I'll be interested to hear from anyone keeping it alive outside in zone 5. Mesa Garden rates it hardy down to about 10F. My experience has been that they are tender unless absolutely bone dry and in low atmospheric humidity.

peterb

more stuff! last day of winter/first day of spring.

peterb

Dr. MacAuliffe is a real soil expert. Here's a very detailed look at bajadas in the Tucson area:

http://www.uwyo.edu/vegecology/pdfs/rea ... 201994.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

peterb

I'll be interested to follow this thread as I have suspected that certain very "difficult" cacti in cultivation are lacking a crucial subsoil root association of some kind. It could explain why, for example, Echinomastus erectocentrus is very difficult to re-establish after it has been res...

I do not know with any certainty, but I suspect that some of the old variety names are nearly entirely worthless, but some of them may be worth reconsidering. I think a good standard to use for infraspecific taxa is their geographical isolation and relatively pure, non-intergrading characters. On th...

I'd be interested in parsing the "small flowered Echinocereus group" with a little more detail than Powell and Weedin brought to it. They lost Echinocereus chloranthus and Echinocereus russanthus as species and that created a very broad concept of viridiflorus, a single species in their tr...

The plant in the last photo is Fouquieria columnaris, aka cirio or boojum. It is at least 13 years old and extremely slow in the pot. It would be growing a lot more quickly in the ground.

Here's some more action.

peterb

Echinocereus yavapaiensis, a hexaploid quite distinct from either trigloch or coccineus for a variety of reasons. very interesting plants. The New River mountains are where some of the supposedly "distinct" geographical variants of engelmannii go to die. :-) boyce thompsonii, apachensis, a...

I've been impressed by ochoterenaus so far. I like the yellow flowers of vaupelianus also.

peterb

more stuff!

No, haven't been there, but that general area is on the list. Thanks for the tip.

peterb

Thanks for the id, rinconensis it is. E. laui is a great plant for sure. I will keep my eye out for seeds this year and try some next year.

peterb

You're right, I thought there was a separate forum for nurseries. It's a thread under General "Great places to buy." Interesting. Glad you liked the photos!

peterb

It's coming along! Our original core of 4 writers has expanded to include a few others doing special sections. Photos are still being gathered. Many descriptions and pages have been sent out to the experts for review and returned for revision. We're still on schedule for a 2015 publication. It's bee...

aha! yeah I was seeing some purple in the fringes of the flower that looked south american to me. Beautiful plant.

peterb