Pic spam

[cactuswatcher]

See how the rain sat on my blooming bush? It's an Australian bush that really thrives in Arizona's brutal sunshine.


This one decided to be very nice a few days ago. Like many cactus flowers they only lasted a day or two.


This little guy is a Pink Fairy Duster. I have a Red Fairy duster that's a big bush and blooms all year with similar scarlet flowers. This pink one is a much smaller plant, and only blooms in the spring. It had a rough winter, but I'm glad to see it bloomed.

Comments

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

These are beautiful pictures. I love how delicate the Pink Fairy Duster looks, like it really could send out fairy dust.
The flower on the cactus looks a lot like the straw flowers that I grow..they feel like they have been dried and preserved on the plant.

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

The fairy dusters have lots of nectar which attracts hummingbirds.

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

Do you ever grow things from seed?
Did I mention JL Hudosn to you?

And thank you for posting the pictures. I liked the one of Fairy Duster.. *smile* but more generally, I find the desert plants so like.. we do not have your droughts but we have wicked shifts here.. things that survive, that thrive.. are pretty amazing.

I've looked a bit at Australian plants for pot growth. I am pretty fond of the acacias.

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

Growing plants from seed was so easy in the Midwest, and it's so hard here. You almost have to have a green house. The sun is so harsh that even cacti have to have shade when they pop out of the ground or they will quickly sunburn and die. Cacti like to germinate in damp soil, but if it stays damp, small cacti are almost always attacked by a particular kind of mold. I grew a few years ago, but it was frustrating to lose most of them, instead of like young midwestern plants which have to be thinned out or they'd take over everything! Moving things from the green house environment (as when I buy plants from the nursery) to the yard is also tricky, but easier. The easiest is when mature plants that are growing in full sun have offshoots, you just dig them up and move them where you want them. You don't even have to water them right away, because desert plants perfer to dry out for a few days after they are moved.

A number of common plants in this region won't grow in my yard because there isn't enough shade. This Australian bush, called a Desert Senna, has been great. It loves the sun and does not need much water either.

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

Sure. We have different problems here but I do a few on windowsills. I am not the best with seeds myself. You have to be a little more attentive than I am good at. I've got quite a few lilies going, and have done the roses and a few other things that can withstand my ministrations. I really didn't expect the acacias to go but they turned out to be the easiest, and I couldn't resist the description:

ACACIA (a-KAY-sha)
LEGUMINOSAE. Some 1200 warm-region species of great ecological & evolutionary interest. Their earliest fossils are in North America, from where they expanded to worldwide, with an Australian center of diversity. Many species remain to be discovered. Some of the endangered endemics are now common in cultivation and are naturalized in safe new habitats. Highly ornamental, drought resistant, and should be grown by everyone living in warm climates. Excellent in pots in the cool greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill. They produce timber, fuelwood, dyes, tannins, medicinals, gums, forage, food, perfume, are nitrogen-fixing, soil stabilizing, diversifying, and have been used by man since the Neolithic. Elegant puff-like flowers and either feathery pinnate foliage or the leaves reduced to flat phyllodes. Fast growing, free blooming & ranging from tiny shrubs to tall trees. Best in areas with 18°F minimum temperature, though some stand some snow. Full sun & well-drained soil. Plant out early. Most have very long lived seed… http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/SeedlistA-AK.htm