This beauty is a Melocactus. Frost-tender, so I should avoid them.
Great plants and great plant people at the L.A. Arboretum weekend before last for the The 32nd Inter-City Cactus and Succulent Show and Sale. Saw many plant-loving buddies, and enjoyed a picnic lunch with Denise of A Growing Obsession. (Denise is one of the nicest, coolest people you could ever hope to meet, and her blog is sensational.) I had a wish list of exactly two plants, and failed to find either one at the sale. Bought a few others instead :~) Also bought about 50 lb of top dressing. A few photos:
Ecninocactus texensis was one of the two species on my want list. You can see why: it's gorgeous, and not huge. It's also hardy to at least 15° or 20°F.
Not much into plants with caudices, but if I were, I'd have tried to smuggle this beauty home.
Uebelmannia pectinifera, endemic to Brazil, turns a deep chocolate or purple color in sun. Fabulous looking but said to be a challenge to grow. Low tolerance for cold.
Dream plant right here: a gorgeous, variegated Ferocactus. Just perfect.
This variegated beauty is a hybrid between a Ferocactus and a Thelocactus, both species native to Mexico and the Southwest.
One Astrophytum...
... three Astrophyta? Plants in this genus are native to the Chihuahuan desert. "Easy and hardy," says palmbob. Good from 125°F to 20 °F.
Echinocactus parryi, high on the want list. Another native of the Chihuahuan desert.
Gorgeous little agave - sorry I didn't get the name of this one.
Agave parviflora v. flexiflora, now on the want list. This variety is native to the Mexican state of Sonora.
Running from a hungry Arboretum peacock. Denise saved me by offering it a small child.
My new Thelocactus bicolor, yet another Chihuahuan desert native, blooming like mad in the truck on the way home. I love the Inter-city show.
Great show, wasn't it? Was fun to visit with you a bit as well.
ReplyDeletePeacock sacrifices! Sounds like a sustainable way to get rid of small children.
It was so good to see you, and I love your posts on the show - beautiful photos, lust-worthy plants, and startlingly young exhibitors! Retired schoolteacher moment: precocious and apricot trace their intertwined roots to Arabic and early Latin: "ultimately from Arabic al-birqūq the apricot, ultimately from Latin (persicum) praecox, literally, early ripening (peach)." Small stick children are frequently offered to mountain lions on warning signs in the foothills(!).
DeleteSure, I'm nice at plant shows -- that's easy! You should have seen me trying to shop for jeans at Macy's after I left you at Folia Collective. That show/picnic was so much fun, it should become a tradition. And if you find that agave on your want list, you'll let me know, right?
ReplyDeleteHeh! Show and picnic were a blast, and I am going to track down that agave. I should have picked up one of the perfect little monsteras at FC, for the house, but I worry about the dogs nibbling on it [she said as she potted up another cactus]. Hope you found some jeans!
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