76 and still gardening
I told my plant dealers that I would lie low on buying orchids… However, I didn’t anticipate my purchasing impulse on Adeniums. Just look at those double-petaled beauties… no plant-loving mortal could resist taking them home…and yes, I brought home seven potted plants (Adeniums with Greek nicknames).
I guess the sparrows would agree with me if I say that Mammillaria decipiens ssp. camptotricha is not a comfortable plant to handle. This spiny green globular cactus is presently about 5 inches tall and 6 inches wide (it hasn’t achieved its maturity, yet). It also looks like a nest guarded with lots of needles. Hence, its common name Bird’s Nest Cactus, Bird’s Nest Mammillaria or Bird’s Nest Pincushion.
The green tubercles of this plant are about 2 cm long. Its axil is somewhat lightly covered with white hairs and a few bristles. The protruding needles in the photos are its radial spines which compensate for its lack of central spines. Each tubercle has 2 to 8 radial spines about 3 cm long. Those sharp-edge needles are either thin or thick; flexible or rigid; curled or straight; yellow, white, or brown in color.
In between those tubercles bloom the small white flowers about 1 cm to 1.5 cm wide. (I noticed that this cactus flower in dry and wet season.) Despite its plain appearance, those blossoms have a delicate scent which attracts some ants or stingless bees. In addition, its juicy fruits often look like eye-candy to humans and birds alike.
I like this succulent because it doesn’t demand a lot of care; it’s happy growing in a sandy-loam soil mixed with rice hulls. It also just require a full sun exposure and moderate water to thrive well. However during wet season, I have to move it to a dry spot to avoid drowning and rotting.
It’s the third time in 2011 that my favorite cactus flowered; it bloomed in February and in May earlier this year. I noticed that every time this particular Sea Urchin Cactus (Echinopsis subdenudata) blooms, it is always on a rainy day/night. It’s frustrating that it stays open for only 24 hours or so. Because of the wind and rain, I failed to see its flowers open in the evening. However, I could still admire its beauty and oh-so sweet perfume in its remaining blooming hours in the morning up to 12 noon. I guess the bees would agree with me…
For six years, Mammillaria zeilmanniana is the most active of my cacti when it comes to producing flowers. It shows off 2 cm wide pinkish-purple flowers all throughout the year even when I seldom tend to it. This cactus is also commonly known as the Rose Pincushion Cactus. Coincidentally, I bought it from Rose (a succulent-dealer) last June 2005.
The body of this cactus is glossy green and full of tubercles. You need to take a closer look because the spines cover the whole plant. The white ones are the radial spines, which are about 15 or more found on each tubercle. (Their main function is to collect moisture.) Then, there are also the four reddish-brown central spines on each tubercle — 3 straight and 1 hook. (These fend off little birds that covet its whitish-green fruits and humans.) I always watch out for the hooks when I tend to this cactus but I guess I just couldn’t avoid them.
I’ve heard that in its natural habitat, this cactus rarely branches out. However, it is not in the case here in my garden; from a single plant, it initially produced a cluster of offsets that became clumps later on. I say this plant is very generous that I need to re-pot it every two years.
The offsets thrive well in pots with good cactus soil (I just mix sand, loam soil and rice hulls). I put them in an open area where they get full sun exposure and lots of air. During the dry season, watering is only needed when the soil is hard to the touch. However during the wet season, I refrain to give it water for this plant is prone to rot. Overall, I like this cactus because of its purple flowers and that it is easy to care for.
I’ve repotted my Echinocactus grusonii the other day for it has outgrown its medium-sized container. Six years ago, this plant had the size of the human fist. Now, this sphere-looking succulent is about six inches wide in diameter and six inches tall. It’s also called Golden Barrel Cactus or Golden Ball due to its sharp yellow spines, either straight or slightly curved, which grow along the 14 ribs of its rich green body. My cactus is still quite young; when fully matured this plant could have more than 30 ribs.
Yet, I don’t know who started to call this plant Mother-in-law’s Cushion but I could speculate. Perhaps the reason for this moniker is that its shape and spiny-look symbolizes the attitude and treatment of mothers toward their sons/daughters-in law — you know… critical, tough, nurturing, etc. Anyway according to cacti experts, this plant could grow up to a meter tall and would produce yellow flowers at its crown AFTER 20 years… Well, in that case I have to wait for 14 more years to see this plant bloom…Hmmmnn…I’ll be a great grandma by then…
Just like its tough appearance, this succulent is easy to grow even when I neglect it or give it minimal care. It thrives well in warm climates and likes full sun exposure. It requires only a minimum water, so it’s best to be planted in pots with large holes at the bottom for proper drainage. Water-clogging should be avoided though, for this plant is rot-prone.
Most of the kids who visit my garden take an interest on my potted ground-creeping Sedum pachyphyllum.
“Makaon na? (Is it food?)” is their constant query.
And I would automatically answer yes to that question for it is indeed edible. However, I would often find missing leaves of my plants if I leave the kids unattended as a result to that reply. Well I couldn’t blame them; the succulent commonly called Jelly Beans, Many Fingers or Jelly Bean plant are quite attractive especially when the tips of the leaves turn red under the sun.
I have these plants since the1980s and I could say that they are easy to grow. They just require sun and adequate water. Jelly Beans could even tolerate shady areas, dry soil (they could survive without water for a week!) or moist soil (definitely okay during the summer). However, precaution must be taken against water-clogging for the root of this succulent is rot-prone.
Also, I notice that these succulents are healthier when they get more sun than when left in a shade. The light green with bluish-tinged leaves are about 1-2 cm long, less than 1 cm thick and have finger-like shape.Â
These Jelly Bean plants are also easy to propagate. I just cut the top rosette with 1 inch of stem and plant it in sandy soil, or sometimes I opt to start new plants with leaf cuttings to multiply my Sedum faster..
If I don’t have my eyeglasses on while tending to my cacti, I would see a bunch of small white spiders creeping on my Gymnocalycium denudatum. I would often confuse the spines for bugs attacking the cream-white flowers. Well, I guess that is why they obviously call this succulent as Spider Cactus due to the way its white spines look like — spider legs that cling close to the body of the plant. (See the photo below.)Â
The dark green body of my Spider cactus is glossy and globular, about 4 inches tall and 3 1/2 inches wide. It is “slightly chinned” and has eight rounded ribs. Each spines are about a centimeter long and not injurious.
The Spider Cactus is very easy to grow. It requires full sunlight, enough water and a dose of fertilizer to yield cream-white flowers with some rosy tinge at the edge. Depending on the size of the cactus, the flowers are about 5 – 7 cm wide.
Although Aloe vera is the most common and popular among the species of flowering succulents, I don’t limit myself to it. I also collect other types of aloe plants. For example, I found the Aloe descoingsii x Aloe hawarthioides quite interesting. This hybrid plant is the result of two types of the choicest aloes from Madagascar, or so they say. The plant stems form a rosette pattern. The dark green fleshy leaves have white markings all over and the leaf margins have bristles that look like sharp teeth.
I’ve placed this miniature plant in a pot filled with sandy-loam soil and gave it sufficient water. This plant would rot if over-watered so I made sure not to wet the stems.This plant thrived well under the shade of my Siniguelas tree. I have to wait for a couple of years for it to flower.
Another hybrid aloe is ‘Doran Black’. They say that it took six variety of aloes to create the ‘Doran Black’ and the website Aloe Hybrids explains why it’s named as such. Anyway, I really don’t care where it comes from as long as it wouldn’t wilt under my care. All I could say about it is that the leaves appear to have plenty of raised white tattoo markings at front or back sides. It’s not difficult to care too; it requires partial shade and enough water to survive.
Last 2005, I bought my Myrtillocactus geometrizans from Rose, a dealer of cacti and succulents. Initially, the plant had lots of erect stems with hazy blue patches. Hence, its common name Blue Candle, Blue Myrtle Cactus,or Whortleberry Cactus. When I repotted it in a sandy-loam soil, the cactus later on grew into a shrub about 3 feet tall. Its columnar stems have reddish-radial spines and a black central spine along its 5 ribs (some stems have six ribs). Also, some stems mutated into a cristate form.
In the photo above, I planted several erect side shoots of the Blue Candle in a small pot. One of the blue stems had an abnormal growth which added an interesting touch to this plant piece. I intended to put this potted cactus on a table so I added some small stones and a red coral for finishing touches.
Another variety of my Myrtillocactus geometrizans came from my plant buddy Baby Yu of Baroy, Lanao del Norte. The mother plant of this specimen has stems with four ribs; I don’t know what environmental factors in my garden affected it to produce stems with five ribs. Anyway, the single stem in the photo above is about 20 inches long and 4 inches in diameter. White markings are present on each side of this variety.
If not for its 3 inch wide pinkish-red flowers, I would have given away my Aporocactus flagellaformis. This epiphyte, commonly known as the Rat’s Tail Cactus, has long stems densely covered with short yellowish or brownish spines. Those spines are formidable and I’m always wary when I get near this trailing plant so most often I leave it alone.
This succulent is due for repotting for its stems are overcrowded. Yet, I don’t look forward to repot this plant or propagate it; I remember the countless times being punctured by those needles… Arggh… not a happy thought. I could always prepare a nice pot filled with sandy-loam soil for some stems to grow on, though.
Presently, most of its stems are about an inch thick or less, and about less than a meter long. Those pale green stems could trail down to 6 meters when fully matured, or so as the book says. Also, along the entire length of those stems appear its fruits and flowers.
I remembered that it did not yield flowers before when I put it in a shaded area in my garden. However, it flourished well when I placed it on the deck baluster upstairs. I guess it prefers an open air where there is plenty of air, sunlight and rain.
While most cactus rot during the wet season, the Rat’s Tail Cactus welcomes the rain for it shows off more blooms on its stems. I just keep in mind that this cactus doesn’t like being disturbed or moved when it is showing-off its blossoms. Anyway, humans, bumble bees, stingless bees and small back ants often couldn’t stay away from its red funnel-shaped flowers.
Mama Nene's Garden 