Why do my plants insist on doing wierd things?

Well, some of my regular readers may recognize these plants... having seen them before. These are the infamous Ferocactus wislenzeni... or at least I think that's what they are... or, I thought that's what they were... I'm not 100% sure anymore.

Now, origionally, I got these just over a year ago, in the mail from an ebay seller in what had to be the absolute worst packing job ever...

There were five total... I wanted them because these plants are rather winter hardy for a Ferocactus, and they're reasonably common as a landscape plant in this area... they're also way too expensive for my small budget to buy one of any size, so I bought these seedlings, hoping that I'd eventually get them to blooming size. One I planted in the rock garden, and the other four I potted up to bring in last winter... They're all doing just fine, actually... I went out to do some basic plant stuff today, and here they were...
Now, it's fairly easy to see in the above pic, that the second from the left is putting up a little pup or offset. My reading tells me that this isn't common, but it isn't unheard of. The plant generally grows as a solitary column though... I didn't think too much of this when I noticed it this spring. It happens... and heres a close-up of it...

Then, in taking care of them... I noticed that another one was putting up pups... 2 to be exact...

Ok... that's not right... if something is uncommon, half of them shouldn't be doing it, right? So, off to the front yard... and what do you know...

The one in the rock garden is doing it too... that means out of 5 plants... thats 60% of my Fero's are doing something that they're not supposed to do...

So, the question is... Do I have some remarkable Ferocactus? or did that dweeb, in addition to packing the cactus badly, pack the wrong damned cactus? Which forces the question, what are they? The one that survived the winter seriously narrows the field. Echinocereus will survive here, and pup rather redily... after they're bigger than this... theses are really too small... Well, I don't know.

And of course, they're not putting out the hook shaped spines... I had put that down to them being still juvenile... the spines they're getting now are definitely a little different from the spines they had when they got here... so, there's a definite chance that they're not fero's or if they are, they're not wislenzeni...

But if they're not fero's, then I need to find some more, because I really really want feros.

If they are fero's, then why are they doing this? The inside ones got no water during the winter, as our winter isn't long and I wanted dormancy. They haven't gotten too much or the wrong kind of plant food, as they've gotten none that I know of... and the two that haven't pupped still may, they're noticably smaller than the other three. They may be waiting till they reach the right size...

Really, I don't need this confusion right now...

more pics from around the yard...

Well, last Monday, my day off... I was out in the yard working and decided I'd take some pics of what's happening out there... The M. sonorensis v. craigii is just starting to bloom... Click on that link to see the whole plant and other stuff about it... This is one of the plants that I was really worried about. I didn't think it was going to make it through the winter, but it managed, although there is some dammage visible on the plant. I'm not gonna worry about it too much, I don't look as good as I used to either. We call it character.

Now, some of you may remember this plant from the absolute worst packing job ever...

This is one of five that I got in the mail... this one was outside to test hardiness, while the other 5 stayed inside for the winter. I really really thought I lost this one... after the last snow, I checked him, and the center growing tip was dark, almost black. I figured rot had set in. Turns out, not so much. He's just fine.

And the Yucca aloifolia... is blooming too... 2 stalks are up and open, and 1 is just starting out. Remarkable things aren't they?

And that's about it...

So, I was driving along minding my own business today, when I took a cut through a neighborhood in Ft. Worth, (not the best neighborhood, btw) to avoid a traffic issue on the road.

My GPS started sputtering... it's not good with deviations from its planned route. It has control issues... and I suddenly had to come to a screeching halt.

OK. I'm exaggerating. I was going maybe 30 mph. There was no screeching of the tires involved. But I did have to come to a rather abrupt halt.

Here's why.

I saw this in someones yard :

This massive cactus clump has obviously been here for a very long time... and it would appear to have survived this winters record breaking temps.

Please, please, please... somebody tell me what this plant is called.

I want one.

I want one really really badly.

There were other cactus in the yard too... including a 6 foot tall cholla nestled up against the mailbox. I'm sure the mail man is just thrilled with that. There was also a few prickly pears, and a ferocactus wislenzeni... that has outgrown it's attractive stage. The F. wislenzeni will survive our winters fairly well, but not usually unscathed. They're cute as a bug when they're small... but after they get big... not so much. But... I digress...

I couldn't hang for long, I was on a run, but I did take note of the address so that I can keep my eye on this plant over the next few months and take more pics when the blooms show up... in the close-up pic, you can see the fuzzy beginnings of buds starting out. And if I just happen to be in the neighborhood when they go to seed... or better yet, when the owner cuts off a branch and puts it by the road in the trash... oh well...

more cactus planted...

I finally got the ferocactus potted up... I decided that after I had to wash all the icky biodegradable packing peanuts off, I'd give them an extra day to dry off good... I think they'll do fine. I've got about a month or two to find a place in the ground for them, or wait until next spring to do so... I just feel more comfortable giving them plenty of time to establish themselves before they have to deal with the cold...

And here's the Oreocereus celsianus that I got off a clearance rack for 3 bucks... he's 8 inches tall, and the plant can get to 10 feet! I'm not sure that he'll do really well here, but for 3 bucks, I'll experiment. With any luck, he'll survive and I'll get to see some of the red flowers soon...

And that's about it... a lot of the cactus on my list are considered rare in cultivation. The only way I'm going to be able to get them is from seed. After I've double checked hardiness on all of them, because I don't want to get a plant that doesn't have at least a fighting chance, I'll publish the list and see what y'all have to say about them...

I've also found that a lot of the plants listed as hardy all the way up to zone 5 have never been tried! It seems that most people just assume cactus don't grow there and move on to the petunias! So, no matter how careful I am, it seems that I'm experimenting no matter what...

cactus in the ground!

Well, here's one of the appallingly badly packed ferocactus, in his new home in my front rock garden.

The other four are currenly in 4 inch terra cotta pots... which are probably slightly too big for them but I didn't have any other pots handy, so there we are... I'm sure they'll be fine, despite their ordeal in the envelope.

One other thing I should mention... someone once told me that if you write things down, it makes them happen... something about getting your subconscious to work for you, or guardian angels or higher selves... (some new age silliness... considering who told it to me, it could have been any one of those things, but I'm not entirely sure which it is now. Personally I think it boils down to "If you know what you want it's easier to get it.")

The point of this is that I mentioned a few posts back that I was making a list of winter hardy cactus that I wanted for the yard.

Well, I walked into Lowes, right after I picked up my truck, because I wanted to buy a little piece of nothing that I needed for a repair job... and I saw a cactus sitting on their plant clearance rack. In really beautiful shape... not at all like the others on the rack which were beat up beyond redemption... I grabbed it without even giving it a second thought... and after I got it home, I looked at the tag, and it's an Oreocereus celsianus, aka Peruvian Old Man Cactus. The tag said not to let it get below 45 degrees, but I'm pretty sure that's what it says on all the cactus tags at lowes.

Well, it's on my list. The first plant I wrote on my list... (erie, huh?)

I since researched a little more... conflicting info and all, and it's definitely hardy to 10 degrees, so I'll be putting him in the rock garden this weekend... and I'll take a pic of him in his new home. The real problem will not be the cold, but the heat... they are native to high, mountainous deserts, and summer heat may stress him...

Work was good. Air Conditioning is a wonderful thing.

And now I'm making a new list.

I want a new truck. I want a greenhouse. I want a house on five acres. I want 10 million dollars...

Hey, if it works for plants, why not?
Later.

So I started today by taking my morning cup of coffee out to my lathe house, where I was poking around the plants in the cool of the morning, and I suddenly felt something on the top of my head... turned out to be Phennig, reaching through the lathe and trying to claw my scalp.

Little booger...


The 5 little Ferocactus wislenzeni I ordered from ebay came in the mail today... in an envelope, padded with waste paper, recycled packing peanuts and loose dirt...

And most of the peanuts are those biodegradable ones, the ones that dissolve in water... and these got just damp enough to get all sticky and gooey and stuck to each other, the envelope, and the plants... really, you'd think the guy would at least have wrapped them in paper. Not entirely happy... but they are 2 inches tall and about that wide (if you count the spines) and they did get here... I'll try to get some better pics after I get them cleaned up and planted/potted.

right now... I'm waiting for my ride to get here so that I can pick up the truck.

That's right... I'm gonna be mobile again... Hide the children, I'm loose!