ARID LANDS GREENHOUSE

Whoa, almost missed the sign!!!!  I can't tell you how much fun it was to have the opportunity to swing by Arid Lands Greenhouses.  It was even almost "on the way" between our two tourist spots of the day, the Sonoran Desert Museum (awesome) and Sabino Canyon (awesome, too).  How can you say no to a mere 30 minute detour?  I mean, how often does one go to Tuscon?? 

Arid Lands (at least what I saw of it) consists of three long, connected, cylindrical greenhouses slightly off of the main road.  We missed it the first time and caught it on the U-turn.  I was frantically hoping that U-turns were legal in the state of Arizona, because goodness knows I did NOT have my papers (insert WWII German accent) on me at the time.  The first two buildings consisted of seedlings, young plants, mature small plants, and some large adeniums in flower. 

Huge, beautiful, flowering Astrophytum myriostigma (Bishop's cap).  I want one so badly!!!  Mine is currently a baby, and it sure isn't growing as quickly as I'd like it too.  Maybe it needs a new pot.  My Bishop's cap is currently in a West-facing window at work.  This little guy looked like he needed as much sun as he could get.

Aww, isn't she cute???  If only she would grow LAAAAARGER.  Grow!  Do it now!  The astrophytum is currently living next to Chicken Little, the hysterical Adenium arabicum seedling.  Who, by the way, went completely bald after his crazy 80's bender and is now regrowing new leaves.  How embarrassing, see below:

"I'm not dead yet!" - Chicken Little

Back to Arid Lands...

I was greeted by a very pleasant woman, whose name I can't remember but gave us a fantastic recommendation for a nearby Mexican restaurant for lunch, and was given the quick tour and then left to my own devices and enjoyment of the myriad of cacti and succulents.  I mentioned I had met Bob Webb when he was visiting Gethsemane Gardens in Chicago, and she told me that Dr. Webb apparently had a great time in Chi-town, and gave everyone a fantastic review.  Aww, aren't Chicagoans the best?  He was away in some hot and sunny remote place doing what he does best while we were visiting (too bad, I wanted to let him know that my Duvaliandra dioscoridis ended up blooming spectacularly and thank him for the recommendation). 

My attempt at a panorama of the greenhouse building 1.

Some adeniums (NOIDS), they were labeled, but I didn't look.  Whatevs, they were pretty.

Lil' Fatty!

Hello, Adenium!!!

Aren't you the cutest little bonsai'd succulent? 

Aren't you???



 

If you are asking if this was an impulse purchase from Gethsemane Garden Center last week, the answer is yes.  This little guy was labeled Adenium arabicum seedling and I think was another one of the Arid Lands bounty they have had for a while (its almost gone, so move fast if you still want any).  I'm just going off of the label, I'm not sure how you would be able to distinguish an adenium obesum seedling from an adenium arabicum, but apparently as i read more about it, there is something of a discrepancy going on regarding the nomenclature.  The plant that the lay person such as myself thinks of as adenium arabicum has a very fat caudex with multiple upward reaching branches, with the squat, wide caudex being the main difference separating it from adenium obesum.  So, of course, this is not correct by any means.  Some people think that the arabicum should be correctly labeled as obesum, and that obesum should be labeled something new.  Others feel they are just variants of the same species.  How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?  The world may never know...

So here's the deal with my seedling.  I immediately repotted it from the soggy soil mix it was planted in, gave it a very rocky, sandy, fast draining soil, and stuck it in a pretty little bonsai planter.  I realize if everything goes according to plan, it should outgrow this pot pretty quickly, but there in no guarantee I won't kill it this summer.  Since the adenium are notoriously rot prone, I will probably be taking this little guy straight to work, where it will get direct afternoon sun.  Less chance for rot, and I doubt it would do that well in my north-facing apartment.  Permanent dormancy.  That would be my prediction, anyway.  Suffering the slowest death in the state of Illinois.

What are THESE???
I think they may be new branches, but maybe they are just new leaves...they look like little pink tulips growing out of the seedling's trunk.  Only time will tell...hopefully they just won't involute like the buds on the new Huernia confusa I got in the mail last week...

Let's hope for the best!