The Garden.org Plants Database

I'm in Zone 6b, 4800' Elevation, very arid. This is a wonderful, thornless Blackberry with big delicious fruit. The seeds are small, soft and not quite as numerous as other varieties. It is easy to tell when fruit is ripe; just look at the sepals on top of the fruit. If they are brown, they are ripe! I cut the fruit-bearing stalks down to the ground immediately after fruit bearing stops. That gives the first-year growth as much growing time as possible so it can produce fruit next year.

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I'm in Zone 6b, 4800' elevation, and dry. This perennial shrub has taken a couple of seasons to get going. Definitely a slow grower in my area. It gets some mid-day afternoon sun, about 3 hours. I really love the white blooms in the spring. After the initial burst of flowers, it has been flowering sporadically throughout the summer.

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Inland Dudleya from the Sierra San Pedro Mártir and (to a lesser extent) Sierra San Borja in northern Baja California. Found growing on cliffs and rocky slopes at 1250-3025m (the highest altitude of any Dudleya). Usually clumping. Narrow green or glaucous leaves with a subulate tip. Orange-red (coral) tubular flowers attract hummingbirds. This plant is more cold-tolerant than the coastal species. Uncommon in cultivation.

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Glaucous blue Echeveria from northern Mexico. The type is from Parras. Treated by many as a synonym of Echeveria (Echeveria cuspidata).

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Smallish glaucous blue Echeveria from northeastern Mexico with pink to coral or orange flowers. Rosettes reach about 4 inches wide and are usually solitary. Leaf tips are pointy and often have a red dot. Inflorescence is an unbranched raceme. At least two varieties have been described: Echeveria (Echeveria cuspidata var. gemmula) (Querétaro, Nuevo León) and
Echeveria (Echeveria cuspidata var. zaragozae) (smaller, from Nuevo León), in addition to var. cuspidata (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León). Best color and form in strong light. Vulnerable to rot when water is allowed to collect in between the leaves.

Historically confused with E. turgida, from Coahuila. E. parrasensis is often treated as a synonym.

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I understand Texans call this one "RaRu" for short. That sounds like a football game cheer, but believe me it is not something to cheer about, no matter how pretty it may be in a field like this. Not only do your legs get tangled up in it walking through, but it competes with natives. Wildflowers are not yet choked out from it. We will have to tackle with herbicides this spring, I suppose. Will have to hire it applied since it's on 40 acres. But many wildflower species still abound on the place, so there is still hope all will be well again one day.

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This is a new species and annual flower to me, new on the market. In its native habitat in eastern Africa it is a broadleaf evergreen shrub that gets 6 to 10 feet high and wide. It has opposite shiny green leaves about 3 to 5 inches long and 1 to 3 inches wide. Its flowers resemble a butterfly in flight, as the 4 light blue side petals resemble wings, the one darker blue lower petal looks like the head, and the long, curved, arching purple stamen resemble the antennas. The shrub bears a black, fleshy fruit. This species recently has been used as an ornamental plant that has become an annual flower in northern climates that is killed by strong frost, unless brought into a house or greenhouse for the winter. I bet it does well in a sunny, cool location inside a residence until it can be taken outside in spring. It likes moist soil and part-shade best.

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I didn't realize that there were 2 different daffodils named 'Gentle Giant'. My photo should have been posted under the Division 2 group, it is a "large-cupped" flower not a "trumpet" which is the Division 1 section that I uploaded it into. I ask that it be removed from the trumpet group. If I knew how to delete it I would do it myself. I will repost it into the Division 2, "Large-cupped" flower site.

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Astrophytum cultivar with dramatic white markings and white or pale yellow flowers. The word kabuto refers to a type of helmet. This cultivar is likely to be of hybrid origin, with A. capricorne and A. asterias in the mix. Seedling offspring may be rather variable in terms of markings, from spots to lines, blobs, and nearly all-white plants. Extreme selections can be spectacular.

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Small, flattened globose, spineless cactus from south Texas, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. Looks a little like a sea urchin shell, thus the common name. Solitary, up to about 4 inches wide. Large yellow or yellowish white flowers; globose, scaly, hairy fruit. Ribs are low and separated by sharp furrows. Areoles are marked by low tufts of hair. Endangered in the US, vulnerable in Mexico.

A great variety of cultivars with unusual markings have been selected in cultivation, most with Japanese names. Among the most striking of these is Silver Dollar Cactus (Astrophytum asterias 'Super Kabuto') .

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