Cactus and Aloe in our garden.

Green fingers are enough to plant the cactuses, as once planted, they grow with little care. One does however need to keep an eye, as some of them flower for only one day. Like this red flower on our Echinopsis chamaecereus (Peanut) cactus.

I remembered that I said at some point that I would show the progress in our gardens, and so, here it is.

Now I can't show you all of them, as there are many, but here is an idea about what is going on thus far. The reason for our love of these types of plants, is that they are tough survivors and if one were to be planted on the moon, I am sure that it will give it a go, to acclimatize to the conditions :))
Our country is covered with cacti, aloes and many types and ranges of succulents, so let me show you some of them.

And then the flowers are gone, as they open at night and only last until midday.

This one below now has two babies and it might be a Gasteria Excelsa.

At the back is an Aloe africana x Aloe striata. A natural hybrid.

At the front is an Aloe Brevifolia, with a full circle of babies around it.

At the bottom right you can see that the aloe at the back also now has a new little one growing.

Here's two babies of the Climbing Aloe. Aloiampelos ciliaris var. ciliaris.

This below is a group that are near threatened, and they are called Haworthiopsis fasciata.

A great new setup was installed at our local community garden, and I think that it is a great idea for us to install something like this on the high back wall of our rear garden.

This one is a stranger, and I can't even remember where we got it, but it is happy and a new little one is growing at the top of it.

Just a lovely female sunbird visiting a flower on our Cape honeysuckle bush.

And finally, we have moved the Donkey (Burrow) tail plants to our inner sanctuary in order to protect them from the blazing summer sun.

New plantings, as the idea is to cover the wall with donkey tail plants.

I have not taken photos yet of our Snake cactus, or any of the other small cacti, as I want them to grow bigger first. We have a wide variety and, in a year, or so, our place will look like a nursery. We visit the flower nurseries at all of the towns in the different provinces that we travel to, in order to collect scarce varieties. Sadly, a number of things. Online sales of cactus, aloes and cycads is increasing, and the illegal pilfering of these plants for sale on the black market is also rampant. Then we also have agriculture and urban development destroying the plants in their natural habitat. Not to mention, hobbyists, who take certain rare specimens from nature without replacing them.
Such is life.

I hope that you have enjoyed the pictures.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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