Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to talk about some plants, and other stuff. You may remember me from such posts as “Dry Grass”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
It’s been really hot. Every day. Like, roastingly hot.
I’ve been enjoying the new swamp cooler, but I also like to lie out on the patio even when it’s hot, until the guy I live with tells me to come inside so I won’t roast to death outside. He’d have an awful lot of explaining to do if I roasted.
I guess, technically, it’s rained here every day for a while now, though usually only a few drops.
The guy I live with took some pictures of what you might call “post-rain clouds” the other night.
And it rained a little just this evening. Not a whole lot, but some.
So, anyway, about the title of today’s post. The guy I live with ordered some plants from Cistus Nursery in Oregon. Mostly cactus, but some other things as well.
He might be one of the only gardeners who orders plants when it’s like 95 degrees, especially considering the vagaries of delivery services these days, but the box arrived this morning and everything was totally fine.
The guy I live with is probably the only gardener who plants things when it’s 95 degrees, too, but maybe that’s another story.
He makes little flags, and sticks them next to new plants, to remind him that they need water. And every new plant is repotted into the special mix so that they grow more roots before planting.
The cactus are going in the front yard, so I won’t stick my nose into them, and believe it or not, there are even places for them.
However, and I know this from hearing all the stuff from the guy I live with about plants, even though I admit I don’t hugely care, except that plants make him happy, and I benefit from that, that you don’t just plant cactus into the garden unless they’ve been grown outdoors in an intensely sunny climate like this one.
The epidermis of the cacti need to be acclimated to the sunlight here, otherwise they’ll get fried. Like if you went outside without sunscreen and spent the whole day out in the sun.
So they’re going to sit out on the patio for a week or so. Maybe longer.
That’s the gardening news.
I also have some other news, but instead of talking about it, I’ll just show it.
That’s right. They’re back. We didn’t see them this evening, though.
I’ll wind this up for today with a picture of me doing what I do best.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
We have had plenty of rain here.
Hardly any here, but it’s much cooler now.
Rhody lays out during warm weather also. I can not figure it out. I must go out to carry him in because he sort of melts onto the pavement, and then goes limp as I carry him inside. He seems annoyed that I deprive him of something that he enjoys. I can not just leave him out there though. I do not want him to roast either. It must be something that only canine people understand. If exposure to too much sunlight and heat is dangerous for cacti, who actually live out in harsh climates, then it is dangerous for canine people also!
The guy I live with says not to lie out in the hot sun, but I do it anyway, sometimes.
He said some of the other purebred border collies who lived here did that, too. They’d get so hot it wasn’t any fun to touch them.
I would be more concerned with how dangerous such warmth could be than touching a hot dog.
Indeed. We can get overheated.
Happy to know I wasn’t the only one ordering plants in hot weather. Yours arrived in better condition than mine, which are all woodland plants. I’m letting them recover before planting. Marker flags are a good idea.
The guy I live with sometimes makes flags out of duct tape, but he said that’s less attractive than some kind of fabric. Maybe not his old underwear, but something.
I use surveyor flagging tapes. Various colors, are inexpensive and do not take more than a year around here to deteriorate. That’s a lovely selection of cold hardy cactus at Cistus.
We have some flags that say “Buried Gas”, from when they came to dig up the front yard.
But the guy I live with likes flags made from old, torn fabric.
The cacti are nice because they’re already rooted. Sometimes the guy I live with gets unrooted pads or joints, and they don’t always root before they just dry up.
Look! Hootie iss back Mani!!!!
An wee ADOOR yore 1st foto…mee wantss to play Peeky-boo with you!
Mew mew mew……
Wee love THE CACTI….. Notice mee used RITE werd there? (OKay BellaSita meowed it to mee).
Wee hope Cacti acclimatize an will give uy nmany yeerss of happyness.
Stretch out mani an reelax mee frend. Stay safe Mani an Mistur Guy…..
***purrss*** BellaDharma an ❤ BellaSita Mum
The guy I live with said he might plant the cacti because it’s so much cooler now. Hard to believe, but true. Cloudy, too.
We’re really happy to see the owl again.
Mee-yow youss’ had *2 hourss* of rain there!! HURRAH!
An if Guy can plant THE Cacti that wuud bee so kewl.
An iss allwayss nice when a frend comess back to vissit Mani 😉
It is nice to see the owls are back. The guy I live with says things change, but we like it when they don’t change that much.
It was about a third of an inch of rain, yesterday.
All of the cacti have good roots so they don’t need to be planted right away, in order to grow roots (like when you just get a pad in the mail, then you have to let the cut end callus, and then try to root it).
HURRAH fore THE rain!!! It all helpss rite Mani an Guy!
An wee glad Cacti have guud rootss…youss’ sure know yore plant stuff!
How iss HOOTIE Owl?
I guess the owl is okay but we haven’t seen it since.
The rain is pretty nice.
The thing about rooting cactus pads is, well they’re pretty easy to root, but it means that the guy I live with has to pay more attention to things than he usually does, so cactus with roots makes it easier for him.
Maybee Hootie iss hidin from THE rain! 😉
An wee are happy Cacti have rootss an that makess thingss a bit easier fore Guy to take care of the plantss.
It does make it much easier not to have to check the cactus every single day.
I just spent two days planting a whole new bed so the guy you live with is not the only one still planting in the heat of the summer. Spring just seems to come and go to quickly for all that needs doing. Cacti are tough and will do fine. Just watch your nose Mani. A couple of those have some wicked thorns.
Only one of the cactus that came in the mail has spines, but they’re going in the front yard, where I don’t go, except to walk down the front walk from the porch.
Cactus grown in a greenhouse will have their chlorophyll degraded very quickly when they’re exposed to sunlight, without being hardened off, and they turn white and die. This has happened here more times than the guy I live with would care to admit; not thinking (very common around here), he planted out some cactus he’d grown from seed, and two days later they were pure white, and dead. You should have heard what he said at the time.
(True of agaves, too.)
Years ago, he read a recommendation from a now-defunct mail-order nursery, to spray the plants with a plastic polymer, and he called the nursery, basically saying what on earth.
They recommended Cloud Cover, which is a biodegradable plastic polymer, but I don’t think they make that any more. He still has some, but no empty spray bottle.
It seemed to work, when he used it.
It’s a lot easier just to wait, and let the epidermis get accustomed to our sunlight. We have 33 percent more ultraviolet than at sea level, and light intensity, expressed in calories received, equal to that of Cairo, Egypt.