Hello Neighbor Andyman!

Wowsers! Fantastic. You are definitely doing something right.

Majcka, I had thought you were a 'she', but when you talked about "wifes", I thought that I must have remembered wrong. Now that I know once more, the "wife" sentence makes better sense. Well, the really important part is -- Hichang, we are so glad you have joined us. Welcome fro...

Welcome Hichang.

You and Majcka need to be nice when talking about wives or you might be sleeping with the cactus.

Look forward to seeing what you are growing.

For years my mother kept these in pots and in the house only. They had a 'finer' structure then, but I don't remember how much finer. I only remember being surprised how big, thick and fleshy they became when grown in real dirt outside. Also surprised how well they survived the cold. When my mother ...

Sundanz, I know it is not a pencil cholla. For one thing, it is way too fat. The flowers are also much too pretty. However, the 'care' of out of control chollas is roughly the same. At this point, i don't know where Andyman lives. Out-of-control may not be an environmental possibility. ... in any ca...

The arms/segments will break off fairly easy. Keep it out of the pathway. Every segment will root. A blessing or a curse, depending upon where you live. If you live where these can grow natively, you might find the concepts in this posting useful: http://cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32367&am...

For my stapelia, I grow them in both the dirt and in pots. My dirt is a heavy, shallow, black clay. In pots, I use mostly compost and some perlite. I say all that to suggest that the actual soil mix is not that important to them. It is certainly drier here than in Tyler. (I have a sister who lives i...

Sorry Sparkie - spring-summer is such a wonderful time to be a gardener that I haven't visited here much and missed your request. Went out and took a few shots this morning. These are exactly the plants that were pictured reaching out from under the oak tree. I have already trimmed off the spent blo...

Those fleshy things on your pad are typical of new prickly pear pads. I have read in layman kind of wildflower books that these are actually the leaves of prickly pears. Later they will be replaced by spines. It is my understanding that the pads are biologically the trunk/stem. Never have watched cl...

Beautiful. How long do the blooms last?

Ooh! I like that even better. Gorgeous.

Very pretty. Love the hot pink color with the white frillies inside.

Congratulations on this beauty.

Wow! What a landscape.

Welcome. We look forward to seeing what else blooms.

Can't tell you anything about growing them from seed, but I can tell you some about how/where they grow natively. The ones I know (i.e., those that grow wild in my area), grow in poor, fast draining, sandy soil. The weather from June to September is hot and sunny, except when it is hot, sunny and hu...