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  #1  
Old 04-16-2017, 04:52 PM
estación seca's Avatar
estación seca estación seca is offline
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I can't see the screen of my phone at all in the sun, and I can't figure out how to focus better blindly. But you get the picture(s.)

Mass of Tillandsias and Epiphyllum 'Frühlingsgold' at my mom's house in coastal southern California. The Epi is a tropical epiphytic cactus hybrid. It has fragrant flowers, like lemon. The Tillies' name tags are buried in the mass of plant. Note the blue flowers in the upper right corner.

Easter flowers-tillandsias_epiphyllum-fruehlingsgold_easter_20170416_secas_mom-jpg

Texas ranger (Leucophyllum, family Scrophulariaceae). The photo doesn't do the plant justice; this is a purple/grey cloud in person. There are lots of species and hybrids used as landscape shrubs here. Most have small, felty white leaves due to dense covering with tiny hairs. They got their name from this felty white color's resemblance to the uniforms of the old Texas Rangers. Different cultivars have been selected for leaf color (dark green through white) and flower color (white through pink, purple and dark purple.) This is a volunteer seedling. Some have wonderful fragrances. This one has a floral/bubblegum smell, a lot like a Neofinetia. They grow incredibly easily here, and flower well in a 1 gallon / 3.78 liter or smaller pot. They are desert shrubs requiring alkaline soil and water, succumbing to rot rapidly with acidic conditions. They tolerate temperatures far below freezing for some time, but they can't take frozen soil. Seed is tiny, like its relatives foxglove and snapdragon.

Easter flowers-leucophyllum_sp_easter_20170416_seca-jpg

At the bottom of the photo you see two dog bowls with inverted foam cups, one plant from the top (bottom?) of each cup. These are succulent Mexican rock figs, Ficus cotinifolia and F. peninsularis. In habitat birds deposit seeds on rocks, where they sprout during rainy weather, then send out one or two leaves. They spend all their energy sending a root down until it reaches the soil. The root ramifies, then the top starts growing when the new water supply is available. The portion of roots dangling down the rock face thickens and enlarges enormously, until it can look like a flow of wax down the rock. I am training them to have long roots. I will soon move them to longer tubes above the soil, and eventually pot them into a decorative container on top of a rock, with the roots dangling down the rock.

Senna covesii is a small native shrub in the bean family Fabaceae. This one volunteered. It blooms throughout the year, more in warm weather. It was formerly called Cassia.

Easter flowers-senna_covesii_easter_20170416_seca-jpg

Persian lilac, Syringa xpersica. French lilacs can't tolerate our warm winters. This one grows and flowers just fine. The fragrance is very similar to a French lilac, but not quite so powerful. It's in a 1 gallon pot in my repotting area, ready for me to set into my garden.

Easter flowers-syringa_xpersica_easter_20170416_seca-jpg

Cercidium microphyllum, foothills palo verde, also family Fabaceae. One of our wonderful native trees. The tiny developing pea pods taste just like sugar peas, but have no string to pull. This time of year the entire city is full of bright yellow trees of this species and a few relatives. Driving from here to Las Vegas is also beautiful because palo verde trees grow along all the desert washes.

Easter flowers-cercidium_microphyllum_easter_20170416a_seca-jpg

Easter flowers-cercidium_microphyllum_flowers_easter_20170416b_seca-jpg

Leucaena retusa, lead tree, also family Fabaceae. It is native to west Texas and northern Mexico, but survives in gardens all along the southern and western coastal US, from Florida to southern California, and up into Canada. The inflorescence is not quite as large as it looks due to foreshortening.

Easter flowers-leucaena_retusa_flowers_easter_20170416b_seca-jpg

Ruellia peninsularis is in family Acanthaceae. This one is native to Baja California. It grows to about 3 feet / 1 meter in height, with flowers about 1.5" / 3.75cm across. It flowers all year, takes some frost and survives on our 8" / 200mm average rainfall once established. The genus has seed capsules that explode with an audible SNAP when they get wet. The seeds, the size of a poppyseed, can be flung 10 feet / 3 meters or more. It is funny to watch people watering it when they don't know this. It also flowers in a 1 gallon or smaller pot.

Easter flowers-ruellia_peninsularis_easter_20170416_seca-jpg

This is a hybrid German Iris. I lost the name long ago. This one reblooms in the fall, sometimes.

Easter flowers-iris_germanica_hybrid_easter_20170416_seca-jpg

To be continued with the succulents....
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Last edited by estación seca; 04-16-2017 at 05:08 PM..
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  #2  
Old 04-16-2017, 05:01 PM
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Thelocactus bicolor is known (in the US) as the Glory of Texas. It is native from southwestern Texas into Mexico, in the Chihuahuan Desert. It grows as a solitary ball up to perhaps 4" / 10cm across, and flowers from the apex repeatedly during warm weather. (Most cacti flower once per year.) This bowl is 18" / 16cm in diameter. I planted six mature to near-mature plants in it about 15 years ago. They reseed readily, and flower from early March through November if I keep them moist. I recommend this to anybody who wants just one cactus.

Easter flowers-thelocactus_bicolor_bowl_easter_20170416_seca-jpg

Opuntia phaeacantha is a southwestern US native, covering a huge swath of territory. Different areas have differing spine length, and spine and flower coloration. This is a clone popular in landscapes here with two-tone flowers and LOOOOONG black and white spines. It grows about 2' / 6cm tall and spreads much wider.

Easter flowers-opuntia_phaeacantha_flower_easter_20170416a_seca-jpg

Easter flowers-opuntia_phaeacantha_plant_easter_20170416b_seca-jpg

Albuca clanwilliamgloriae is a member of a large African genus of bulbs in family Hyacinthaceae. This one is a winter grower and is summer dormant. Flower spikes reach to about my height, 5' 11" or 180cm. It is just about the largest Albuca; most are small to miniature plants. Albucas are extremely easy to grow, and both summer and winter growers will survive here in the ground. I grew this from seed I bought from Silverhill Seed in Cape Town in about 2000. This year the rodents ate most of the plants to the ground, though they are supposed to be toxic.

Easter flowers-albuca_clanwilliamgloriae_easter_20170416_seca-jpg

Myrtillocactus geometrizans is a central Mexican columnar cactus that got its name from the resemblance of its fruits, in appearance and taste, to myrtle berries (Mediterranean relatives of N American blueberries.) It is also known as the Gumby cactus for its blue-green epidermis. Unusual for cacti, it flowers for many years from the same areoles. The 1.5" / 3.8cm flowers smell like Juicy Fruit chewing gum. You can see developing fruits on areoles above and below the flowers. There are several strains in cultivation in the US; this one has much thicker stems than the more commonly cultivated version. There is also a beautiful crested form available.

Easter flowers-myrtillocactsu_geometricus_easter_20170416_seca-jpg

Aloe litoralis is the name often given to something that grows here in full-sun-tolerant clumps, and stays low. There is a variety with yellowish-orange flowers, and another with yellow flowers. However, the real A. litoralis from S Africa, seen here, is a solitary plant developing a trunk. It can't tolerate full sun all day, so I grow it on the east side of a palo verde tree. Now is the end of Aloe flowering season, and this one still has a few flowers. The inflorescence fell over during development, which is why the stem grew in a U-shape.

Easter flowers-aloe_litoralis_easter_20170416_seca-jpg

Gasteria is a genus of low plants in the Aloe family. This plant was brought back from habitat in Africa in 1997 by a member of our local cactus society who sadly passed away far too young some years ago. I got it at the sale of his collection. I don't know the species. Gasterias have inflated flower bases (gaster = Greek for belly) compared to most aloes.

Easter flowers-gasteria_sp_easter_20170416_seca-jpg

Dyckia is a genus of bromeliads, mostly from Brazil. The genus was named after Prince Salm-Dyck, after whom many other succulents were named. They have been hybridized a lot. This is D. Pink Ice. Surprisingly, it is fully hardy here with overnight temperatures in the lower twenties F / -5C, though I bring it under cover on cold nights. Not all Dyckias are so hardy. Out of flower, Dyckia, with bisexual flowers, is indistinguishable from the North American bromeliad genus Hechtia, which has white flowers, and separate sexes on separate plants.

Easter flowers-dyckia_pink-ice_plant_easter_20170416a_seca-jpg

Easter flowers-dyckia_pink-ice_flowers_easter_20170416b_seca-jpg

Most of the plants in these two messages are extremely easy to grow from seed. I can send seed of many of these if you like.
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Last edited by estación seca; 04-16-2017 at 05:46 PM..
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Old 04-16-2017, 05:38 PM
charlesf6 charlesf6 is offline
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Very, very nice Exhibition there.
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Old 04-16-2017, 07:23 PM
Dollythehun Dollythehun is offline
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You could send me a cutting of your mom's cactus.
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