They grow up slowly

Today I happened to be browsing some of my old pages.  I found this blog, and I was so inspired by how well I used to do with my seedlings that I have decided to continue.

I couldn't figure out how to log in, so I started a new blog.  Then I figured out how to get access and I'm back!!  I'll figure out something else to do with the new blog.  Maybe the plants that aren't cacti or other succulents, since I've been trying my luck with a range of other things.  I am calling it "Green Leafy Fingers".

What has happened with the cacti from seed though, is that the biggest plants end up taking a lot of attention away from the smallest plants.  I am proud of the fifteen+ year old plants that I have grown from seed and their success, but I need to share my attention and energy across plants at all stages of growth.

And, just so this is not all about text and no images, one of my favourites - Astrophytum ornatum "glabrescens", about ten years old.

Some first flowers

Loving the new blooms that show up as my collection matures.

Some first blooms this summer...

Mammillaria neopalmeri

Melocactus concinnus

Mammillaria mainiae

Hamatocactus sinuatus

Mammillaria zeilmanniana

Coryphantha maiz-tablasensis

Mammillaria dioica

Mammillaria/Dolichothele species

I have a fascination with these species with prominent and distinct bright green tubercules.  Some of the members, however, have me uncertain of how they fit in, but I figure that it is the bright yellow flowers.

So here are some of mine (in bloom or otherwise)

Mammillaria sphaerica
Generous and willing bloomer

This M. sphaerica grows but hasn't flowered for some years now - nor will it clump...

Mammillaria camptotricha
This is my own ID for this plant - it hardly stops blooming and regularly creates offsets.

Dolichothele baumii
On;y one is willing to bloom while the others just continue to clump

Dolichothele uberiformis
No blooms to date on any of these but I am still ever hopeful

Mammillaria longimamma
I think this has bloomed once but whatever I did right I haven't done again.

Mammillaria balasoides/beneckei
Two varieties: No problem with blooming - just hoping that I will get some fruit with viable seed!

Dolichothele decipiens FO-140

Mammillaria melaleuca
From seed under this name but I think it is the wrong ID.  It doesn't exactly match the M. longimamma so it remains in my collection as melaleuca until someone can give me a better option

Mammillaria sartorii

This species was one of the first that I successfully brought to flower, from the first assorted batch of seeds I got from the UK in 2004.  Unfortunately, those seedlings fell prey to theft, and I determined that I needed to get this back in my collection.

So in 2011 I started over with a batch of seed, and here is the largest of them, blooming for the first time.  Surprisingly, the smaller ones bloomed last year, but only the occasional single flower or maybe two - but this one was worth waiting for.  I expect to be enjoying this for at least a week - something to open every day.

Mammillaria sartorii

Astrophytum blooms

So I have started to feel that I'm not doing too badly with Astro's anymore.  It used to be that whenever I would pot up a seedling, it would get vexed and keel over on me.  Now I am having better luck in growing them up and keeping them alive to reach blooming size.

This summer, several Astrophytm senile v aureum have been blooming, and amazingly, I have no photos of an open bloom.  The closest is this one (from seed 2007), despite the fatc that I brought an open bloom into the house last week (then went off to work without taking the picture  - too late by the time I got home).

Astrophytum capricorne (sowed 2007) has shown a few flowers this season.

My only surviving Astrophytum myriostigma from seed (2009) bloomed for the first time this year - I missed the first flower but caught the second one today (quite by chance, but I am happy).

Obregonia denegrii

This is one species that has always fascinated me.  I got two plants in 2006, but one didn't adjust to this climate and my treatment, and instead chose to leave this world.  The other has slowly grown but seemed to have come to a halt in the last couple of years. Maybe the growth has just been so slow that I couldn't see it happening.

What a surprise to see it bloom this summer - twice so far.  Moving the plants really seems to have made a huge difference - I guess everything happens in its own time.

So this was the small plant (in a 3" pot) when I got it in 2006.

Grew to fill that pot by 2011

Now in a 4" pot and blooming this summer.

Patience really is needed for these types of species.  I have two small ones nurturing from seed (sowed in 2007) that are now about the size that ths was in 2006.  Does that mean I have another 8 years to wait to see them reach to flower??

Hello, yellow!

Yellow blooms are always so cheerful.  There have been quite a few over the summer, from a range of species.

Astrophytum senile aureum

Dolichothele baumii

Mammillaria heidiae

Mammillaria sphaerica

Thelocactus setispinus

Weingartia platygona

This has been a floriferus month!

So many blooms to enjoy this month. Some I have shown already but many are hidden away in my files.

This week was a first for Echinopsis werdermanii sown in March 2006 - lovely pink

I think I have only once before ever had blooms from Mammillaria baumii, but this plant bloomed earlier this month and is flowering again now.  This is one of the smallest.

My ten-year old Mammillaria albicoma has blooms on one head only - hoping the rest will follow suit before the season is done.

Several pink/purple mamms showed their colours:

Mammillaria insularis (sowed 2008)

Mammillaria sheldonii-like

Mammillaria matudae (sowed 2006)

Mammillaria hubertmulleri (sowed 2008)

Mammillaria boolii (sowed 2007)

I am expecting some Turbinicarpus to open up this weekend so I will share those when I can.  Such tiny plants with such powerful blooms - always lovely!

Working on the little ones

Today I managed to "pot up" a tray of seedlings - mostly about a year old or so, from the sowing pot to a 128-cell tray (about 1" square or slightly smaller).  I'm looking forward to seeing these grow up without mishap, although I know that losses can't be avoided.

A variety of species, with a few Turbincarpus, Echinofossulocactus, Coryphantha, among others.

And while I know that it is not good to deliberately create uknown and unrecognised hybrids, I couln't stop myself from cross-pollinating these two Lobivia hybrids that were blooming this morning.  Hoping to get fruit with viable seed to grow MORE babies.  Love these Lobivia flowers!

I've been such a bad blogger!

Haven't added anything to my blog for over a year!!  I feel like a bad blogger, but there is opportunity to make up.

What can I write about tonight?

I have been having such success with blooming cacti this summer - especially since I FINALLY built my planthouse and have moved most of my plants in.  This was in May when it was substantially complete and only a few plants moved around.  It is now getting full and I need to get two more tables made to add to the seven that are in there now.

They really seem to be liking the environment, and it is so much easier to appreciate the plants when I don't have to be peeping under a table and through a mesh cage.

And just so that I include a specific cactus before I close off, this is Turbinicarpus polaskii blooming in May this year - in a 2" square tray.  I note that my last post last year mentioned that this was one I was nurturing.  Success!!

And another that has been nurtured carefully to bloom this April - Astrophytum asterias

Now I have so many blooms to share, I do need to do better at blogging regularly.  It is easy to talk about these babies that I grow from seed - to bring to bloom is such a rewarding feeling.