Escobaria vivipara with a light snow coverI’m fascinated by the ability of certain cacti species to survive even quite extreme freezing conditions. A fascination that is probably roote… Read More

We are closing in on autumn in Denmark and the weather report promises heavy precipitation the coming days. Consequently I'm considering if I should shelter the peyote plants I'm growing out… Read More

As mentioned in the previous post my wife and I spent a couple of days of our summer vacation reclaiming a winter-hardy cactus bed at our summerhouse, situated at the northern west coast of… Read More

Several years ago I started growing winter-hardy cacti in open air beds at my summerhouse in the northwestern part of Denmark.Neglected winter-hardy cactus bed almost taken over by grassesI… Read More

As mentioned in the post "Growing peyote (and other cacti) on the balcony" I'm experimenting with growing peyote cacti in window flower boxes on my balcony.Peyote cactus maimed by a birdThe… Read More

Acyrthosiphon pisum (pea aphid) - courtesy of WikipediaAphids are typically not a problem when growing cacti as they seem to prefer more tender plants, like the growing tips and undersides o… Read More

Tricotyledon Echinocactus polycephalus seedlingAs mentioned in the previous post I started a handful of Echinocactus polycephalus (SNL 91; Las Vegas, Nevada) from seed a few weeks ago. I did… Read More

Immaculate Echinocactus polycephalus seedlingBack in 2009 I bought 100 seeds each of Echinocactus polycephalus (SNL 91; Las Vegas, Nevada) and Echinocactus horizonthalonius (SB 409; Shafter… Read More

40 peyote cacti growing in a window flower boxFor the last many years I've experimented with growing peyote, Ariocarpus, Leuchtenbergia, and the likes in an unheated coldhouse in Denmark. Th… Read More

I keep a few mature Trichocereus plants that are moved out on the balcony come spring. While the Trichocereus peruvianus (Peruvian Torch cactus) and Trichocereus bridgesii plants usually tak… Read More

Trypophobia inducing seed head of sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)A few weeks ago I was contacted by Arnold Wilkins, professor in psychology at the University of Essex, who sought permission… Read More

David Marbain, roadman with the Native American Church, sings while holding a peyote fan and gourd rattleI'm not into the details of US legislation but (naively?) thought that members of the… Read More

Huichol child collecting peyoteHuicholes: The Last Peyote Guardians, Hernan Vilchez' documentary about the Wixárika People and their struggle to preserve the sacred territory of Wirik… Read More

Purple peyote seedlings - a sign of extreme conditionsA purple colored epidermis is a common stress indicator for a number of cacti - stress caused either by cold or draught - and consequent… Read More

Winter dormant peyote cactusFollowing a relatively mild period the last couple of years have seen freezing cold winters here in Denmark - winters that have been tough to my coldhouse grown p… Read More

Flowering stand of San Pedro cacti (Trichocereus pachanoi)To me the main draw of the San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi (syn. Echinopsis pachanoi)), a fast-growing columnar cactus nativ… Read More

Huichol looking over the desert - photo by Tracy L. BarnettThe Huichol not only have to deal with threats to their sacred land by the Canadian-based mining company First Majestic Silver Corp… Read More

While preparing a post on the cold-hardy cacti I'm growing in flower boxes on my balcony I stumbled upon this high-speed video I shot last summer. The video shows a hoverfly visiting a flowe… Read More

I'm fascinated by time-lapse videos - especially the ones that include cactus related footage. Tom Lowe is a great inspiration when it comes to time-lapse filming and has recently released t… Read More

Gingerbread peyote cookieYuletide is closing in and the winter solstice has to be celebrated. What better way to do it than with a handful of homemade gingerbread peyote cookies :-)Gingerbre… Read More

Lately I've been working on a bibliography that is meant to cover literature on primarily peyote/Lophophora and related Mexican/Texan cactus species, but many general works on cacti are also… Read More

Recently several articles have been published updating the available information on the geographic range of peyote / Lophophora. I have made an overview of this distribution information avai… Read More

Flowering Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus var. macdowellii (SB 100; El Pilar, Coahuila) - please note that the time-lapse video is generated with a fairly high frame rate meaning that you can slo… Read More

Time flies... as do the clouds in the above video. 8 years ago today this blog was started off with a test post featuring a picture of a field of Cylindropuntia bigelovii photographed in Jos… Read More