3 Flowers Blooming
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.
So far three of the buds have opened up from the Paddle Plant. Maybe they will all open by Christmas day.
They look like peppers when closed and tulips when opened. The petals are thick and look almost fake, like wax flowers.
We finally got to visit the Ruth Brancroft Garden before they (temporarily) close up and prepare for winter. It’s not a very big garden, but has an impressive cactus and succulent collection.
The garden is located in the city of Walnut Creek, just east of San Francisco. The place is tucked right in the middle of suburbia.
Cactus is usually seen growing in hotter places such as Arizona or New Mexico. But these seem to do very well right here in Northern California.
Most people may not care very much about cactus, but I just love them! They are tough and can survive with very little water. And for such an unfriendly looking plant, they do have really beautiful flowers. And the fruits are edible.
This variety has much rounder fruits, but has very few of them growing on this cactus. I’ve seen them at the grocery store sold for 25 cents each and also 99 cents per pound. I have tried both the red and green variety, each has it’s own allure. But the green one taste better, like sweet honeydew melon.
I can’t say cactus pears are among my favorite fruits. It’s mainly due to the large and tough seeds that makes it less than appealing.
Mom’s epiphyllum have been blooming all summer. This one is much more fleeting. It blooms for a day and sometimes just half the day. It’s just a matter of when I get to snap a photo of it. Lucky me, it was blooming on Labor Day.
They are epiphyllums but also known as Orchid cactus, night blooming Cereus, Queen of the Night and Dutchman’s Pipe Cactus.
It gets full sunlight most of the day. But there is a large tree that provides some shade later in the day.
The epiphyllum tend to fall over if you don’t tie them to a stake. As the leaves are long and narrow. The smaller variety would probably be nice grown as a hanging plant.
Click on photo for larger view of the blooming orchid cactus.
These are the buds from my earlier photo taken back in the end of May.
This variety has tiny little prickly spikes. It grows along the edges and is almost invisible. So be careful when handling them !
My favorite version is the large pink variety that bloom for days. They should call these “Joy” flowers since that’s pretty much how I feel when I see them blooming.
One plant I like to introduce from my succulent collection is the rat tail cactus. I love it when they bloom, as the flowers come in an orange red color.
When I first got a small cutting of this succulent (a few years ago) it was just one prickly stem. And now it’s just spilling out all over the pot.
Rat tail cactus originate in the highland plateaus of Mexico, but are cultivated throughout Latin America. In my case, they are growing very well in our northern California climate.
