Tag: types of cactus

Autumn /Fall is here and I still have NO Greenhouse

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Hi Guys, Happy Autumn/Fall to all of you in the Northern Hemisphere and Happy Spring to you all in the Southern Hemisphere, for all of you in the Northern Hemisphere I hope you have had a fantastic Spring and Summer and growing and flowering season, and for all of you in the Southern Hemisphere I bet you are all so looking forward to the exciting growing season ahead, I can’t believe how fast this Summer has gone and I am seriously not ready for Winter yet and neither are my cacti and believe me I have my reasons why.

Me in my Irish Coastal Garden surrounded by some of my columnar Cacti.

I still have quite a few of my cacti coming into bud even though it’s late in the season now, I am still without a greenhouse even though I ordered it in April, it looks like it could be the end of November until the greenhouse company are available to deliver and install it, the days are drawing in and the nights are getting colder and that means in the beginning of October I will have no choice but to move every single one of my cacti and succulents into my home, and anyone that watches my You Tube channel ‘Desert Plants of Avalon’ will know that I have A LOT of plants, many large and tall cacti 7 feet high ???? and I haven’t a clue where I am going to put them all, I have never been in this position before but all I can say is wish me luck haha.

Honey our cat chilling out with the cacti enjoying the glorious Summer of 2025.

I moved house in April from the busy City of Belfast to the peaceful and very beautiful Irish coastal countryside and I am truly blessed with the most beautiful of scenery and home, its packed full of nature here and I get to go to sleep and wake up to see and hear the incredible sea waves.

We were so excited to move and its been the best thing ever, but because we had to move all of our very large Cactus and Succulent collection the moving was very stressful, we are so grateful for our two wonderful friends Kieran and Paul who helped us with the move especially as many of the plants and boxes we had to move were very very heavy, and big tall and heavy fierce spiny cacti are not exactly the most friendliest of things to handle haha! we honestly couldn’t have done it without our dear Friends Kieran and Paul, these two guys truly are LEGENDS haha!

When we had moved into our beautiful new home we were able to move out all of the Cacti and Succulents into our beautiful Irish coastal garden, and we have had the BEST Spring and Summer I can remember since 1976 haha! very warm and sunny and mostly dry weather, all my plants have been thriving out in the garden with the sea air and sunshine and I have had plenty of cactus flowers this Summer, I truly thought that by now ( 3rd week in September ) I would have had my lovely new greenhouse up and running and all ready for moving the cacti and succulents into next month so they can all overwinter nice and dry.

The Cacti have really enjoyed being outside with the fresh sea air this Spring and Summer 2025

BUT the greenhouse hasn’t gone to plan and its all been a total nightmare to be honest and very very stressful, we had the greenhouse concrete base put up in August and although we knew that once we had the greenhouse concrete base we may have to wait up to 8 weeks for delivery and installation ( making it middle of October ) when we got the installation and delivery date it was for 27th November ARGH NO WAY! ALL my plants would be dead by then, the middle of October would be fine as I have many of the cacti protected from rain under tables and I move inside any of the larger ones when the weather is rainy, we rarely get any real cold nights here in the north of Ireland until end of October and if I had to move any plants into the house it would only be for a short time, BUT end of November NO WAY! the thought of living for 2 months in our beautiful new home packed full of cacti with no room to swing a cat ( not that I would ever swing a cat of course haha! ) fills me with dread, but the thought of losing my cactus and succulent collection many of which I have had since a child fills me with much more dread.

On a positive note the greenhouse company are doing everything they can to move the delivery and installation date of our greenhouse forward as they know how important it is for me, and the greenhouse company have little control over the delivery and installation as its goes to another department and there is a big queue of customers, but I am keeping my fingers crossed and asking the cacti to keep their roots crossed that the new greenhouse can get delivered and installed much sooner.

I have got my cacti protected from excess rain under tables on my patio but from the beginning of October all of these Cacti will have to come into the house, HURRY UP GREENHOUSE!

I will keep you all updated when I hear more news on the greenhouse but in the meantime I am still keeping very busy with all of the plant jobs to do at this time of year, I have made a video for my You Tube Channel called Desert Plants of Avalon on ‘The Cactus Jobs to do with your Cacti in Fall/Autumn’ and you can watch this video below:

Thank goodness we have had a truly amazing Spring and Summer in Ireland and U.K this year and I have been able to have the plants outside basking in the sun and sea air, if you want to see a complete tour of the cacti in my Irish coastal garden then you can watch this video below:

Thanks so much for reading and Happy growing to you, sending an abundance of CACTUS POWER your way from the Emerald Isle <3

My Cactus Flowers of Spring & Summer 2025

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Hi Cactus and Succulent Lovers, I hope that you are all having a wonderful growing season of 2025 so far, This Spring and Summer has been very different to previous years for me as I moved house at the end of April to another part of Ireland to a beautiful location right by the Sea, but I have been without a greenhouse due to it being a busy time of year for the greenhouse company to deliver and install our new greenhouse, we could be waiting another 3 months before they are able to deliver and install the greenhouse too argh! the good news is we finally have the concrete foundation floor built that is essential to support our new greenhouse, but all is in plan and our new greenhouse will be up and running to house my cacti and succulents within the next three months just in time for the upcoming Winter.

The plants have all settled in really well after the big house move and most of them are all outside in my coastal garden enjoying the glorious Spring & Summer that we are having this year, I have been so lucky with the plants being outside as its one of the best Spring and Summers in UK & Ireland that I can remember for a long time, if it had been like any other Summer I would have had to keep all the plants inside the house to protect them from the Irish summer rain but they are all outside enjoying the sunshine and the amazingly much warmer and sunnier and drier than usual Summer.

My Cacti have all been outside in the garden enjoying the fresh sea air this Spring & Summer.

My Cacti have really awarded me this Spring and Summer with the most beautiful of cactus flowers, being outside with the fresh sea air and the sunny Spring and Summer has really given them all a blooming amazing boost.

If my new greenhouse is not up and running by the middle of October I will have to move them all into the house to protect them all until the new greenhouse is built, obviously thats not what I want to do as its a lot of work moving plants in and out and I don’t want my lovely new home to be packed to the rooftop with cacti hahaha! but we have to do what we have to do to protect our plant babies until the greenhouse is here, and I know once the greenhouse is up and running I will have a wonderful time putting the plants in there and making them all nice and cosy for their winter rest period.

Here are some photos of my blooming cactus beauties that I want to share with you all and I hope you enjoy the flowers as much as I have.

Echinocereus armatus and Parodia ottonis August 2025

Mammillaria hahniana June 2025

Echinopsis obrepanda var.purpurea August 2025

Gymnocalycium mihanovicii variegata blooming constantly since May 2025

Lophophora jordaniana August 2025

Rebutia variety June 2025

Parodia warasii July 2025

Trichocereus pachanoi x scopulicola 7 feet high blooming at night August 2025

Trichocereus pachanoi x scopulicola 7 feet high blooming by day August 2025

Stenocactus multicostatus June 2025

Aporocactus mallisonii June 2025

Echinopsis eyeresii August 2025

Cross pollinating my two Parodia cacti: Parodia erebescens and Parodia ottonis to get seeds August 2025

Echinocereus gentryi var. Cucumis June 2025

Rhipsalis pilocarpa August 2025

Mammillaria variety July 2025

Cleistocactus vulpis cauda August 2025

Rebutia seedling that germinated in one of my Lophophora cactus pots August 2025

Astrophytum ornatum var. mirabelli August 2025

A selection of my cacti all blooming beautiful June 2025

Mammillaria spinosissima July 2025

Astrophytum asterias August 2025

My Trichocereus grandiflorus ‘Red Star’ August 2025

Mammillaria variety July 2025

Astrophytum asterias var. nudum August 2025

Echinocereus armatus August 2025

Parodia ottonis August 2025

Thelocactus hexandrophorus August 2025

Astrophytum myriostigma quadricostatus August 2025

Echinopsis ( ID Unknown) August 2025

Echinocereus gentryi var. scheerii June & July 2025

Some of my blooming stunners all together August 2025

Echinopsis ( ID Unknown) August 2025

Clesitocactus winteri ‘Golden Rat’s Tail’ August 2025

Stenocactus variety June 2025

Trichocereus grandiflorus ‘Red Star’ July & August 2025

Echinopsis eyeresii August 2025

Cleistocactus colademononsis ‘Monkey’s Tail’ August 2025

Sulcorebutia ( ID Unknown) June 2025

Chamaelobivia ‘Sharon’s Delight’ June 2025

Chamaecereus silvestrii July 2025

Parodia ottonis June 2025

Chamaelobivia ( ID Unknown) June 2025

Lophophora fricci August 2025

Lophophora williamsii August 2025

Lophophora williamsii July 2025

Neoporteria/Eriocyse paucicostata July 2025

Rebutia ( ID Unknown) June 2025

Mammillaria formosa July 2025

Parodia chrysacanthion June 2025

Rebutia variety June 2025

Parodia crassigibba July 2025

Rebutia ‘Apricot Ice’ June 2025

Mammillaria hahniana June 2025

Gymnocalycium variety August 2025

Mammillaria spinosissima July 2025

Mammillaria ‘Magic Baby’ June & July 2025

Gymnocalycium saglionis August 2025

If you want to know how to get your Cacti and Succulents to Flower then you can watch my video on my You Tube channel Called Desert Plants of Avalon and you can watch this video below:

If you want to know how to get your cacti to flower ALL year round then you can watch my video on my You Tube channel called Desert Plants of Avalon and you can watch this video below:

Thanks so much for reading everyone and if you want to know more about growing cacti and succulents then do please subscribe to my You Tube Channel called Desert Plants of Avalon where I share lots of Tips and Tricks on growing these awesome weird and wacky plants.

Wishing you all a blooming amazing rest of the growing season.

Growing Cactus Plants from Seed – The EASY way

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Hi Cactus & Succulent Growers,

Well spring is almost here and soon we will be back in the swing of things or I should say ‘spring of things’ haha with all the spring plant jobs to do with our plants, all the repottings and thinking about giving our cacti their first watering after the winter, this time of year is also the best time of year to sow any cacti seeds that you want to sow this year, growing cacti from seed can be so rewarding and there is something extra special about watching cacti grow over the months and years from seeds we have sown ourselves.

Image above: My Cleistocactus seedlings I have grown from seed, I often use small plastic trays used for cherry tomatoes in supermarkets for containers for cactus seed sowing.

I have grown many cacti from seed over the years and in this blog I will be sharing how you too can grow cacti from seed the EASY way.

I have a few different ways I grow cacti from seed including the ‘Baggie’ method, this involves sowing cactus seeds in a ‘sterile’ type of environment by sterilising the soil first by microwaving the soil for 3 minutes to get the soil as sterile as possible and then once the seeds have been sown they go immediately into the ‘Baggies’ ( clear zip lock bags ) I have made a few videos on How I do this on my You Tube Channel called Desert Plants of Avalon but I have also had great success by sowing the seeds without sterilising the soil first and this is how I am going to be explaining it here.

Image above: my Parodia cactus seedlings that are now large enough to pot on individually into their own little 5cm pots, Cactus seedlings can take many months or a couple of years before they are ready to be transplanted individually.

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME OF YEAR TO SOW CACTUS SEEDS ?

The best time of year to sow cactus seeds is in the spring and summer, but you can sow them at any time of the year including the Winter if you have additional heat and LED Plant grow lights.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

1, Cactus seeds.

2, An empty container with some holes in the bottom. I often use recycled small plastic trays often used for fruit and cherry tomatoes in supermarkets, these can be very good for sowing cactus seeds as they also have holes already in the bottom, another option is to use small Tupperware containers used for packed lunches and put some holes in the bottom of them for drainage.

3, Well-draining soil. I recommend using a seed-sowing soil and adding extra pumice or grit (go for a 50/50 ratio of pumice or grit to seed-sowing soil). I like to use John Innes seed sowing soil but if you don’t have seed sowing soil you can use a commercial good quality cactus soil and use 50/50 ratio of pumice or grit.

4, A little bit of sand or vermiculite just to sprinkle over the top once you’ve sown the seeds.

5, A little piece of folded-up card or paper if the seeds are very tiny, this is to sprinkle the seeds over the top of the surface of the soil.

6, Water

Image above: Echinopsis cactus seedlings, aren’t they soooooooo CUTE haha!

HOW TO SOW THE SEEDS:

  1. Once you’ve mixed the soil, fill the container with holes in it up with the soil. Then tap it down gently.
  2. Water the soil in the containers thoroughly making sure all of the soil in the containers is thoroughly wetted. (Wetting the soil before sowing the seeds helps keep the seeds from floating off over the top of the soil.)
  3. Sprinkle the seeds as evenly as you can across the soil surface. If the seeds are very tiny (some cactus seeds can be almost dust-like), you can put them into a little folded piece of card and then tap it very gently with you finger across the soil to sprinkle the seeds evenly. If the seeds are quite large, you can just sprinkle them across the surface of the soil with your fingers.
  4. Lightly cover the seeds with a sprinkling of sand or vermiculite. (If the seeds are very very small, you don’t have to cover them.)
  5. Label your container with what type of cactus species you are sowing and the date it’s been sown (e.g., Gymnocalycium, March 21st, 2025).
  6. Keep the soil evenly moist at all times, its important to never let the soil dry out because when they have germinated and when they are still young seedlings their delicate root hairs can dry out.
  7. Keep the seeds warm at a minimum temperature of 70˚F in a bright window but avoid direct sunshine until the seeds have germinated, once the seeds have germinated you can move them to a position that receives more sunshine but still protected from all day direct sunshine.
  8. Cactus seeds can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 12 weeks to germinate and patience really is the magic key.

Image above: My Echinopsis subdenudata cactus seedlings that are about 18 months old.

If you want to see a video on How to grow cacti from seed using the ‘Baggie’ method then here is a video I have made for my You Tube Channel Called Desert Plants of Avalon on How To Grow Cacti From Seed: and you can watch this video below:

Keep your eyes peeled for lots more Blogs coming up on my website and remember guys not long to go now till spring is here and we can get to enjoy all of those beautiful cactus blooms again.

Happy Growing everyone and do check out my You Tube Channel called Desert Plants of Avalon for lots of growing tips and tricks on how you can care for your Cacti and Succulents.