Sunday, August 24, 2008

Epiphyllums: More Detail

Not to beat the epiphyllum topic dead, but I finally dumped my camera (it's been since June) and found this pic from last month. I think this one looks like a fire works display. The flowers on this plant last a few days.

As opposed to the paltry 12 hours for the one Lin gave me, but the flowers are twice as big...

From what I read, it took years before folks hybridized colors other than cream or pale yellow. The pink below is an inherited plant. It must be at least 30 years old - I've had it for 10 years; it came from Claire's Aunt Lillian when she passed away. We had literally 50 blooms this year lasting almost 2 weeks. Amazing.

Epiphyllums are REALLY easy to propogate. Just cut a "leaf" to the base, if that's what you can call those spiny things, let it set for a few days, and then pot in fast draining potting soil. You don't need any kind of "special" soil as in orchid or cactus. I like clay pots because they dry out fast after watering. I line the bottom and top with rocks.

They prefer bright shade. Mine are on a covered bench with the tillandsias, a native orchid, and a venus fly trap - just to give you an idea of who else is happy in this light. I tend to clump plants into micro-ecosystems. Our entire backyard is shaded by the umbrella of a 70 or 80 foot deodar cedar, so we've really gone for that rainforest feel, inspired by hikes through the redwoods and the great abundance of readily avilable central american salvias and fuschias that we are blessed with in the Bay Area. I water about 2 or 3 times a week.

Primary pests are aphids and snails. I use my fingers and spray with soapy water to combat the aphids and throw Sluggo in the pots for the snails. Sluggo is a non-toxic mineral that desiccates the snails in their shells.

katydid this and katydid that

Doug found a katydid on one of the cymbidiums this morning. I thought they like to eat leaves, because I've seen cut holes where I've seen a katydid - on the camellias of all things - but wasn't sure so looked them up online. There are 1000's of species around the world in a whole array of colors, sizes and shapes - flourescent pink to bark tones and up to 4.5 inches long. Some eat snails and lizards!

I found there are two species roaming around Northern California, the Microcentrum rhombifolium and Microcentrum californicum. A member of the grasshopper and cricket family, kaydids are distinguished by antenna being longer than the body.

But I didn't find any that look like the ones in our garden until I saw a picture of a nymph angle wing. The clue is there are essentially no wings and distinct brown spots on the body. I think this one is a female because it has a hook off the abdomen.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Epiphyllum from Lin

Doug took this shot at 8:30 this morning, and the bloom was already closing. By 10:00AM, it was completely shut and wilting. But oh! what a magnificent 12 hours it has!


Just for scale, here's a shot with Doug's hand - and his hands are quite large!

We have 2 other epiphyllums. They are totally bizarre man-made creations with 1,000s of hybrids available, though I've never seen one for sale; all my plants come from friends. My mom has quite a nice a collection too.

They like bright indirect light, basically like an orchid or epiphyte, and fast draining soil.

The UC Botanical Garden added some to the Arid House entry a couple of years ago, though I've not seen its bloom. My first encounter was at the San Diego Wild Animal Park which had rows of huge specimens handing in basics in a screened house. Love at first sight...