I just "published" that last post today, though it sat there as a draft for over a week.  Oops!  Not sure why I didn't publish it when I finished it...

Oh well, this one will take me a couple days to finish too, I'm sure.  Just wanted to make a few observations, etc...

Sunday, we had our cactus club meeting at our place (the Fireside) and we had a big raffle.  I got two boxes of small pots, which worked out well since I was gearing up to go somewhere and buy a bunch.  I got such a nice variety of pots, sizes, and they're all nice and clean.  Now I'm set up for at least a couple years of propagating.  I also won a Cissus tuberosa, I bought a nice grafted Euphorbia, I got a small Adenium obesum, and a tiny Agave plug (angustifolia, if I remember correctly...)  So now that I have all these pots, as I water plants and find a piece that would be nice for propagation, I'm going to throw it in one of these little pots.  Now, if I could just find all the labels I bought last year!  Where the heck did I put them?  

So I just took a cutting of mindorensis.  It was a couple sets of leaves that were less than perfect.  I have some of those from back when the kitties still had their front claws and would swat at hanging plants, causing damage to the leaves.  

Caudata continues to bud.  And I see now that it has a second peduncle.  I'm very excited!  It's taking its sweet time, that's for sure!  Lacunosa is blooming right now, and fungii in the GH has open flowers that are getting ready to drop, and more peduncles developing.  Also, the fungii in my sunroom is also budding up with two brand new peduncles.  It'll be it's first time - yay!

I whacked back the fungii that was in my bedroom - it seems hydroton doesn't work that well with the species.  I left just a small piece in the hydroton, figuring I'd see how it does on the porch this summer.  The rest, I put in rooting pots.  Then, today, I just took down the carnosa that was also in the north window in my bedroom.  I neglected it and it's not doing well, so I'm going to start a new one from Mom's plant.  In the place of those two plants, I put my 'Krimson Princess' and that cool, rabbit's foot like fern.  I have to look it up to see what it is...

So today, as I was sitting in the GH preparing a plant to repot, I gazed upon a cactus in bloom!! It's Gymnocalycium bruchii, one of the winter hardy cacti I hope to put out this spring...

 

It almost looks white in the photo (probably because of the flash) but it's more of a very pale pink.  Cute little thing!

I also started two cuttings of sp. Nong Nooch in two separate pots. I meant to only do one, with a funky leaf, but I cut it in the wrong place and ended up with a node with the funky leaf, and a node with a nice leaf.  That's ok - it should be an easy species to sell, and taking the cuttings will promote new growth on the old plant...

I'm watching deykeae like a hawk.  It seems everything else in the sunroom is showing signs of growth - well, almost everything.  Deykeae is always the last to start growing, grows slowly.  I feel lucky if I get two or three new leaves a year!  This month starts my 5th year with it.  It has always been in the same spot.  I've always been leary of experimenting with it because I've read some people have trouble growing it and that it can be temperamental.  It has never given me any trouble, but there is so little information out there about it that I don't know if growing slow is typical.  Does it need more water than I give it?  I water when it's dry.  Does it need more sun?  The markings are gorgeous where it sits, and I'm thrilled with every new leaf.  Is it hard to bloom?  I wish I could find someone who could give me more information about it...

I got a box of plants (Thurs. the 10th) from Carol.  Well, cuttings, that is.  They are absolutely STUNNING!  Big, beautiful, most have peduncles, a few were budding up.  Of course, I removed the buds & pedicils (**oh the humanity!**) so they would save their energy for rooting.  But here are those I got good photos of...

H. clemensiorum - the biggest by far and SO impressive...

H. patella - gorgeous leaves and it had two flowers, one mostly open the other about to open...

H. sp. UT039 -the leaves are kind of thin, fairly large, very shiny and I'm betting it's a viner...

H. pubicalyx 'Black Dragon' - lime green leaves, very smooth, very different from other pubicalyx cultivars...

H. sp. Poring Hot Springs - reminds me of those in the finlaysonii group...

 And H. sp. Ko Chung Island - this one was a bonus.  What a beauty!!

There are a few more - cominsii and dennisii and calycina.  I'll get photos of them another time.  For now, I'm  done today!