Nature Diary... Cactus Plants

  After yesterday’s day of mist and drizzle (mizzle) today the sun broke through the clouds and shone brightly, illuminating the freshness of the plants which were outside absorbing the damp atmosphere. Two of the plants in my collage are now thriving outside although they hadn’t fared so well indoors. These are pictured in the bottom left, they're succulents, and are Aeonium Schwarzkopf (the very dark one) and the much prettier Aeonium Kiwi growing beside it. I’ll have to research what to do with them in the winter as these are new to me. My magical and well loved Little Mouse Crown cactus (Rebutia Fiebrigii Muscula) has once more surprised and delighted me by blooming so very late in the year and producing yet one more of its pretty bright orange flowers. Just what I needed to see after the ‘mizzle’ of yesterday. With it I popped out into the now weaker sunshine a few of my other cactus plants, most of which I haven’t yet identified but I’ll get there eventually. My splendid Red-Headed Irishman (Mammillaria Spinossissima Rubrispina) is thriving and looks huge next to my tiny little Mouse Crown in the top left picture (it is huge!) and produced an incredible display of flowers in June this year. The 4 tiniest plants in the top right picture are all growing from pieces which have been broken off or have fallen off much bigger plants and which I popped into some soil, and they’ve grown their own roots and are perfect miniature specimens. Wonderful!
  Pretty soon I’ll have to sort out places to put them all away from the heat of the house when the heating goes on as I’m learning they need a cooler place where they can rest in the winter. But for now I’ll let them enjoy being outside when the sun shines, as shall I.



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