Missed first bloom on M. boolii

I have been so busy in the last few weeks that I have only found time to keep the baby babies watered. I hardly have been looking at the others except for a cursory peek. So imagine my disappointment when I realised that two of my Mammillaria boolii plants had bloomed without me even noticing!

I think these are beautiful flowers (based on the photos I have seen) but so far there was no sign of any action, although these are said to bloom at a very young age - I think mine are now about 4 years or older now... so I had resigned myself to the belief that it was a fault of the climate - too warm for too long with no winter to allow buds to form.

WRONG!!! Although I missed them, I'm happy that I will have more to look forward to, as there are more buds... and now I'm keeping close watch to see the progress and I hope to see one of the blooms this weekend.

So far the gymnos have been constantly blooming - so much so that I hardly notice them anymore (and I should learn my lesson to always be observant else I will miss something important). I'm feeling good about my progress and just want to keep on growing!

What you can do when there's time

I have been off work for the past week and have put the time to good use in relation to my plants - been taking some photos and updating labels and other related stuff. It's interesting to look at how far some plants have come, or even just to realise that a plant is already several years old!

These are a few of the photos taken today of some plants sowed in 2008 (yesterday by now)

Leuchtenbergia principis


Notocactus leninghausii


Mammillaria schwarzii


Echinocereus rigidissimus


Thelocactus schwarzii


Acanthocalycium peitscherianum

Some pics of last year's seedlings

So I finally got around to taking and editing some photos - not the best but it's a start. These are from the seeds sown last May and July...

Gymnocalycium mesopotamicum


Eriosyce paucicostata


Echinocereus viridiflorus


Echinocereus subinermis


Echinocereus pectinatus


Soon I will have to prick these out because they are just too crowded. I guess it would be best to do this before the summer sets in...

Good growing so far

This year has been a good growing and germinating one for me so far. I've been sowing and sowig and the results are looking good. I even have run out of seeding pots so I'm not sure what I will do for the rest of the seeds that I have ordered and that I already have. I will have to find a creative solution.

The older seedlings are in growth and I have been working nearly every weekend to pot them up to larger trays so that they can continue to develop. Now I can feel the squeeze as I am running out of space. I need a new table to spread out more trays else I will have to hold back the plants that obviously want to achieve their potential.



Even the flowering is better than usual - perhaps because several seedlings have reached that stage of maturity - 3 to 4 years old and are now blooming for the first time. The Mamms mostly bloomed earlier in the year and now the Gymnos are coming into their own. Lots of buds and sevral blooms this weekend. The Copiapoa hypogea, the Gymnocactus gielsdorfianus, and the Turbinicarpus klinkerianus refuse to be left out, as they have been blooming regularly since January.

Mammillaria picta


Copiapoa hypogea


What I've been especially bad at is taking the photos and sharing them - even today when several Gymno flowers were opened, I thought about getting the camera... and then I forgot. But I had taken photos two days ago... all plants from the same seed pod but different shades of blooms

Gymnocalycium damsii v rotudulum

Some blooms on babies

This week, three of my gymnos grown from seed opened up their blooms. The first one from this seedling batch had bloomed in early May. I'd expected to get the same bloom but the colouring is different. I took out the paintbrush and twiddled so I'll see if I get any fruit from the exercise.

I got the seed from Bill in SC for these babies that I sowed in January 2007... he presumes these to be a product of Gymnocalycium stenopleurum or hybrid

May 2010 bloomer




June 2010 bloomers






Seed from my own plant - a Gymnocalycium damsii rotundulum hybrid - again the seedlings produce different flower colours

Blooming in May




Another blooming this week

Things are looking up

I have been trying to get back to work on my plants - potting up into larger seedling trays, watering and fertilising, and just paying more attention on the weekends although my time is still somewhat limited.

So I have seen several seedlings start to show buds and blooms - various Gymnos and Mamms, and one of my oldest, Cereus pernambucensis, is blooming tonight but it's too dark for me to get a photo - hope I can get up early enough to snap it before it closes. I have photos of some of the other blooms but those will have to be shared at another time. I just wanted to say a little about what's been going on.

No more rain

I guess it was a passing one-day shower. No more rain since, and no water in the pipes either. It's getting worse and worse but I still have to find recycled water to sprinkle the babies because they don't have the reserves to withstand totally dry conditions for too long.

I haven't even sown any more seed although I have some I got in January, because the conditions just don't seem conducive and it's hard for me to get them through the initial stages without enough moisture. I continue to hope for a change in weather, and will try to post some photos from earlier this year.

Today it rained

It has been a long season of drought and it's a good thing that I grow the type of plants that I do else they would all be DEAD! Even so, they all seem to enjoy a good shower of rain, and they surely do perk up and show visible growth when they are able to get a good drink.

I'll have to give the ones out in the garden a quick look-over in the morning to see how they have responded to today's rains. Hoping for more showers so that we cna get regular water back into the pipes!

Quick update

What can I say? I've been taking some photos but just not posting them to show what's been happening in my garden.

Today I noted one of my tiny plants blooming - Turbinicarpus klinkerianus grown from seed in April 2007, and I have to publish that, if nothing else.

Last chance for 2009

In the last week or so, I have finally started to resume my relationship with my plants - and I've been trying to pot up some of the babies and my plan for the rest of the day is to sow seeds. My last seed batch was done in June, and I just feel I must be able to get in one more set for 2009. Whatever I do tomorrow will be one whole year younger!

I don't usually make resolutions, but I really have to try to find the time to do the things that I enjoy, like growing my cacti and reading. We will see what happens in 2010.