Sticky Fingers

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Stapelia gigantea

Not one of my favourites but still an interesting flower (despite the smell) .




I took a close-up of the centre..... kind of hypnotic, I think.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Lobivia!

A lovely red flower on an unidentified Lobivia species...






When I got this in 2004 at the JHS Flower Show, it was a nice globular plant that looked as though it was budding and about to bloom. No such luck! Maybe it was the change in environment that didn't agree with it, but instead of plumping up nicely it started to stretch its neck to become a tall skinny plant with babies clumped around it.



I still think it looks a bit disfigured, but if it's happy enough to show its true colours, I shall not complain any more. It seems to have another bud, and I'm watching in anticipation.

I have propagated a few pups, and hope that I can encourage them to grow into nice neat specimens.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Consolea spinosissima

I think the flowers on this cactus are so interesting - they change colour as the days pass. I haven't been paying enough attention, though, to have a good grip on what colour they start at and when and where they end up, but I caught all three phases of flower on the same plant one day last week.

Yellow (about to change) ..........to orange ... then red



I can't get better photos of the flowers because the plant is so tall. This is it - over 3 metres (about 10 feet) tall now and was blown in the windy weather two weeks ago so it is now leaning on the fence. I'm hoping it will straighten itself back up but I may have to get a prop or something (not sure how successful that would be). I wonder how much taller it will get.