Cactus at Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida

Cactus at Busch GardensDecember 16, 2010
The one thing I've noticed is cacti seem to be a plant of choice in home gardens where our vacation home is located.  We have an agave catus with several babies in our front garden there.  I've been looking for other cacti that will do well there.  This impressive cactus caught my attention at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida.  I will have to find out the

Agave in Vacation House Garden

Agave at Vacation HouseMay 19, 2010
There is a large cactus with a few baby cacti in the front garden of our vacation home.  It is an Agave that I think is Agave guiengola from the descriptions I found.  The leaves are thick, broad and triangular forming a rossette.  They have a bluish powder that gives the leaves a pale greenish grey colour.  The leaves have marginal spines that are quite small.

The Desert Dome Continued

As promised the desert dome in the Mitchell Park Conservatory (The Domes) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin conversation continues. Despite the temperature in the dome being close to the cold outdoor temperatures we spent a fair amount of time in the desert dome. There is just something about arid plants that appeal to me perhaps because they are just so exotic. Graham's SageGraham's Sage (Salvia

More Pictures from the Desert Dome

Yesterday I posted on a bit on the desert dome at the Mitchell Park Conservatory (The Domes) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I took a fair number of pictures so will be sharing some of those with you over the next couple of days. Cacti can be grown successfully indoors in northern climates in a sunny window. It is amazing to see the variety of cacti available, some more suitable to growing indoors

Moving On To the Desert Dome

Living in Ontario, Canada I don't have a lot of experience with cacti other than the few I grow on my windowsill. My little cacti seedlings are coming along nicely and while they are about double in size they sure take a long time to grow! I can fully appreciate how long it takes for a cactus to get to any appreciable size. Mine are now 3 years old and aren't even big enough to transplant.

Spring Days in the Garden

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. The reality is the gardens in our new home are proving difficult at best. I'm dealing with horrible soil that is mostly clay mixed with a lot of stone and rock along with inclimate weather. The gardens are at the point where I look at them then get frustrated because I simply don't know where to start. The problem is we really are still in the tearing out

Cactus Seedlings Update

Cactus SeedlingsThe cactus seedlings continue to grow. There are now twenty seedlings but they are too small to determine what kind of cactus yet. I think they fairly close to being the same yet some have a tinge of pinkish red while the rest are green. They should be developing tiny spines shortly.Happy Gardening!Garden Gnome© 2007

Cactus Kit Update

Cactus SeedlingsIt took a bit longer but there are now eight cactus seedlings. They are about a quarter of an inch tall. There are a few seeds that haven't germinated yet so perhaps they will before the dome lid needs to be removed. Now the soil needs to be kept just moist to prevent the seedlings from rotting but to give enough moisture to allow the seedlings to survive until the first spines

Cactus Seedlings

Cactus SeedlingsI brought home a cute cactus starting kit from Las Vegas on our recent trip. This was an ideal solution since I thought trying to transport cactus plants on the plane or through Canadian customs would be problematic. The kit came with the soil, a seed packet that could contain upto ten varieties of cactus (including saguaro, prickly pear, cholla, fire barrel, fishhook barrel and

Vegetation & Gardening in Las Vegas

Our winter vacation was spent in Las Vegas, Nevada. We stayed at the Golden Nugget on Fremont Street in the downtown core area. While the main attractions in Las Vegas are entertainment and gambling, the area offers so much more. As always we rented a vehicle for sight seeing.Las Vegas lies in the northern region of the Mojave Desert, a desert that is hot and dry with little precipitation,