I do not claim any expertise in this, but to me both look like Oreocereus (all three of them do, but for only one the ID was in question). Aside from the fact that cephalocereus senilis looks very different - certainly at that age - one might have expected a cephalium to develop at 65 years old... have any of them ever flowered? Given that at one point it grew to be 8 ft tall one would have expected a flowering event - and thus the development of a cephalium if it was indeed cephalocereus. Oreocereus does not make a cephalium so that would be the easiest way to differentiate between them... spines are very different as well.

As to the base of a Saguaro growing a new stem - that is possible, but when I said the plant was dead I was talking about the broken off sections.

As for which Oreocereus Mr. Old Man might be, here are some stats about ribs & spines from my cactus book. I realize these numbers are not 100% reliable, and I do not claim to have any expert knowledge about the details, but I think a close look is informative.

O. "Mr. Old Man" - about 15 ribs, 2-3 central spines (depends on how you count I guess), about 15-17 radial spines

The species in alphabetical order, with asterisks where the numbers don't match:

O. celsianus* - 10-25 ribs, 1-4 central spines, 7-9* radial spines
O. doelzianus* - 10-11*, 4*, 10-20
O. hempelianus - 12-24, 1-6, 10-15
O. leucotrichus* - 10-15, 1-4, 5-10*
O. pseudofossulatus* - 10-13*, 1*, 10-14*
O. ritteri* - 12-14*, 1-2, up to 10*
O. tacnaensis* - 10-16, 4-8*, 12-30
O. trollii - 15-25, 3-5, 10-15
O. varicolor* - 12*, 4*, 15

That would seem to leave O. trollii as the most likely candidate, solely based on the number of ribs and spines (and its mass availability in cultivation). I could have gotten the spine count wrong. I cannot even see the radial spines on my O. trollii so I have no way of comparing them.

Thanks for the input Baja.

A couple thoughts:

Was Oreocereus trollii available 65 years ago? I saw my first labeled one only within the last several years. I got mine because of the crazy hairdo - kind of a cyclone affect.

Cephlocereus senilis used to be Cereus senilis. Even in the ground, none of them ever bloomed. In fact, I thought they didn't bloom until I saw one at Mr. Poot's place in Manteca in bloom. It was obviously also an Oreocereus (in hind sight). But that was long enough ago that I thought it (and mine) were Cereus senilis.

mcvansoest said:Oreocereus does not make a cephalium so that would be the easiest way to differentiate between them...

Actually Oreocereus doelzianus does make a terminal cephalium, according to my cactus book, not that I've ever seen one. That's the only exception to the rule that I'm aware of. It used to be in its own genus (Morawetzia).

Daisy, you've reached the limits of my knowledge... I have no idea what was on the market that long ago, but trollii was the second species of the genus to be described, for what it's worth, so it's got some seniority.

I bought a Madagascar palm from the Desert Botanical Garden in Arizona 3 years ago. It has grown quite a bit. Although I have repotted it once prior to today. I have not researched deep on how to take care of it. I repotted it today ( which I probably should have done during spring) because it lost half of its leave this past winter.I have kept it in my sunroom all this time. I watered it after I repotted today and will keep it inside our sunroom. When should I water it again?...

Try to avoid watering right after repotting one of these. It's usually better to wait a few days to a week before watering, so that the roots have time to heal. The risk is rot. There is less risk if you didn't handle or break the roots much.

Pachypodium care depends on the season. During summer, the season of active growth, they are thirsty and like regular water. My outdoor plants are in full sun and I water them twice a week during summer in our mild climate. You might water weekly this time of year indoors if the temperatures are moderate. When the plant loses its leaves, it prefers water less often. Maybe every 2 weeks indoors? Time it for when the soil goes dry at depth. You've kept yours alive for 3 years so you must have worked out a good rhythm.

More on Pachypodiums and their care here:

The Pachypodiums Database

There has been a request on the Site Talk forum for a new forum dedicated to xeriscaping. If anyone is interested and would participate, here's where to indicate your interest:

The thread "New Forum Request: Xeriscaping" in Site Talk forum

Havent posted in a while, and nothing seems to be going on at the moment
Photos from cruiser model, and this peculiar batman styled ship upon arrival. (think this one was famous or something)


Screenshot from video from boat, the coast is sardinia..


What greeted me in rome(next morning)


So..a couple of thoughts. Boats are overrated...
I mean... sea travel. I didnt have such problems on the senne or near venice. The swinging back and forth(i was lucky not to get seasick) its just disorienting. Considering the cabin was "economy class"... i spent most of the trip in the bed.I was terrified of falling down or hitting something due to the constant swinging back and forth, up and down. Its hard to stand upright. And the engines...
they feel like a damn earthquake... Not to mention. That sea wind you see in movies...its pretty strong if the ship is going fast. Like in a wind tunnel.
I spent the night in a bungalow. I religiously believe that bungalows should be straw and bamboo huts (round). I mean , the word evokes tropical feelings. So, i find it weird that something so tropic sounding is referring to a small barrack.

Rome, near vatican. Dont know what this gate is..

Next ones are from the vatican..
























St peter square:





So ... a couple notes..
We had a tour guide with proximity radio... and i got separated(thanks to security sending me to the other side of the room ) in the sistine chapel(and no, not because i did anything wrong. They directed me there because there had been too much people on one side of the room). Also photos and filming is banned.. Needless to say, i missed the part of the tour in st.peters cathedral..lucky plan b was to meet up with one of the tour guides near the obelisk...

There has been a request on the Site Talk forum for a new forum dedicated to xeriscaping. If anyone is interested and would participate, here's where to indicate your interest:
Baja, I would love to have our own Sanseveria forum. Mentioned it on my post but nothing never came out of it.
I posted it in the House Plant forums and I know it should have been in Cactus and Succulents.

The best place to post that request is on the Site Talk forum.

https://garden.org/forums/view...

I had company this afternoon. Surprised to see this guy still hanging around. He made my whole day.

I really need to stop checking out the plants when I go to Wal-Mart, but I like to see what's new and what's on clearance. Yesterday it resulted in two new acquisitions, neither on clearance. It does seem like they've received a lot of more interesting plants this year.

One was this Mammillaria plumosa. I'd tried one earlier this year, but it hardly counts. That one had the plastic container crushed and broken and the plant knocked out. The barrel looked sound, but didn't have much of a clump of soil attached and no roots visible. It was practically free - cost less than a canned soda. It might have made it except it was continually rained on after potting it up. After 4 weeks of that, I went out and it was mush. Since they had a new one, thought I'd try again.


The other plant is labeled Agave americana 'Mediopicta'. They had gotten in a lot of A. americanas. 3-4 'Marginata', 2 'Mediopicta' and the rest normal blue ones - probably a dozen or so. I'd seen the ones with yellow margins before, but don't recall ever seeing the 'Mediopicta'. Normally variegated plants aren't my preference, but they make a nice change and I thought this one was really striking. It's got about a 12 inch wingspan. One problem with variegated plants here, especially those with white variegation is the light areas burn in the sun during the summer months. You never know until you try, I guess. Because I don't know the conditions this was being grown in, for the minute I have it sitting under the southern outer edge of an oak tree. It will get lots of direct sun, but not all day. It was sort of under the shade cloth at Wal-Mart, but they haven't it very long.

You'll like both of those plants. They do well for me here in AZ in my front yard. The agave is a slow grower so be patient with it. The little mamm will put out light pink flowers when it blooms.

I like Wally Word. They get some cool things in and the prices are decent. You just have to look on a regular basis and pick and choose wisely and you can do o.k. there.

I found this in the front bed this morning.

What is it, Angelo?

Seems to be a opuntiad species...

I think it's probably an Opuntia fragilis.

So...
sempervivum(jovibarba)heufelii bloomed

S.tectorums bloom take 2



And mammillaria matudae round 2

So...good to see nearly all my plants growing and thriving(for the first time proper in 6 years)..
Also good to see some of the underwatered plants recover- the pereskia looks good as new.
I am going to repot the remaining large aloes i have in the weekend.
Gonna need bigger pots... and organic material....