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You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Prickly Plants, Gorgeous Flowers

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Prickly Plants, Gorgeous Flowers

by Anne Laurie|  May 1, 20228:09 am| 51 Comments

This post is in: Garden Chats

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Sunday Morning Garden Chat:  Prickly Plants, Gorgeous Flowers

California Sierra commentor Scout211:

The cactus plants are blooming in our little cactus garden. It’s always fun to see bright spots of color each year in the typically drab cactus garden.

I wish I could identify all these cactus plants but I don’t know the names of any of them. Maybe the garden chat jackals could help identify them?

Sunday Morning Garden Chat:  Prickly Plants, Gorgeous Flowers 1

Sunday Morning Garden Chat:  Prickly Plants, Gorgeous Flowers 2

Sunday Morning Garden Chat:  Prickly Plants, Gorgeous Flowers 3

***********
Went to our favorite local garden center yesterday to pick up paks of annual dianthus, lobelia, scented stock, and a flat of white allysum to tuck into every empty space. Couldn’t resist a single ‘Lunch Box‘ mini sweet pepper, mostly because the plant will grow into such a cute, compact little flower-bearer. The pansies we brought back from our last expedition are flourishing in their new planters, and (praise Murphy) the tomato plants from Laurel’s Heirlooms survived this week’s windy, cool weather, so it’s time to buckle down and expend some serious effort!

What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?

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Reader Interactions

51Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 8:31 am

    I have never seen cactus flowers like that.  So beautiful!  I had no idea!

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    May 1, 2022 at 8:35 am

    Good Morning, Everyone???

  3. 3.

    sab

    May 1, 2022 at 8:36 am

    Too early here (NE Ohio) to put annuals out yet. Crocus and snow drops came and went already. All the daffodils are out now. Forgetmenots and shasta daises growing all through the lawn (thanks, squirrels.) I might try to transplant the daisies to a flower bed.

  4. 4.

    kalakal

    May 1, 2022 at 8:37 am

    Those are lovely. Cactus flowers often seem surreal to be, they can be huge compared to the plant and the colours so intense. ‘Fraid I’m a complete bust at IDing them but thanks for letting us see them

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2022 at 8:44 am

    I am not an expert but the last one looks like Prickly Pear to me.

    ETA beautiful pics Scout.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 8:50 am

    My garden?  Tulips everywhere!

    Sunday Morning Garden Chat:  Prickly Plants, Gorgeous Flowers 4

  7. 7.

    Steeplejack

    May 1, 2022 at 8:53 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning! ?

  8. 8.

    Liminal Owl

    May 1, 2022 at 8:58 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning!

  9. 9.

    Subsole

    May 1, 2022 at 8:59 am

    Nothing in the garden, ’cause we haven’t one. If I did, it would be full of cacti. Those are absolutely beautiful.

    And if you have an actual prickly pear, the fruit is delicious.

  10. 10.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 1, 2022 at 8:59 am

    We’re in Bordeaux today and there are flowers everywhere. It’s a wine region, but it’s actually farther north than Detroit. The jet stream just keeps it warmer.

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 9:28 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Sounds like a perfectly lovely trip!

  12. 12.

    sab

    May 1, 2022 at 9:31 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I am quite envious.

  13. 13.

    eclare

    May 1, 2022 at 9:33 am

    The cactus flower colors are amazing!

    And WG, your garden is amazing too!

  14. 14.

    debbie

    May 1, 2022 at 9:34 am

    I have a window full of jade plants. They flower from time to time, but not as spectacularly as yours, Scout211!

  15. 15.

    sab

    May 1, 2022 at 9:35 am

    We had a tree removed last year and have had a pile of tree rubble in the front yard all winter. I finally occurred to us lately that we don’t need to plant a new tree. We finally have a sunlit patch for a flower bed. I am seriously considering roses. Am I nutz?

  16. 16.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 9:40 am

    Since Imm is often in the garden chat threads, I thought I would share the update that I posted in the morning thread on Friday…

    I have an update for everyone on Imm and the Immp – because Imm wants you guys to know what’s up but his energy is pretty much zapped.

    Good news first, Imm and the Immp are both home at last!

    But it has been a very rocky road.  I’ll use his own words for this next part:  Please tell them things went bad again, but things got better and we are both home.

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 9:41 am

    @WaterGirl:

    it seems like it’s been “steady as she goes” since they got home, apparently with no lasting ill effects from the 2-day airport ordeal, where they waited 8 hours for their flight, which was then cancelled, then had to stay overnight in a hotel and then do the whole thing over again the next day.

    Between all the scares, all the ups and downs, all the time away from school responsibilities, packing up the Imm’s apartment for the move, the long trip home, caring for someone who is just out of the hospital, and the work responsibilities waiting for him once he got home, Imm probably has barely enough energy to get through the day let alone write much on the blog.

    So if you have any questions, feel free to ask me – Imm says I can share anything I know.  That way when Imm does have the energy to post a comment, it can be all love you, missed you, glad you’re back, and he won’t have to explain anything.  Sometimes you just run out of energy for that, you know?

  18. 18.

    eclare

    May 1, 2022 at 9:42 am

    @WaterGirl:   Do doctors think his son will be able to go back to college this fall?

  19. 19.

    MagdaInBlack

    May 1, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @sab: Nope. Go for it ?

  20. 20.

    JAM

    May 1, 2022 at 9:44 am

    I don’t know anything about cacti, but they are really pretty in bloom–yours too, Watergirl. What are the blue flowers?  This week I finally planted the tomatoes that I’ve been keeping in the bathroom for two weeks, and put up a trellis for vine crops.

  21. 21.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 9:45 am

    @eclare: I don’t think we know the definitive answer to that question yet.  It was literally day-to-day for awhile.  That is surely the hope/plan.

  22. 22.

    debbie

    May 1, 2022 at 9:46 am

    @WaterGirl:

    I’m sure you’ve let him know how much we all love him and his Immp and how much his presence here has been missed. Y’know, the petty stuff. ;)

  23. 23.

    eclare

    May 1, 2022 at 9:50 am

    @WaterGirl:   Gosh, how awful.

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 9:50 am

    @JAM: The blue flowers are bluebells, one of my favorite flowers.

    Sunday Morning Garden Chat:  Prickly Plants, Gorgeous Flowers 6

    If you click on the photo, you can see a bigger version.

  25. 25.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 9:54 am

    @debbie: I have!  I also let him know that individually and collectively we have sent multiple sternly-worded letters to the universe, saying ENOUGH ALREADY, JUST STOP IT, THIS IS TOO MUCH!

  26. 26.

    sab

    May 1, 2022 at 9:54 am

    @WaterGirl: Thanks for the update. I had expected something similar was going on. Packing up and cross-country move with health concerns. Wow.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @sab: Scary times.

  28. 28.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 1, 2022 at 10:01 am

    @WaterGirl:

    Oh thank goodness. I’ve been wondering about them

  29. 29.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    May 1, 2022 at 10:02 am

    It is lovely. I feel lucky to do this

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 10:03 am

    @sab: Imm just wrote to say that the Immp is up and about and is eating well, which is great news.

    I am suddenly feeling like I can finally stop holding my breath.

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    May 1, 2022 at 10:06 am

    @sab: Yes. Go for it.

  32. 32.

    oldgold

    May 1, 2022 at 10:15 am

    I garden in the Twilight Hardy Zone.

    The Hardy Twilight Zone exists in the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition. It is an area as vast space and as timeless as infinity. A wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination

    The Twilight Hardy Zone’s exceedingly brief Spring has yet to arrive. In this strange land, Spring is defined as the period of time that elapses from the moment I slowly rise from my soft leather chair, shuffle across the hardwood floor to the thermostat, with thoughts of daffodils fluttering and dancing in the breeze, turn-off the furnace and turn-on the AC. 

  33. 33.

    eclare

    May 1, 2022 at 10:15 am

    @WaterGirl:   That is wonderful news.  I hope they both get a break and enjoy a restful summer.

  34. 34.

    sab

    May 1, 2022 at 10:24 am

    @WaterGirl: Second Imm in your comment was Immp?

  35. 35.

    J R in WV

    May 1, 2022 at 10:24 am

    Our native wildflowers are doing really well, trillium, sedum, wild geraniums, maidenhair ferns, may apples, paperwhites …

    I’m sure there are a ton of native cacti blooming in Cochise County, AZ as well, but we’re not there and so can’t provide an eyewitness account.

    Also we have a 3rd or 4th wave of tadpoles hatched in the tiny pond by the front door, with egg masses of all sorts… there are other forest floor amphibians in there too,  but the leaves and mud give them too much protection for me to ID those guys. We love the frogs, there is a surprising number of  upland forest floor amphibian species!

  36. 36.

    sab

    May 1, 2022 at 10:26 am

    @WaterGirl: Mertensia? My mother had a lot of them. Very tough if big dogs didn’t wander into the garden and pee on them.

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 10:39 am

    @sab: Yes!  I just corrected it, and autocorrect tried to insist on just Imm, so I am guessing that’s what happened earlier, too, and I didn’t catch it.

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @sab: Yes, Virginia Bluebells.

  39. 39.

    Ben Cisco

    May 1, 2022 at 11:02 am

    So I have a new landscaping guy this year. He’s local, very knowledgeable, and thorough. Happy to have him, but the story of how we connected is sad…

    Old lawn guy is very young (well, younger than me but that’s damn near everyone now).. Anyway, he came down with covid over the holidays, recovered, but with scarring on his lungs. Can’t get from his front door to the mailbox. Had to retire.

    I cannot imagine being in that situation. Going to to inquire about a second booster tomorrow.

  40. 40.

    jnfr

    May 1, 2022 at 11:15 am

    This is the time of year when I have trays of plants around. I order them over the winter and they almost always show up just before the weather is quite warm enough to plant them out. So I spend my time running them out to the yard in the daytime and bringing them somewhere warmer overnight. Can’t wait to see everything growing again.

  41. 41.

    clovissue

    May 1, 2022 at 11:20 am

    Cactus flowers: the first is an echinopsis (probably a hybrid). The others are all opuntias (prickly pears.)

  42. 42.

    Waratah

    May 1, 2022 at 11:41 am

    I was lucky to drive across New Mexico and Arizona after a rare period of rain. The grass was green, wildflowers and cactus I had never seen before. Thank you. I always look forward to Sunday morning but this morning my sister had left a message she had to take her husband to the hospital again with his lung and heart problems. I hope everything is good and I do not hear until her morning Australia time.

  43. 43.

    Steeplejack

    May 1, 2022 at 11:50 am

    @Waratah:

    Sending good thoughts for your brother-in-law. ?

  44. 44.

    Scout211

    May 1, 2022 at 11:51 am

    @clovissue: Cactus flowers: the first is an echinopsis (probably a hybrid). The others are all opuntias (prickly pears.)

    Thank you! Someone upthread guessed prickly pear for one and I saw when I looked it up that it was an opuntia. Interesting that the other two are likely opuntia as well.

    Also:
    Somewhat of a correction to the top:  We live on the border between the Central Valley and the Sierra Foothills, at about 360 ft elevation, so not the Sierras. We are in a Mediterranean climate zone so cacti, palms and araucaria grow well here. Mr. Scout loves growing and planting them, especially araucaria.

  45. 45.

    JAM

    May 1, 2022 at 11:58 am

    @WaterGirl: My autocorrect tried to make your name Watermill.

  46. 46.

    Suzanne

    May 1, 2022 at 12:00 pm

    To note, there are multiple subtypes of prickly pears. Many (maybe all?) are edible once you remove the spikes!

    Barrels are the best cacti, but prickly pears are a close second.

  47. 47.

    Benw

    May 1, 2022 at 12:50 pm

    Love all the flower pics! Today we hauled out the patio furniture, and I’m looking forward to putting the new cushions on them and umbrella up.

  48. 48.

    Waratah

    May 1, 2022 at 12:53 pm

    @Steeplejack: thank you.

  49. 49.

    WaterGirl

    May 1, 2022 at 12:53 pm

    @JAM: Mine always wants to separate it into two names.

  50. 50.

    JaneE

    May 1, 2022 at 2:06 pm

    Most of them look like the prickly pear family.  If so, you should be able to eat them too, both the fruits and the leaves.   If your local Mexican restaurant serves nopales they may be able to give you advice.  Or you could just try theirs and see if you want to take the trouble.

  51. 51.

    Gvg

    May 1, 2022 at 2:22 pm

    Hot today. Met my sister and cousin for u pick blueberry picking. Dropped about 10 lbs off for mother to bake.

    Roses, dianthus, coreopsis, queen ann’s lace, and lobelia in bloom. Been years since i grew the blue lobelia and i really like the effect. Have not grown queen Ann’s lace before but its really nice.

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