Not my plants, but my cholla bruise. 😂

Not my plants, but my cholla bruise. 😂

Teddy Bear cholla is my favorite. Looks all cuddly and glowy in the sunlight, but peak violence. 🔪

I accidentally backed my hand into 5-ish spines when I was watering plants on Sunday. It was hard getting detached from my plant. It was holding on. This is the result.

Check out this reddit post. They got punctured, too.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cactus/s/TLd81eRDJu

My Monkey Tail bloomed yesterday.

My Monkey Tail bloomed yesterday. That's a weird flower, but I like it. 😍

Bear is making sure I'm watering the plants correctly.

Bear is making sure I'm watering the plants correctly.

I love his helpful li'l heart. ❤️

I checked on the greenhouse today.

I checked on the greenhouse today. I'm gonna have to water my plants soon.

I have a few flowers on the way, a crazy one, and one I missed.

I missed this one today, but maybe it'll reopen tomorrow. We'll see.

Look at this crazy thing! I love it!

I think this will be more open tomorrow, too. I'll check back.

Two!

This bud dried up and fell off while I was gone, but it looks like another small one is growing in.

Echeveria flower.

Some flowers from today.

Some flowers from today.

The first cactus is planted in my yard. Everyone else is in the greenhouse, except for the one tiny white flower. That's in the house on a spider plant. This is the first one I've ever had flower.

It's been one of those...

It's been one of those "tried my best, but accomplished very little" type of days.

I spent too much time trying to integrate my Etsy shop with my Polish All the Things page, and in the end it didn't even work. Apparently, you could do that last year, but not anymore. I also had to get my Square account switched over to my current last name and bank.

I jumped in with both feet and signed up to do a craft show this weekend. Info on that will be on the page linked above ^ here shortly. I know very few people where I live now, but I'm still gonna put up the event. 😂

I also submitted the scholarship application for the program I'm trying to get into.

I watered a few plants. Made a plant Insta.

That's pretty much all I managed to do today.

Etsy says I need more photos and videos of my stuff. I agree. I have new jewelry displays, so maybe I can make things look fancy and get some new media up this weekend. We'll see.

This is how my plants are looking today.

This is how my plants are looking today. Some teensy flowers and a large one.

Also, I just love fresh cactus spikes! 💚

I feel like I'm amassing too many social media accounts, but if you're interested, I now have a plant Insta:

https://www.instagram.com/blus_botanicals

Fresh spines are so pretty!

Just a few months ago this poor thing had mealy bugs all in its grooves. I painstakingly removed as many as I could, then put a pesticide on it as well as dusted it with diatomaceous earth. It's looking much better now!

I love this big ol' crazy-spines thing!

This is a Madagascar Ocotillo. The large piece in the back needs to be tossed; I think it froze in the sunroom and I don't think it's coming back. I had another piece in the pot that was doing well, but I believe a creature stole it.

My first one of these to ever try to flower!

Little speckled flowers

Bright blooms

Some of my plants are making babies!

Some of my plants are making babies. I got a couple more flowers today, too.

This Aloe is so tiny, but it's got a baby sprouting, anyway!

So many little ones!

Another bunch of littles.

An Echeveria flower.

This plant blooms several times a year, and I'm always taken with its weird flower.

This is my first time having one of these flower!

I think this was a cutting that was gifted to me in one of my succulent orders. It's really grown a lot. It's getting bark! That's like, plant puberty, right? 😂

Cactus flowers from yesterday and today.

Cactus flowers from yesterday and today. They are so pretty!

Echinopsis hybrid "Pooka"

Echinopsis "Salmon Queen"

Gymnocalycium Baldianum

I hope my Ponytail Palm was thirsty...

I hope my Ponytail Palm was thirsty, because it just rained for a few hours straight. 😬

The wind is ridiculous right now. 🙃

Edited to add:

The plants are all still standing.

-----

The wind is ridiculous right now. 🙃

I'm concerned that the large rocks I put on my Ponytail Palm won't be able to hold it in the pot. I guess we'll see if it's still standing in the morning. 😬

I rearranged my succulent shelf that's outside.

I rearranged my succulent shelf that's outside.

I had some softer plants (sedums, etc.) out there, but we've got bunnies or squirrels or someone mashing them down. The soft plants look awful, so I'm going to repot the parts that have survived and pamper them in the greenhouse.

Since I know my Agaves can do well in the full summer sun out here, I decided to put them on the shelf instead, as well as my Ponytail Palm (because they're related) and my barrel cactus. They'll all be fine out there; maybe even happier.

That pot of Prickly Pear on the left will get repotted soon. That's just where we were tossing pads that broke off, so it wasn't intentional that they are sitting so low in the pot.

About the Ponytail Palm, I still haven't watered it, but I did clean the brown leaves off. I also put rocks around the base TEMPORARILY because we not only have loads of sunshine, but wind, too. I tried leaving it out in full sun without the rocks, but it blew out of the pot. 😂 It's gotta get rooted and settled before I can remove them.

That weird, long, fuzzy cactus on the top left was a Wal-Mart special around 7 or 8 years back. It was one sad, etiolated piece in a damp pot. It has been super resilient through living indoors with grow lights, 3 moves, and all kinds of me learning the best way to care for it. I hope it's enjoying life now. 💚

I also had to get these Ephiphyllum's out of the greenhouse.

I also had to get these Epiphyllum's out of the greenhouse. They were burning up!

I read that they often grow in trees, so they like bright light, but also dappled shade. They also enjoy humidity, so that's why they're in my bathroom. It's bright in there; it's a little after 7 pm and this is the light level, unadjusted by my camera. It's also a southeast-facing window, so they'll get a lot of morning light.

I can hang the pot a bit higher if I need to, or cut down our glass film. We put the film up so we could leave the blinds open, but still have privacy. Everything is adjustable, so it's whatever.

The smaller plant seems to be doing ok, but the larger one has some broken leaves from repotting, as well as yellowing from what I'm guessing is too much heat/sun. I'm optimistic that it'll be ok, though.

Tell me you have cats without saying you have cats. 😂

Tell me you have cats without saying you have cats. 😂  I've had to cage this shelf in to secure my plants.

I've had some of my less sun-loving plants in this window, and I've recently had to move my tropical succulents inside because they were getting REALLY sad inside the greenhouse. You can see that the Thanksgiving Cactus (left) and Christmas Cactus (right) both look pretty stressed right now, the Christmas Cactus being worse off.

Hopefully, I moved them in time and a more consistent temperature and moderate amount of sunlight will help them recover. It's a southeast-facing window, so hopefully that will be enough light. If not, I still have grow lights from when I had my whole collection indoors. I don't really want to have to rig lights up, but I'll do what I have to.

I also have my driftwood caged up because Bear is part beaver. I don't know what his fascination with wood is, but he loves to chew it so we have to keep it out of reach.

Y'all, please help me not kill this Ponytail Palm.

Edited:  I posted in a Ponytail Palm group and the concensus there is to not water it yet. I've been told to trim the brown, acclimate it to full sun, and give it a few more weeks before watering since it was in damp soil for who even knows how long. So I guess the plan is to wait. Maybe I'll water on August 1st and just do it monthly from there, since overwatering is my biggest concern.

*****

Y'all, please help me not kill this Ponytail Palm. I've had it for 6 days now, and I haven't watered it. The leaves look (to me) like they could use a drink, though. They're more pointy at the top instead of round, which makes me think they're limp. Also, there is some browning, but I think that's just due to it being shuffled around at the store. There were quite a few torn leaves when I bought it and I didn't prune them off.

Water it, or nah?

I don't know what this little green friend is, but...

I don't know what this little green friend is, but I've found a few growing in various pots in the greenhouse. I'm excited to see what they turn out to be.

If this Ponytail Palm rots, it's definitely my last one.

If this Ponytail Palm rots, it's definitely my last one. I feel like it's gonna be ok, though. I want to name it! (Suggestions welcome!)

I repotted it. I removed all of the moist store dirt from it. I potted it into a terracotta pot from the plastic pot it came in. I added grit, lava stone, and perlite to my cactus and succulent bag mix to make it more well-draining. The pot has a large drain hole and is about the same size as the pot it was in. I also potted it sitting up higher so the base barely, and I mean BARELY, has dirt around it. I was actually shocked it stayed upright.

I'm gonna give it a few days to settle before watering.

If I ruin this one, I don't know. I just don't know.

Store pot and dirt

ROOTS

New pot and dirt next to old pot, for reference.

Look at this sweet boy smelling the blooms!

Look at this sweet boy smelling the blooms! He really loves checking on the plants with me. He comes into the greenhouse and gets his sniffs and picks at the leaves sometimes. He gives me kisses and goes on to do his rounds through the yard and house before coming back and seeing what else is new. He's just the best helper! ❤️

Best helper! 😍

I bought another Ponytail Palm. If it dies, I'm done. I won't be murdering another. It's so weird because it's in very organic soil and it's damp, which sounds like the opposite of what it needs. I haven't repotted it yet, but I will today. I bought a terracotta pot because I think the glazed ceramic pot I had my last one in wasn't letting the water dry fast enough.

My final victim.

The shade cloth seems to be making a big difference with the heat inside the greenhouse. It's still nice and bright in there, but a lot less warm. I hope my plants feel better.

Current setup

Here are a few pics of blooms today.

A crown of flowers

Little blooms

A large bloom

Little flower

Also, I think I have a Gymnocalycium fruit!

Gymnocalycium fruit!