HCSS show and sale

The HCSS (Houston Cactus and Succulent Society) is having their show and sale this weekend. There are some great plants to see and buy. I volunteered to clerk for the judges. Basically I stood there and turned the plants for the judges so they could see them from all angles because judges are not allowed to touch the plants. The great thing about it is that I get to learn what the judges are looking for and what they take points off for. Maybe someday I will get up the courage to enter some of my plants.

adenia

euphorbia

astrophytum

euphorbia

Green thumb

This weekend my father-in-law kept telling me that I have a green thumb. I don't think of myself as having one because I have killed many poor plants. I have found out what plants I can keep alive the best and stuck to those. Then I had the thought, maybe that is the secret to having a "green thumb". Don't be deterred  by plants that do not make it. Learned from mistakes and continued to try growing different plants. Not everyone is going to have success with the same plants.

More flowers

Night blooming cereus. For some reason ants like to congregate on the buds as they grow. So far they do not seem to harm the blooms.

So many flowers

I am so excited about all the flowers my plants have produced this year. My huernia has been blooming for months and still has more buds growing. They are such a deep red. Unfortunately they are hard to see since they are located at the base of the plant.

Lithops, aka living stones, stone faces ...

I have now officially killed my last lithop. I have tried to grow them several times with no success. I think I will now give up so as to spare any future victims. This partiular plant started off really well. I had it in a bright window and watered it only once a month. (They are very prone to rotting from over watering.) It grew and flourished through the winter. When the warm weather came I decided to try it outside. That is when the poor plant started its slow decline. A slug somehow got to it and scraped a large chunk out of it. So I brought it back inside but it never really recovered. For a short while I thought it had. A new set of leaves even grew out of it but they were so small and they shriveled as soon as the old leaves exposed it. That was the end. I can't help but wonder if I had kept it in the window if it would still be thriving. Maybe I will try them again someday down the road when I have more experience.

Drought

Houston is now under water restrictions because of the drought. Not too bad for my plants but I have to remember that I can only water on Sundays and Thursdays. This is definitely going to be harder on me than them.

In need of some support

One of my very first plants that I still have is a euphorbia. It has taken off since I moved to Texas and it has become very top heavy. There are not alot of branches on the lower half of the plant because I was very nieve about how to properly prune it. The other day we had some strong winds and my husband said it looked like it was going to blow over. Sure enough the next day I found it on its side. So far a plant stake from my local hardware store, for only a couple dollars, is holding it up well. One really helpful thing that I acquired at some point is a roll of velcro that is made for use on plants. I have had to add support to several plants and this stuff is very handy. You can cut off whatever length you need and the velcro holds strong. There are various versions such as plant ties. I recommend anyone growing plants get some.