If you are lucky enough to live in the Southwest or even western U.S. (or any hot & dry area) you may find these prickly pears growing in the wild. Or in my case, I found these at the grocery store for about 25 cents each.

If collecting them in the wild there will be lots of small, almost invisible spiky thorns. So be sure to wear leather gloves and handle it carefully. After harvesting, put the fruits into an open flame and burn off the spikes. Then wash and clean.

Here I’ll show you how to prepare them.

Cut out a little bit off the top and bottom section of the fruit. Then cut length wise into the thick skin.

Peel off the skin. Here’s a photo of how they grow on the cactus.

Slice and it’s ready to eat. Prickly pears have lots of seeds! The grocer told me it was perfectly safe to eat the seeds. It may be safe, but it was as hard as pebbles. The best way to eat them is probably to blend into a juice and strain out the seeds.

Also referred to as “cactus pear”. I prefer the red or purple ones but these green ones are just as good. The taste and smells is very much like Honeydew. It’s very sweet. The amazing part about these fruits is that it doesn’t require any refrigeration and is still very cooling to eat. I think it has to do with the thick succulent outer skin.

They are also full of potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, vitamin A, in the form of beta-carotene and vitamin C. Lots of antioxidants, which is good in helping prevent cancer and wrinkles. So next time you see these fruits, don’t fear! Just give them a try.

This Kalanchoe Tubiflora is from one of the many easy to care succulents from my collection. It’s a type of kalanchoe that requires almost no care, except for some sun, water and soil.

My mom’s friend had given her the plant years ago. This is probably the 6th generation. Some say it’s used as medicinal tea for maintaining a healthy liver. I have not tried making any tea with it, but heard it’s very bitter.

Kalanchoe Tubiflora is also known as “Chandelier plant, Mother-of-Thousands Plant and Maternity Plant”. The names do suit it well as this plant can have many offsprings. They are the little plantlets growing off the leaves.

If the little plantlets fall off to the ground it will grow like mad. It’s a very invasive plant, so best to keep it as a container plant. It can grow almost 5 feet tall.

As for the name “chandelier plant”, it gets that name from it’s pretty pink bunches of bloom which hang like a chandelier. They seem to bloom a few times a year, usually in winter and spring. It’s probably the nicest thing about this very odd looking plant.

Check out the plantlets (babies)! Once they drop they will start growing as a new plant.

There happens to be many variety of this plant, many are listed in Plants of Hawaii.

The last time I saw this Rat Tail cactus, there may have been at least 20 buds. I was just counting the days to a bouquet of cactus flowers.

Then the next time I checked, there were only a few buds left. It turned out mom had tossed almost all of them. She thought they were dying!

Fortunately she kept some that had buds and now it’s blooming. I almost missed the last bloom as the other two are already fading out.

I guess I can’t blame her as the buds do look a bit dry and brown. Just imagine the whole cactus covered with these furry buds.

As pretty as they are, the little spikes are annoying. Touching them by accident could be painful.

Most of the plants we have on the patio are succulents.  They are amongst one of my favorite kind of plants.  I love that they are so easy to grow and propagate.

The succulents bloom about twice a year and it’s extra special in wintertime. We had a few freeze warnings but was lucky to have covered the plants on time.  Hope these flowers brighten up your winter!

Echeveria succulents. I like to think of them as desert rose because of the rosettes of leaves.

“Echeveria secunda glauca aka Hen and Chicks. Succulent for sun or semi-shade. Nodding stems with orange flowers. Good in pots.” - Soquel Nursery Growers.

Bright and colorful Crown of Thorns. Also known as euphorbia milii. Right now it’s mostly thorns with a few flowers. The emerald green leaves will be back by spring.  And in the background is yellow marigolds. 

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This is an update on one of my flowering succulents. 

I had mistaken them as vygies, when they are really a part of the ice plant family. The correct names are Baby Sun Rose or aptenia. Scientific name: Aptenia cordifolia.

This year I had to cut them back because it was growing too fast.

This variety with red flowers has become widely used as an ornamental plants. They are used as popular ground cover in really hot places such as Arizona. I sometimes see aptenia used as ground covers or grown around city sidewalks.

This photo was taken last year. Aptenia is a trailing perennial that requires very little water. Aptenia are native to southern Africa.

It’s a hardy plant that can stand temperatures as low as 23°F (-5°C). We had temperatures as low as 32 °F last winter and I forgot to cover them up. And they didn’t seem to be effected by the freeze at all. Unlike the Moss Rose, those did not survive the California winter.

Aptenias are so easy to grow.  I just took a few cuttings and stick them to some good potting soil.  Within a few months they start to grow new stems and leaves.  They seem to want to thrive in any type of conditions.

I finally got my hands on a dragonfruit plant.  The best part is I didn’t have to travel to any dragonfruit convention to find them.

I’m hoping mine will survive the northern California winter.  We do have nights where temperatures get to 32 degrees Fahrenheit.  At least I’ve had good luck with my other succulents such as Aloe Vera and Queen of the Nights.

It was really easy to plant the cuttings. All I did was stick them in good soil and topped it off with lawn clippings (my version of mulch). Some people mentioned growing dragonfruit from the seeds. I think that would take too long to grow, if at all. But next time around I’ll try to save the seeds and grow them. And they sure have lots of seeds!

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Recently I saw a beautiful flowering plant at Target’s garden center and recognize the leaves right away. Growing up , I remember seeing these plants grow all over our backyard.  Except these had more colorful and pretty flowers.

Photo of “Purslane:  Portulaca Umbraticola”.

My dad was the one who first told me these are edible herbs.  They are really a succulent herb as the leaves are fleshy.  Dad said purslane are great for joint health too.  I also remember my dad and I collecting the purslane from the yard. We gave them to mom to wash and she prepared them for dinner. We had steamed purslane with grilled meat and hot sauce.  I thought the purslane was a bit slimy (but not strange slime). It was actually very good.  It had a lemony-tart taste and the leaves were fleshy.  But since then, I really haven’t had any purslane at all.

This is the type of purslane we had for dinner. They are considered to be weeds.  Photo from Calfora.net

Purslane is known throughout most of the world as both a beneficial and tasty plant.  And it can be eaten raw too.  But in the U.S., they consider it a weed and appropriately named it “pigweed” or “hogweed”.  I think that is just too bad!  In California, they also consider it an invasive plant.  I really don’t think it’s a problem, as you can always pull them out once it gets out of control.  And it’s not full of spike or has strange smells either.  Just bring on some hungry goats to clear them out!

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I finally found out the name of my Aloe Vera.  It’s from my Succulent Collection post.

This type of aloe does not have much gel.  I like the fact that it has no sharp thorns along the edges unlike my other aloes.  The green gray leaves with little lines are also very neat!

I noticed the stripes on my leaves and remember reading that some aloe have these “variegated” lines on the leaves.  And also these aloe have coral colored blossoms.  I look forward to seeing those blossoms.  Here are some info I’ve gathered from Trio Nursery:

A handsome , tailored plant with a unique Variegation not often seen and rarely offered.

Brilliant Coral Pink to Orange flowers in branched cluster Feb / May.”

VARIEGATED CORAL ALOE, ALOE STRIATA VARIEGATATA - native to South Africa.

This is a Succulent member of the Lily family.

Its leaves are broad , and up to 20 inches long, spineless , gray green , with a narrow pinkish red edge.

The rosettes are up to 2 ft or more wide on a short trunk.

My first interest in plants came from growing succulents. After seeing how many different varieties of succulents are out there did I noticed their unique beauty. And since the are so easy to care for, it’s not hard to build a collection. Most succulents I have are usually from cuttings, and some are from the local nursery.

Succulent plants are water-retaining plants they like to grow in dry climates.  They store water in their leaves, stems and roots.  Because of the water stored in the leaves, the succulent plants have a swollen or fleshy appearance.  Especially the leaves found in Aloe Vera and the Jade Plant of Dave’s Garden.

Of all places, I found this succulent (pictured here) called “Fox’s Ear” from the grocery store. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the scientific name of it. Scientific name is “Echeveria harmsii” or plush plant. It was just a small plant at first. And now it just kept on growing and blooming. I have made several cuttings of it and it’s doing very well. It took about 1 year for this version to bloom. It does so twice a year - in autumn and spring.  I love the bright orange color of the blooms and the soft fat fuzzy leaves too.

Making a cutting of succulents are really easy. Just cut or break off a piece of the plant and stick it into a good soil. Most succulent growers would suggest that you let the cut surface callused before the cutting is planted. The cut will callus within a few days if left in a well circulated place. But I have just planted it right after breaking it off and never had any problems with propagation.

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Euphorbia milii also known as Crown of Thorns has become widely popular these days. They originated in Madagascar. I remember about 10 years ago it would have been difficult to locate one. But now they are even sold at Home Depot. The variety found at the plant nursery have larger blooms and smaller clusters of leaves.

Crown of Thorns are very popular in many Thai and Lao households (or gardeners). They believe the plant brings them fortune and luck. As the Lucky bamboo is for the Chinese. But for the plant to be truly a symbol of good fortune, the flowers must form in brackets of 8. The bright red flowers are tiny, but the contrast it gives with the big emerald leaves are beautiful. I think many people might be turn off by the amount of thorns it has, but I think it makes the plant very unique looking.

My mother grows two varieties in her garden. The small variety has very small leaves and tiny red flowers. The one I have a pictured here (up close) was originally from southern California. It is about 10 years old. The original plant was probably older, maybe 30 years old. They usually bloom in spring and summer. But this year, we found her plant to be blooming more then usual.

These plants are very easy to grow. Like many succulents, it requires just a nice cutting and good clean soil. They don’t prefer too much water, so they do well in dry climates. During the winter (California) we usually protect them from frost. A couple of years ago, it almost got wiped out.

Ron Smith, Horticulturist, NDSU Extension Service has lots of good questions and answers on here. Some examples include: Question: I have owned a crown of thorns plant for about four years. It seems to be doing very well. However, it is very tall and I wonder if I should be cutting it back?

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