Windowsillcactusblog: April 2007

Monday, April 30, 2007

Gymnocalycium riojense

I think this looks like a Gymnocalycium riojense, and we found this one at a greenhouse in Tucson. Hoping it will make a nice pet.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Opuntia stems that look like Stone

We went to Colossal Cave near Tucson and it was very scenic in the area outside of the cave. The cave was sort of large, but hard to say it deserves its name. Outside of the cave lots of old Opunti plants were growing and one of them had some cave rock and outdoor rocks set at its base. The old growth on the Opuntia looks so much like another species of rocks that I had to take a photo.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Agave Flower Spike

It is sad because the flower marks the end of the plant's life, but it would be wonderful to have them growing in our back yard and see them bloom and make seeds.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Astrophytum myriostigma

These cacti seem very at home in the Tucson area, but I wonder if they ever need protection from cold weather in that location. They are from Mexico at high elevations,and are very challenging to grow here in Wisconsin. Other cactus growers and myself have lost many of these in attempts to keep them. The really don't like to have too much water and setting them outdoors for full sun in the summer also means lots of rain too. I still have a few of these that are living and hopefully someday one of them will get as big as this one. This one was growing in the gardens.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Agave Growth Patterns

These plants are so beautiful, and I love the way every leaf is imprinted with the teeth pattern of other leaves. The first time I saw these kinds of succulents growing outdoors was when my parents took our family to California to see our cousins. They had several very large Agave growing in their back yard. I was a kid and several times a day, while were staying with our relatives, I would go outside and just look at the plants with endless fascination.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Lizard in the Garden

We saw lots of lizards at the Tucson Botanical Gardens, and I love lizards. We use to try and keep them as pets and there were too many tragedies, so we gave up on lizards as pets. They are very difficult to keep happy in a Wisconsin house, because winters are too cold for them. This lizard was especially cute and posed for several pictures. A pack of elderly women were coming closer and the noises they made frightened the lizard into hiding. He stayed on his rock and let us watch him for a long time before the noisy oldsters came along.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Echinocereus ledingii var fasciculatus

Here is the 3rd hedgehog photo, and this one was growing in the Tucson botanical gardens. Ann and I really had a lot of fun in the gardens, and really enjoyed seeing all of the lizards running around there too. This Echinocereus looked like a very old plant and was very beautiful.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Echinocereus fasciculatus

These hedgehogs have some of the most beautiful flowers on any hedgehog, and if I lived in the Tucson area I would have to have one growing in our yard. This one is growing right out of the cracks in a granite road cut. A very rock garden specimen if the rocks could be moved with the plant. This is the second hedgehog photo from the trip.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Hedgehog one

These types of Echinocereus plants seem to grow like weeds in the hottest parts of Arizona. I really enjoyed seeing lots of them in bloom, so this is the first of a few photos of them. I'm only going to post three, but I felt like taking photos of every one I saw with flowers. This is the first photo.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Golden Barrel with Flowers

This may sound impossible to anyone living in the dessert south west, but this is the first time I've ever seen a Golden Barrel in bloom. These cacti are really beautiful plants, and I really love the way they get woolly tops as they get older. I've never seen one of these being kept as a house plant get this kind of golden thick matted center on top of the barrel.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Golden Barrel

This is the first in a long series of photos from our trip to Arizona this spring. I love seeing all of the natural areas in the south west, but I find it hard to imagine actually living there. Possibly, I could imagine living in northern New Mexico where there are four seasons. The hotter parts of the south west are a very beautiful part of the world I hope to visit many times before I'm done with life.

Have to take at least one photo of a Golden Barrel, even if they can be found an almost every green house and hardware store in the country. They look so much better actually growing in the ground than they do in flower pots.

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