Now that we have a cactus garden I find myself not using the word, "cacti," when talking about the plants in our cactus garden. Instead I have taken to using the term, "cactus," to refer both to individual plants and multiple plants. I've discovered that I just like the sound of it better. Say it a few times. Cactus. Cactus. One cactus. Two cactus. Eleventy billion cactus. A whole forest of cactus. I think you'll agree that it's time to rid the English language of the unnecessary word, "cacti." And don't et me started on, "octopi."
Front Yard Garden Update
One of our voodoo plants (A. Undulatum x Arboreum 'Zwartkop') was in sad, sad shape. It arrived at our New House alive and full of vitality, but after only two short months it was clear to us that this voodoo plant was no longer full of vitality and life. Here is a picture of the voodoo plant when it was freshly-planted.
The voodoo plants are the large flowery-looking plants. The afflicted voodoo is the one that is front and center in the picture. Notice how lush and beautiful it looks. During its brief stay in our front yard garden it lost most of its petals and its stalk started to crack and slowly collapse. Plant vitamins and cactus nutrients (prescribed by a knowledgeable nursery worker) did nothing to ameliorate the situation.
With receipt and mostly-dead voodoo in-hand we headed to the local Home Depot and returned the failed succulent for a full refund, which we then spent on two smaller succulents to replace it, and a third small succulent to fill in some empty space in the front yard garden.
Meet the Campfire Plant (Crassula Capitella). This plant is native to Africa.
Meet the Flapjacks (Kalanchoe Luciae). How can you not like a plant named Flapjacks?
Here they are together, with additional locational context included. In the background can be seen a Coppertone Stonecrop, on the right, and the base of a Moroccan Pencil Cactus (that's our name for the plant, not its official name), at the top left.
This is the third, space-filling succulent, the Echeveria 'Black Prince' Echeveria Hybrid (SHaviana x affinis).
Cactus Garden Update
Our cactus garden, introduced in
this Episode, was planted with room for expansion and growth - our initial planting was phase 1 of what we planned to be a multi-phase expansion. We have now completed phase 2 with the addition of 6 more cactus. These 6 new cactus fill in some of the gaps left over from phase 1. Let's meet the new additions.
This is a green Kosmik Kaktus (Mammillaria Gracilis Fragilis). It is not naturally this shade of green - according to its in-store label it has white radial spines and it produces large mats for ground cover.
This is a pink Kosmik Kaktus. The color is the result of "an artificial color treatment that is long lasting, waterproof, and non-toxic." Sadly, we did not see this notice on our Kosmik Kaktuses when we bought them - we thought that the various colors were naturally occurring.
Blue Kosmik Kaktus. It's cool, but it would have been cooler if the color was natural. All of our Kosmik Kaktuses are artificially colored.
The purple Kosmik Kaktus adds a bit of flair.
This is the other green Kosmik Kaktus. As you can see, the Kosmik Kaktuses are quite small at this time, but we expect some big things from them in the coming months and years.
Also added to our cactus garden was this delightful Golden Barrel cactus (Echinocactus Grusonii).
And here is the overview that shows how the phase 2 cactus fit in. It also shows the new growth on the prickly pear cactus.
Lactrodectus Mactans Encounter
Sadly, I'm not quite 100% sure that what we encountered was a genuine l. mactans. It was the right color, shape, and size, but it was out in the open and I could not confirm that it had an orange hourglass mark on its abdomen.
It was night, and as we approached our front door we noticed a sisnter shadow on the wall, the outside wall of the garage. Closer inspection revealed that said shadow was caused by our porch light illuminating a large, black spider in the shape and shininess of a b. widow. The black w. was hanging by an unseen thread from the eave of the house, and it made no attempt to hide itself as we walked by. I sprang quickly into action and grabbed my trusty outdoor flyswatter with custom-reinforced handle, grabbed my phone, and prepared to attack. First, of course, I would need pictures.
The fiend seemed to be alarmed and disturbed by the flash of my phone's camera, and it started to head for cover. I had to act quickly, and quickly I acted. I brought down my flyswatter on that lactrodectus m. with all of the spider-killing energy and force I could muster. It was a clean hit - the 'widow was down and the battle was over. The probable lactrodectus mactans was dead. Even if it was not a genuine l. m., it is one less black, shiny spider to worry about.
Here is the first of two poorly-focused pictures of the fiend. It started moving away when the flash went off, so I didn't have time to carefully compose the shot.
The second unfocused photo. If you look closely you might notice that the 'widow has moved slightly.
One cactus, two cactus. Red cactus, blue
bIsh
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