Stapelia gigantea in bloom...

Well, just to prove how distracted I've been lately, the first bloom on this plant, a couple of days ago, I didn't even notice until after it had faded... but I dutifully watched this bud and this morning it was obviously going to open today...

The blooms open in the afternoon, and stay pretty much until noon the next day... and yes they do smell like hamburger that's been left outside for some unknown reason, but the smell isn't unbearable as long as they're outside and you're more than 3 feet away. If you look closely, you will notice a carrion fly on the bloom... these are the plants pollinators.

Not that there's any pollination going on here... either they require a specific carrion fly polinator from their native land, or they require cross pollination and this is the only one within a mile, because for the last three years I've had plenty of blooms and not one ever even tried to produce a seed pod. I'm not that concerned... they're so easy from cuttings I can't imagine the neccesity of a seed.

As mentioned this is the second bloom this year. There are quite a few more buds beginning to pop out on the other side of the plant, but we're looking at a couple of weeks before they're likely to produce.


And now, I feel I should respond to the many people who expressed their condolences on my last post... Thank you all very much. I truly appreciate the kind thoughts and the concern expressed...

Last of the Stapeliad blooms, & ID help please

This is the last of the Stapeliad blooms for the year... most probably. Pretty soon, we'll be looking at bringing it in for the winter, and there is no way I'm letting this plant stink up the house , so any further buds will be picked before they develop.

As you can see, it has a couple of flies attracted....


Now, some of you may remember this plant from a previous post... http://lpfleamarket.blogspot.com/2008/07/curse-you-wal-mart.html

well, it's back...
Now, I know it's a Mammilaria, and that it divides dichotomously, meaning that it splits at the growing point rather than growing branches or pups. The thing is that it bloomed last week, you can see what's left of the blooms if you look closely. They were small, about a quarter inch across, and dark "Hot" pink, and I cannot, for the life of me, find a plant that divides this way with a bloom that color. Any ideas anybody? Or any resources on the web that might be able to help me out? I've exhausted most of my resources...
UPDATE: possibly this plant is Mammillaria crucigera ssp. crucigera, which divides dichotomously at maturity, and also produces pups and offsets at the base, or, it may be M. perbella...

Stapeliad finally blooming...

well, the darned thing finally bloomed, and I have to say it's about darned time.



And just for the record, it does smell like a pound of hamburger that's been left out in the sun, but only if you get close to it. Now, the thing is in a hanging basket, so I had to shoot the pic from underneath, but here it is...

It is attracting flies, and there was also one of those little fuzzy jumping spiders that look like miniature tarantulas there, I'm assuming that the spider was going after the fly... as you can see, there are quite a few more buds forming. It'll be interesting to see how many blooms I get, before I lose patience with the smell and just start pulling buds off... Right now, I think I should celebrate the bloom with a nice dinner, but after smelling the thing I think I'll opt for vegetarian tonight...

finally, some pics....

Finally got a few minutes to go outside with the camera and see what there is to take pics of.

Well, It's confirmed... the Stapeliad is definitely forming buds... The plant hangs on the edge of the lathe-house, and the buds are all forming on the shaded side of the plant, at least nine but possibly as many as a dozen! I'm hoping that the thing doesn't put out 4 or 5 at once and make the neighbors look at me like I'm strange, the smell may get overwhelming... Having never had this one bloom for me, I have no idea how long before the buds develop, but I'll be keeping an eye on it.

Unlike Pudgeduck, I don't have a Turr Tull in the yard to keep me amused, I guess I'll have to settle for a plastic one. This is actually from that lot of garden art and flower pots I have for the flea market. I may keep him, but it's far more likely that I'll sell him off next spring... cute garden statues aren't really my style.
But Lil' Gothic Bob is enjoying him...

he was trying to get the thing to give him a ride like those giant tortoises you see at the zoo, but the thing just wouldn't cooperate!

Happenings in the yard...

Well, I have good news...



My Cereus hildmannianus, which has had a very traumatic summer, has decided to put out a couple of blooms! I had talked about this plant in some previous posts... (if you're interested, click on the label link to the right...) and I was surprised to see 2 very small buds forming this morning. But cross your fingers, this plant has been known to put up false buds. Usually, of about 10 small buds, only 7 will finish developing and bloom, some will abort. I'm told that this may be a survival technique... in the wild, the buds may be eaten by grazing animals, so if the real buds get eaten before they fully develop, these false or secondary buds will go ahead and develop... This is of course all speculation, but that's what they say...



Also in surprises, My stapeliad gigantea(?) which has also had a traumatic summer(see previous post) seems to be putting out 3 buds too... way too small for me to be sure, but it doesn't look like new stem growth, as there's plenty of that on there too. Cross your fingers! This plant is fairly new, and I haven't ever seen it bloom, so I'm looking forward to the big blooms, but I can't say that I'm going to be thrilled about something smelling like a dead animal in the yard...



And, just to have some sort of pic for everybody to look at... here's a pic of the Echeveria 'Blue Moon' blooming in the yard.

stapeliad in a strawberry jar...

every spring and early summer, there are these places that set up by the side of the road, that sell plants. If you know what you're looking for, you can find some good deals... Agaves for 5.00, hanging baskets for 8.... this stapelia was one of the hanging baskets... Well, got it home, and within a week, branches started falling off. Turned out that the thing was planted in entirely the wrong kind of potting soil, and had developed root rot... so I broke off all of the stems, cut off the rotten parts and let them dry for a few days.

Then I mixed up some new soil, and the only pot I had that was big enough was this strawberry jar. Planted it up, hung the strawberry jar with an iron ring made for orchids, and now it's about trippled in size... (the things are serious about growing when they get it in their little minds) and he seems to be doing fine... Now, I'm pretty sure that it's a gigantea, but I won't know for sure until it blooms, and, after that rough start, blooms might be a bit much to expect this year. But I kind of like how it turned out...