Brave in the cold

how brave is the flower

that breaks through cold earth

in search of a sun who never

made any promises

never offered hope

or any kind of commitment

just a stray bit of warmth

a bold benevolent smile

and

just the right light

to make her

golden

- The Blue Muse

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It always amazes me how some flowers prefer to flower in winter - lucky us! Even the coldest days can be imbued with gorgeous colour! Some of my succulents are already flowering and this Cactus Echinopsis is decidedly early this year!

Camera : Fuji FinePix 2800Zoom

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Rattail Cactus - Disocactus flagelliformis

Every spring my Rattail Cactus has the most prolific, beautiful blooms. I bring it inside every winter, as it does not tolerate any frost and as soon as the temperatures warm up, I take it back to it's place on the patio where it only gets partial sun a few hours of the day and within a week or two, the flowers appear. 

Rat's Tail Cacti are very easy to grow, being suitable for a greenhouse and container, indoors or out. These plants need a minimum temperature of 6ºC (43ºF). They should be grown in bright, indirect light, in a fairly rich potting mix with good drainage. The best compost consists of four parts sandy loam, and one part of equal quantities of sand and crushed brick. They should be repotted every other year because their soil tends to sour. 

Mine is at the stage now where it desperately needs repotting, but I keep on putting it off, because trying to get in between those spiny tails to dig it out of the pot is a major operation! Those little spines seem to penetrate the hardiest of gloves!

This doesn't mean, however, that they'll need larger pots, just fresh soil. Once the plants are established, keep the compost moist from September to April (here in South Africa); less water is required from March to August, just enough to keep the stems from dying back. In the winter, old or discoloured stems may be cut out at the base to encourage new growth. Water abundantly in summer. 

The bright pink flowers, 1.5 inches long, 2.5 inches wide (4 by 6 cm), are produced along the stems in spring and summer and are sometimes followed by small red fruits. In the wild, they are pollinated by birds, but in cultivation, they generally need to be hand pollinated. 

A pen and ink sketch of my Rattail Cactus 

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Cactus flower close-up (Echinopsis)

'Tis my faith that every flower enjoys the air it breathes! ~William Wordsworth, "Lines Written in Early Spring," Lyrical Ballads, 1798 

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My Cacti put up the most spectacular show of flowers last Winter and I'm hoping to get some beautiful shots again this year. They are an absolute delight to the insects, with sweet nectar accumulating at the base of the flower, luring ants, bees, flies, and even a few wasps. 

 Camera : FujiFinepix 2800Zoom - Macro enabled 

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Practicing cactus

(A warning: If you have any propensity towards cactus love to begin with, moving to the desert will increase it exponentially!)

A long-standing passion - a passion most people find utterly boring and something only a cactus-lover will understand - THE LOVE OF CACTUS. So maybe this post is not for you, but if it is, read on!

It all started in the 1980's, when my (well-meaning) father gave me three Echeverias in a pot. I couldn't turn them down and hurt his feelings, but I had NO interest in those three succulents! When I got home, I hastily stuck them in the ground in some far-away corner in the garden, hoping they would disappear.

Echeveria glauca

A few months later I was working in the garden and decided to do something about that 'little lost corner' of my garden. Upon investigating, to my surprise, the three Echeverias had multiplied and there were dozens of them, all displaying the most gorgeous little pink bell-shaped flowers on long stalks. I was hooked! I mean, forgotten and neglected, NO attention whatsoever, yet they blossomed forth with the most gorgeous gifts. I felt so guilty I almost cried!

Now those spiky flat coins and furry ground knobs make me go nuts. Finding a new specie not in my collection is like striking gold - my stomach churns, my heart starts pounding and I just HAVE to have it!

I can spend hours fiddling with my cacti and succulents, removing seedlings and siblings from the garden and potting them in terracotta pots, I have displays all over the house, on various patios and in my garden shed. You'll find them on window sills, tree stumps, on little tables, in terracotta pots, jam tins, glass jars, buckets, cracked coffee mugs, on wooden palettes, on my desk, next to my computer, in fact, anywhere there is a flat surface! And heaven forbid I come across someone selling them at a market stand, I could buy up all their stock!

'They' say "It takes real guts to love a cactus!", but I have found it the easiest thing in the world!

I need to get some more!

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Prickly... (Cactus Echinopsis oxygona) - a Dung Beetle brooch hand-crafted with black glass jewels, silver wire and silver solder, sitting on a little piece of driftwood . bird's nest in Abelone shell (Perlemoen)

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and smooth.... (Echeveria elegans)

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prickly... (Aloe ciliaris)

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and smooth... (Haworthia Cymbiformis)

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prickly... (Aloe ferox)

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and smooth... (Gasteria)

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prickly and smooth... a collection on a wooden palette on my Patio. Rat-tail cactus far left and front right - Old Man's beard behind that, Aloes and Echeverias in metal tub.

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mostly smooth... Gasterias, Echeverias and some cacti on a Vintage Pine table in my Flower Room

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prickly... My latest acquisition - A cactus in an enamel bowl surrounded by four Haworthias and a tiny succulent peeping through the pebbles

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smooth - Echeveria glauca in an old concrete cast

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Cereus jamacaru - One-night flower

ONE DAY...
::
to blossom
breathe life in
raise your face to the sun
drink the rain
shiver in the mist
revel in the moment.
::
one day
to be all the beauty
that you are.
::

Cereus jamacaru (Queen of the Night, Nagblom, One-night Flower)
Classification: Cactaceae

Referred to incorrectly as Cereus peruvianus in South Africa.

This cactus is growing next to our staff quarters and Solly, our Mechanic, was highly upset when I told him I intended chopping it down. He managed to convince me (not that it took too much convincing!) to let it stay, promising that he will keep an eye on it and not let it spread. It has been declared an 'unwanted' alien invader here in South Africa due to its fast-spreading habit and is also spread by birds eating the seeds, so it's inevitable that I will soon be removing it.

The Peruvian Apple Cactus, Cereus repandus, is a large, erect, thorny columnar cactus found in South America as well as the nearby ABC Islands of the Dutch Caribbean. It is also known as Giant Club Cactus, Hedge Cactus, cadushi and kayush. With an often tree-like appearance, the Peruvian Apple Cactus' cylindrical grey-green to blue stems can reach 10 meters (33 ft) in height and 10-20 cm in diameter.

It flowers only once a year, normally in June, and the beautiful white or pink nocturnal flowers, with an intoxicating scent, remain open for only one night.

Ink sketch and colour wash on Bockingford 300gsm

There is actually great confusion over the name of this cactus, as the name Cereus is used for various cacti. The species name, peruvianus, suggests that it is endemic to Peru, but that is a botanical error. This plant is actually endemic to Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.

Kamera : Kodak EasyShare C195

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Learn to be still

Early this morning, just as the sun was rising at about 5.30am, I saw that my little clump of cacti (Echinopsis) was flowering, the early morning light giving them a lilac tinge (they are actually pink), so I rushed for the camera, but when I got back the light had changed slightly already.

That brought home the thought that we should learn to be still, enjoy the moment as it is happening, even if we do miss putting it on film for posterity. Because now I missed half the precious moments anyway....

Cactus (Echinopsis) and flowers in my garden on a back-ground texture by Kim Klassen
- Camera Kodak EasyShare C195

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sometimes it’s good
to just let life
swirl around you.
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