“You went back today?”
Yes, I went back today. I needed more plants. I don’t think I have to explain this.
I do grow non-hardy cactus, too, and I fell in love with Pilosocereus azureus. It really is this color.
A few aloes, Trichocereus (Echinopsis) terscheckii, a hybrid crassula, and the slipper plant, Pedilanthus macrocarpus (the green sticks next to the pilosocereus).
The main haul.
The light is really weird today; it started to rain a bit just now (hence the weird light in the pictures). I’m not sure that Ferocactus hamatacanthus will survive here; it hasn’t before, but I plan to cover it this next winter.
Of course, it “comes from a mountain in West Texas”, which, in truth, doesn’t mean anything to me. Really more like near a mountain, but probably no colder than “zone 6b”.
The other end of the cart, with Yucca rupicola. This comes from the southeastern part of the Edwards Plateau in Texas (think Austin), and is completely hardy here. I love the green color, and the twisted leaves. Its cousins, Y. pallida and Y. reverchonii, are hardy here too (and tolerate snow), but a cactus that comes from a “colder zone” turns to mush the minute it thinks it’s getting cold.
There is a reason for this. The USDA zones were developed for bud hardiness on fruit trees, and yuccas and cactus are not fruit trees. It makes a difference. A yucca that comes from a place like Austin tolerates cold and snow, but a cactus that comes from a place sort of like here doesn’t tolerate anything. Whatever, huh. I got the Yucca rupicolas to go with the ones I already have. (Yes, the garden looks all brown and dry. I live in a brown and dry place, which may be why stretches of green lawn make me uneasy.)
When I came home from the sale, a rabbit had eaten all the ‘Early Gold’ crocus whose picture I posted two days ago, dug a huge burrow under a cholla, and was in the process of eating more crocus when I finally lost my patience and threw a pinecone at it. I can’t, and won’t, hurt them, but I’ll have to find some way of keeping them out of the garden until I get the pythons.
The patio suet feeder was the center of some serious conflict between Earl (the squirrel)and me. Earl is a jerk, and wouldn’t stop eating the suet. Ate over half a new suet cake in one day, yesterday, so I wrapped a piece of hardware cloth over the suet cage, and he discovered he couldn’t get to it.
So what did he do this morning? He climbed up to the suet cage, looked at me as I was watching him, and peed all over it. (Look closely.)
the miserable gardener 