Accessible Gardening: #20 Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners, 3 by Agavegirl1

Agavegirl1 wrote:
Good Morning Gang,
:D

Bets:
In a weird way I envy your rain. NOT the flooding and endless and dangerous downpours but just normal "rain". Rain is a true event here. Honestly, we are all about one step from joining the Native American's in their dances to request its presence. I guess one must truly spend a whole full year here in AZ to fully gain appreciation for the occasional rainy, grey or cloudy day.
Even our plants rejoice. They get green/greener, taller (pole cacti grow inches exponentially every time it rains), they plump up and store it away like a precious treasure. They too cry out for it like we do. YES...cacti get very thirsty at times. All cacti are succulents but not all succulents are cacti.

Confused? Has to do with the way the spines grow out of it. Won't bore you with the particulars of why unless you find this to be a truly riveting subject of deep interest to you. D.G. has an article on it also explaining.

The key word here with our plants is MODERATION. While they appreciate rain they do not appreciate being wet constantly and are prone to root rot. :( Most people find it hard to believe they are even prone to sunburn thus the reason we use shade tents here on many of our plants.

The most prone are Aloes and Agaves of all types but most especially the ones that are variegated with pale colors. My Agave guiengola v.'Creme Brulee' which is a pale creamy yellow color with only a medium stripe of green in the leaves got absolutely fried! It has since made a nice recovery. Pole cacti seem to get sunburnt at their base. You know all those cute cacti that have the white "fuzz" all over them? Well....they get horribly abused in Summer.

Forget things like succulents (Hens and chicks, sedums, semperviums, etc.) They turn into potato chips and in vain attempts at resuscitation through watering and watering to make them "re-plump" they either turn to something that looks like guacamole or some kind of black goo. I call succulents "chip and dip" plants. (LOL). Just not doable here in zone 9B! Unfortunate because I really enjoy them and all the amazing colors they come in.

Wise Cactus told me:
"Rain or shine one must celebrate the blessings of each in our life. Both are necessary for all thing's growth both physically and spiritually in this life regardless of when they show up. Just don't be so addle brained frying your retinas admiring the sun or simple enough to stand pointing your nose upwards when reveling in the rain". He also said, "Wise is the person who can recognize these blessings, be grateful for them and take the time to go out and enjoy their simple beauty". Wise words indeed. See, Wise Cactus is very wise indeed.

If I had to guess the bird I would probably say peacock. Turkeys and chickens are smart. Peacocks are pretty stupid. Outrageously and unfairly beautiful but stupid.

Speaking of rain, it spit at us the day before yesterday. Could literally count the drops on my patio. Lasted 3 minutes and went away. Today and tomorrow we stand a 20% and a 0% of rain there after. Let us pray. My plants look so dry. I have refrained from watering. NEVER FAILS. The moment I do it subsequently pours for 3 days straight! So I have been forcing myself to resist the temptation of getting out the hose. If it doesn't rain today it looks like I will water. I haven't done so for 3 weeks. I can cut back to 1 time a month now but they still need water.

Must admit though I am enjoying the weather. Finally...mid to low 90s. Next week we are flirting with the 80s. Time to turn off the air conditioning! Fall has officially arrived in AZ gang!

Jim:
Love the plants/lilies! Just gorgeous. No I don't know "regular" flower names aside from the common ones but whenever I see something that looks like a lily that's what I call it. My favorite is the Stargazer due to its unusual mix of color and heady, exotic aroma. I do know Calla lilies and Tiger lilies. I usually cut off the little pollen producing parts in my bouquets as I've discovered pollen is IMPOSSIBLE to get out of clothing, tablecloths or cloth napkins regardless of washing or dry cleaning.

The Spider lilies are so nice! Hardly remind me of spiders at all. I hate spiders. These don't resemble them so I'd be more than happy to have them in the yard. Love the Naked Ladies and Ox Blood. Somehow I was thinking the Naked Ladies would be a much more pale pink bordering on cream. Shows you what I know. Number 4 is intriguing and very unusual. Never seen anything like that before and probably wouldn't have put it in a lily category. But then again there's a lot of cacti that surprise me too.

I think my favorite in the bunch is indeed the mystery plant. Now that is something I would love to have. THE COLOR! THAT TEXTURE! The foolishness of me to even think of it! That poor plant would meet its death here in days. :(
The motto "Bloom where you are planted" does not apply to AZ. Our mottos are "Survival of the fittest" and "If you can't stand the heat you are a plant that doesn't grow in AZ". (LOL).

I must apologize for not looking up the meaning of lilies associated with the Japanese meanings as I know them to be. I have either been inundated with things, sleeping, or working frantically to finish my raised beds. Or I just have my lazy, unmotivated, sit there in a persisted vegetative state days for some unknown reason. (Ever have those?) Still, those are not excuses for not doing such a simple thing. I will do it for you in the next day or two! You can hold me to it.

As for Latin plant names presently I am at the point where I am able to impress and amaze my friends with multi syllable words such as Agave Americana medio picta alba and Chamaecereus Silvestry v. 'Rose Quartz' and ...Austrocylindropuntia subulata monstrose. I'm sure very soon I will irk and aggravate them with this so called talent instead! I'll just be saying, "Century Plant that is green and white" or "Peanut Cactus with red flowers". :D I couldn't agree with you more in terms of Cacti and Succulent names being problematic. Not only are they Latin but it seems like they are inordinately long and common names sound like there is some Spanish thrown in for good measure. Agave is a perfect example. Most people not familiar with what it is say, "a..gave" literally just like it is spelled. Agave doesn't look like it should be pronounced "ah..gah..vay". Out here too the name Century Plant is confusing. There are a lot that are in that family that don't grow stalks. Their are some smaller version of Century plants and a whole bunch of other mish-mash in that category.

They play the name game with us too. Changed Trichocereus species. They divided it into Trichocereus and Echinopsis. Echinopsis has about 300 things in it and not a one of them look alike or resemble each other. I dunno.

Yes..would absolutely love a piece of the dragon fruit!!! I have been wanting one of those for awhile and they are not easy to come by. Would you like an Agave, Aloe or Century Plant (Remember the monster that gets the big stalk. I wouldn't worry. Unless you live to be 100 you probably wouldn't see that thing grow the stalk but the plant is pretty. Nadine would probably get to enjoy it. That and the pleasure of dismantling it once it dies and getting rid of its 300 pups! )

Pic #1 Agave Americana (Century Plant). By contrast keep in mind I am 5 foot 3 inches tall.
Pic #2 Dead Agave Americana
Pic #3 Austrocylindropuntia subulata monstrose. Have NO clue what the common name is. I just call it a crab cactus because the little arms remind me of crab claws for some reason.
Pic #4 Agave Americana medio picta alba. Believe it or not this is a "petite" Century Plant if there is such a beast. Instead of 10-12 feet around it grows 5-7 feet in diameter. Instead of a 30-40 foot stalk this one has a 7-12 foot stalk. Uhm...I guess you can call that 'petite'.
Pic #5 My sunburnt Agave. This is his recovery! I'll show you what he looked like before. I call him Miracle because he survived!