Easter Cactus - Fat leaves? Look like cactus?

Is this normal? I have an Easter Cactus that likes to grow random leaves that look like mini-barrel cactuses or something. What causes these fat leaves with lots of bristles sticking out of it?

Schlumbergera Seeds

Terrible picture! hehe.

While moving the thanksgiving cactus and christmas cactus out of the greenhouse so that they'd get some rain, I found out that two of the seed pods fell off so I brought both of them in. Unfortunately one of them inexplicably disappeared somehow. I opened the other pod and pulled out the seeds. They look healthy so I figure I'll plant them tomorrow and see what gives..

Phlox and Butterflies

These are my Grandmother's phlox. After she passed away in 2003, my mother dug them up and brought them over. They've gotten real huge this year! Major surprise...




Probably the only picture where they didn't look like a blurry mess... With the constant flapping and glaring sun, it was a nightmare! hehe.

Identify Plant?

We have a winner! I knew we would. From a capsule in the Desert Gatherings' "Hummingbird Garden" tube (Post 1, Post 2), I introduce you to a really nice plant that has overpowered all the others!



A close-up.



Can anyone identify what plant this is? It looks familiar but... The other plants are still growing but they're hidden and sort of trying to grow out a bit but I'm not sure how long they'll last.




And of course, the sunflower in the sandbox has flowered. ;)

Sunflowers and giant Ants?

What's going on here? The bottom of every leaf looks like this! It's creepy. I thought maybe these big giant ants were eating something under the leaves but now I wonder if the ants themselves are eating the leaves.

Searching Google shows nothing except people making claims that ants do or don't eat. Would anyone happen to know what's going on?

Dragonfly

Dragonfly was a bit patient but very skittish and kept flying around. These two photos were the cleanest out of a batch of blurry pictures!

Amaryllis

I thought I posted this yesterday! Guess not... hehe.

I spotted a couple of opened amaryllis seed pods. I collected them and have the seeds spread out on a paper towel to help them dry out. I am gonna get my hands on another flowerbox and start this next batch. Fun!




Then I went to check on the flowerbox for the seeds I planted - they're coming up!



Amaryllis galore! How can you not love this? hehe.

Definitely not Birdhouse Gourd

In my previous blog entry, I posted about a vegetable-type plant growing in my bed. I was hoping it was birdhouse gourd making its weird random appearance but that wasn't the case. The plant has started sending out male flowers. I haven't seen any female ones yet...



If it is pumpkin, it's gonna be an ugly mess pretty soon once the bugs discover it. I'm not going to make an effort to save them. I gave that up years ago.

Volunteer Pumpkin?

Close-up of Sweet Banana Pepper bloom



Some are thinking this is pumpkin. I'm scratching my head and wondering where it could've come from. Sure, we dumped a few pumpkins in the woods in the backyard but that's far away. I really hope this isn't pumpkin. The bugs will kill it flat in no time! But uh.. Here it is... taking over the bed.




Guess we'll see in time of what it produces.

Sunflower in Sandbox / Century Plant Seedlings!

I know that pictures shouldn't be taken when the sun is pretty much gone but couldn't resist.




Sunflower growing in sandbox. An interesting experiment by my nephew, of course...




A bit excited to see this. These are Century Plant seeds coming up.

Over the weeks, I slowly put in more seeds when it looked like they weren't coming up. I ran out of Joshua Tree seeds and so far it appears none of them are going to come up. It was just neat that Century Plant actually grew! hehe.