Thursday, March 27, 2008

Mammillaria Elongata (Cactus!)

The other day, I was surfing the world of garden blogs, following Jodi at Bloomingwriter's advice on improving your own blog and adding readership. One of her tips(great post by the way!) was to search out other blogs and leave comments. For me, I check my favorite ones and then look to see who they have on their list of favorites. From there you can end up in a whole other world. I have found blogs devoted to cooking, wine, crocheting, writing and reading. Most of which I thoroughly enjoy. But gardening and birding are my main passions and while I enjoy reading some of the others, I rarely leave comments on those sites. But I have found some wonderful new(to me anyway) places to visit and am learning so much from them.

All of this is a prelude to the fact that I found a picture of a cactus that looked a lot like one I have. I have never know a name for it and was intrigued that the pictured one was called Copper King. Could it be related to the one I have? So I left a comment on Water When Dry asking her. She very graciously answered and told me mine was probably a regular 'mammillaria elongata' Another question I had for her was how did she get hers to bloom. Mine has, usually in late February or early March, but it hadn't in a couple of years. She explained they were sometimes hard to get to bloom and were not reliable bloomers. Okay, I could understand that. I have trouble with house plants re-blooming, why should this cactus be any different? The next day, while watering the plants in my garden window, I decided the cactus could use a sip as I often don't water it for weeks at a time. What is that on it's spines, another moth, a piece of fuzz? I do get those things in that window and they do get hooked on the cactus spines. No It was a bud! Moving it carefully towards the front, I found several blooms and buds. It must be cactus envy!

If you are into native plants from other areas, check out Water When Dry. She has excellent pictures and descriptions of the southwest's plants.

I also found another sign of spring today. It is a day lily poking it's leaves through the much and leaves. Sorry, I don't remember the name...I've had it for years and was not in the habit of writing down the names. That has all changed this year as I have made a resolution to track everything in my new garden journal. Over at Prairie Rose's Garden, she has some very interesting resolutions for this year's gardening!
Our weather forecast calls for rain eight out of the next ten days, so very little actual gardening will get done. The temps are supposed to moderate in the mid-fifties though and that sounds wonderful. Almost spring like!



8 comments:

Lisa at Greenbow said...

That is one cool spiny looking cactus Beckie. I never know the names of my succulents and cactus because they aren't usually marked. I wonder why the growers of cactus and succulents think that people don't want to know their names?? Weird.

We are sloppy wet here too. UGH

Julie said...

Hi. This is a beautiful large specimen you have!!! Hooray for the white blooms! My Mammillaria just blooms fuschia colored flowers, but I love the idea of white! It was the first time for mine, so it was such a nice surprise!!! I love succulents, and if you haven't been over to my blog, I would love to see ya! Check out all my succulents under my labels. I have mostly all succulent lovers, including Aiyana at Water When Dry, in my links! All great people, and with tons of photos and information!
Julie

beckie said...

Lisa, Andrea brought this home when she was little..maybe from school? It was about the size of my thumb. I know what you mean about no names!!?

Julie, maybe you have the 'Copper King' variety. Thanks for stopping by and I will visit!

Rose said...

Beckie,
Ah, I do have cactus envy! I am so mad at myself for not bringing one home from Arizona. Water when Dry posted a comment on my blog when I wrote about visiting Arizona. She certainly is knowledgable about succulents and is worth visiting.

Cheryl said...

Hi Beckie....Like you I do a lot of blog hopping. I had problems with a bamboo and went on to madmanbamboos blog and he was really helpful.

Please show me when your cacti flowers......I love to see them in flower, they are usually so beautiful.

I like your posts they are always different each time I visit.

We have had rain all day again. Will I ever get the tractor mower out and cut my grass. It is so long I am sure there are creatures living in it.

Wendy said...

I usually end up drowning my cactuses! I feel sorry for them because they don't get the attention (and water) that my other house plants do.{sigh!}

This is a really informative post. Thanks for all the info.

Lucky you to have all those buds on your cactus to look forward to.

Amy said...

Very cool cactus - how exciting that it's blooming again!

beckie said...

Rose, I told you so! You'll just have to make another trip out there for cactus. She really has interesting posts about her native plants.

Cheryl, isn't it amazing what is out there in blog land!? Hope you get to mow before the critters set up permanent residence.

Wendy, they really do better if you ignore them. Mine may go weeks without water and then only a little. In Feb. I water a little more because that is when they would get water in the 'wild'. Try again with one.

Amy, as I said, it really surprised me this year. It didn't do anything last year and I was beginning to think it needed re-potting. I was not looking forward to trying to do that!