It's been bad in NY. I've managed to get some of mine outside from time to time, but I have several that have started to etoliate because I just haven't been able to get them out into the light enough. :( Today and tomorrow - I'm leaving them out overnight - will be the first night all summer they'l...

daiv wrote:Of course, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

Some people might even think Euphorbia flowers are the most beautiful...

You can't beat a euphorbia milii for reliable bloom.

Orchid cactus.

'Nuff said?

Seriously, I'd hate to have to choose one or the other. They're all lovely. I do better bringing cacti into flower, though.

What kind of marks are they? Is there any way you could post a picture of it? And don't give up on plants yet. Spider plants really aren't as easy to keep happy as all the books claim. At least, I've never managed to keep one happy more than a few months, and my thumb is fairly green. And lucky bamb...

Letting them dry out for several weeks in the autumn also encourages buds. Two of mine got pushed back behind a bunch of other plants and didn't get watered for close to a month over the winter. I found them looking quite unhappy, rehydrated the pots - and lo and behold, they were both covered with ...

It's been rain or cloudy every day here for three weeks. Today we actually had a little AM sun, but tomorrow is cold and rainy again.

I think next week is supposed to be a little nicer, though. Hope so. My poor plants could really use some sun.

I should 'fess up that my first cactus had eyes. But, in my defense, I was eleven years old at the time.

We've been having England's weather here, I think - rainy, cloudy, damp and barely making it to 60F for the past five days. My poor plants are camped around the house, dreaming of when they get to go back outside and get some light.

You also have to make sure that the mix hasn't gotten so dried out that the water's just running down the sides of the pot and not soaking into the root ball at all. That happens more with the unamended peat mix so many box store cacti come in. I bought a cute - and small - mammarillia (I know that'...

Very nice! I just set out some foxgloves a couple of weeks ago. They're one of the few plants white-tail deer won't touch.

Sometimes holding a warm, damp washcloth over the offending straw flower for a minute or so softens the glue enough to pull it off safely. (I may have to try the exacto trick on one parodia, though.)

The worst offender around here is an otherwise reputable nursery that for whatever reason feels the need to do silly things with cacti. With the box stores around here, you can find some amazing things if you happen to hit the garden center on the right day. I even found a healthy little saguaro at ...

Tres magnifique!

Pretty! Love the color on the brevifolia.

Thanks :). I don't have a greenhouse, so all my plants are windowsill plants - which can make it hard to get flowers sometimes. Although setting one up on the (cool) top window sash and then accidentally forgetting it's up there for a couple of months seems to work. I had to think where the heck the...