Sansevieria “fernwood” in bloom
Stomatium sp.
This one is a night bloomer from South Africa.
A nice xGasteraloe I’ve had for about four years. I love these flowers - intermediate between Gasteria and Aloe.
the Succulent Broadcast Network
Interested in increasing your knowledge of succulent plants beyond “beginner” level? This is for you. Or maybe you are already a member of a local cactus & succulent society, but meetings are cancelled right now?
I’ve been compiling a calendar of all the live streaming presentations put on by cactus and succulent societies around the world. You can see it here with the schedule normalized to California time, UK time, or Central Europe time.
You can also subscribe to the calendar in whatever app you use with this link.
These events tend to be habitat exploration slideshows by botanists, scientific overviews of a group of plants, or advanced care or horticultural information from professionals at botanical gardens. Most are free, but some do require tickets or free registration, so check the details and reserve early.
Please share widely among succulent hobbyists!
If you know of other live events of this nature, contact me and I will add them to the calendar.
And if you enjoy a presentation, consider joining the institution that put it on, or a similar one in your area. Your support for cactus and succulent societies and botanical gardens helps them make all this interesting content available. Most also have fantastic journals and newsletters, in-person meetings, and plant shows.
- Jon
Late spring! A time of danger.
A few weeks ago, I started to put window screen mesh (acts like a shade cloth) over a few of my more exposed Haworthias. This was something I experimented with last year to great success. It lets them stay compact and color up, but keeps them from getting too much sun. There are only a few hours a morning of direct light, but it’s increasing fast, and there are more hot days now. The combo of too much heat and light can be deadly, especially if the pots get hot and the roots cook, or if the leaf surface burns. The screen will gradually expand over more of the collection in the coming weeks, diffusing the light before it hits the pots and plants.
If you can get this nice red color but the leaves stay plump, you found the Goldilocks zone.
Astrophytum ornatum
The whole genus Astrophytum is very popular with cactus growers, and A. ornatum is the biggest species (it can get over a meter tall - 40 inches, though you don’t usually see them this big). It is native to eastern Mexico. What is remarkable about this photo is the pink color of the flowers; everybody knows that Astrophytum flowers are yellow. Well, these flowers actually started out yellow as well, but on the second day they had a bit of a pink tinge, and on the third day they were this amazing color, before they wilted later in the day. I felt fortunate to be there at the right time to take the photo.
-Brian
Acantholimon caryophyllaceum
This little plant is quite short and often overlooked by visitors to the Ruth Bancroft Garden. It makes lots of tiny heads that heap up to form a kind of “living boulder” (much like Deuterocohnia brevifolia, which we also grow at the garden, but on a smaller scale). At a glance, you would not expect it to be as prickly as it is, but I have included a close-up to show how needle-sharp the tiny bluish leaves are. It comes from Eurasia (specifically, the Caucasus, Armenia and Kurdistan), and it is quite cold-hardy. Excellent for a rock garden. It belongs to the Plumbago Family.
-Brian
Haworthia hybrid, golden hour.
Update, 2 years later. May 2020. This has grown into a really lovely mature plant.
Page 1 of 29
