Plant News

Happy Spring! Although we have robins hopping around and the bulbs are showing their green sprouts, it still feels like winter around here. It has been quite cold and grey and we've had lots of sleet and freezing rain. However, plant fever has begun, and I'd like to share some new things that have been going on.

I cannot take credit for these beauties. Last weekend, I went plant shopping with my sister, and we spotted a large cacti display with these gorgeous white-spined plants with tiny pale pink blooms. I snapped one up and have been enjoying the plant and flowers all week. Hopefully I can get it to bloom next year!

During the same shopping trip, I noticed a small purple Prickly Pear cactus had lost one of its paddles, which was lying wedged between two pots. I picked it up and saw it had small roots starting, so I quickly and gently put it in my bag. What?! I couldn't just let it sit there to dry up or get tossed into the garbage! So when I got home, I planted it in some soil with gravel to prop it up. At least now it will have a fighting chance.

It may have been my very first post on this blog--my Euphorbia Trigona cutting I stole from the Catholic chruch last spring. I can't believe it's been a year already, but the cutting is growing nicely and has developed some red coloring on the new growth, which leads me to believe it is a Trigona Red Form. I have really been experimenting with this plant. Being such a young cutting, I have been reluctant to leave it in direct light, where it would be warm for the majority of the day; or in indirect light, where unfortunately it is quite cold due to the drafty windows in our apartment. So I have been moving it around quite frequently. It seems to have developed the red streak after being in our brightest window for a few days, but it also looked a little shriveled even with regular watering. So, I have been keeping it in the kitchen, away from the window but still getting daylight--I am hopeful this is sufficient. Warm weather can't come soon enough!