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| Mammillaria heyderi - One of the pitfalls of growing cactus in Austin, Texas is the occasional "Rain Bomb". Over the last three weeks I have recorded over 12 inches of rainfall at our house, filling the elevated cactus garden to overflowing and not giving the cactus adequate time to dry out. Several cacti have turned to mush including this formerly handsome Mammillaria. |
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| Echinocereus reichenbachii var. fitchii - from far South Texas |
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| Juniper Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus) |
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| Although this picture is blurry, it shows my strategy for anchoring a bare root Ocotillo to the ground, the problem was that in order to form roots the Ocotillo needed to not move back forth with a breeze (that would break any new roots or worse uproot the entire plant as there was almost nothing underground). So to counter balance the extremely top heavy canes I drove four stakes into the bed and then tied the top of each stake to cross beams in an "x" pattern that essential put downward pressure on the crown of the plant keeping it quite still no matter how strong the breeze. |
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| One of the best native Texan plants I have found for desert landscaping, Four-nerve Daisy (Tetraneuris scaposa). |
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| Mammillaria heyderi - these are the best tasting fruits of the many native cactus fruits I have tried. Sweet and tart like strawberries, where most other cactus fruits are too bland for my taste. |
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| Mammillaria heyderi -Grows from I-35 West into East Arizona where it forms nearly flat discs in mostly rocky soil. Fruits can be red or purple, flowers can be white, cream and apparently sometimes yellow (which I have only seen in photographs). |
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| Eagle's Claw Cactus (Echinocactus horizonthalonius) also less romantically known as Devil's Head Cactus in twin bloom and many times also blooms with three flowers at a time. Some how these plants have an internal clock that if you had 100 of these cactus planted in different locations roughly 90% of them would bloom on the very same day. |
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| This cactus can be found every 30 feet in some parts of the .Big Bend Ranch State Park. Certainly one of the most striking color combinations. Some of the Eagle Claw Cacti found in Big Bend are rumored to be 100 years old based on the incredibly slow growth rate. I would estimate the cactus in this picture maybe a old as 20 years. |
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| Twisted Rib Cactus (Thelocactus setispinus) in habitat close to Lake LBJ. Variety is most likely 'hamatus' given that it has long hooked spines. Some of these can grow quite large, I remember seeing one at Enchanted Rock that was over 18 inches tall. |
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| These cactus were growing in full sun on a small novaculite dome in an open field. These fields had just begun to be mowed by the city of Horseshoe Bay. I found several cactus that had been cut in half or uprooted by the mowing blades. Just a few years later any remaining cactus with a height over a few inches had been extirpated. |
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| Mammillaria heyderi (nipple cactus) in a protected location. Apparently these small semi-dome cactus can have yellow flowers but the only ones I have ever seen are cream colored. The fruits are sweet as strawberries and come in two colors that I have observed brick red or magenta purple. |
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| Another Mammillaria this one missing its' top most likely due to mowing blade. |
