brings half-eaten birds into my garden and leaves them scattered here and there. He marks my flowerbeds, and even poops on my walkways. He does all this at night, and seldom shows up during the day. The few times I’ve seen him during the daytime, he quickly jumps back over the wall into his own back yard.

Today I cleaned the fire pit yet again, and this time I put some orange peels down to see if that would repel this nighttime visitor. If it doesn’t work, I’ve read of some other methods to try next to deal with errant cats. Maybe if he stops using the fire pit as a litter box, he won’t bother jumping the wall, and all the other problems with him will go away.

I normally don’t mind cats, but if I wanted one, I’d get one of my own. If this keeps up, I’m sending my neighbor a bill to replace the expensive silica sand!