The Murdock Greenhouse

The Murdock Greenhouse I am just a guy who loves strange plants, especially succulents and cactus. I regularly offer my plan

Really nice sunset this evening.
10/28/2024

Really nice sunset this evening.

Some neat shrooms I found on a hike today.
10/28/2024

Some neat shrooms I found on a hike today.

All my little plants are starting their thing. I woke up one morning to a bunch of these mesemb type flowers.This is a L...
10/28/2024

All my little plants are starting their thing. I woke up one morning to a bunch of these mesemb type flowers.
This is a Lapidaria margaretae
Its common name is Karoo Rose.
Origin: Southern Namibia and Northern Cape (South Africa)
These plants need an open, gritty and well drained soil. They also need full bright sunlight throughout the year.
Water during the growing season about once every one-two weeks, and like a cactus, leave it to drain well and to dry out completely before watering again. When in doubt, don't water. You are very unlikely to kill it from underwatering. Do not over-water as they are very greedy drinkers and split within a day or so if given too much water.

Its been a while. I have been pretty busy, especially with the cold coming. I have been moving plants into the greenhous...
10/28/2024

Its been a while. I have been pretty busy, especially with the cold coming. I have been moving plants into the greenhouse or into the house. So sad because they were all so happy this summer.
I took a picture of one of my cactus beds because this opuntia really went crazy this year. Look at all the fruit. I think I am going to harvest all of these and see what I can do.

Last day of the fair. Weather is perfect. The funnel cakes smell awesome. Still have plants for sale.
08/11/2024

Last day of the fair. Weather is perfect. The funnel cakes smell awesome.
Still have plants for sale.

Its that time of year again; time for the Cuyahoga Country Fair Show and Sale.Like previous years I will be there everyd...
08/05/2024

Its that time of year again; time for the Cuyahoga Country Fair Show and Sale.
Like previous years I will be there everyday with some of my collection, lots of plants for sale, and some Q&A time.
Again, I will be in the Bee Barn (where the honey sticks are - Yum).
Here are photos (not the best, but I was in a hurry) of a sample of the plants for sale.
Any questions, just let me know. Hope to see you.

One more picture. Today I was cutting the grass and noticed some new cactus blooms in the greenhouse.I took this real qu...
06/21/2024

One more picture. Today I was cutting the grass and noticed some new cactus blooms in the greenhouse.
I took this real quick because it was the only one that was fully open, and it was so hot. My Sulcorebutias are starting to pop out lots of flower buds.
This one is a Sulcorebutia steinbachii.

A couple weeks ago I posted some picks of my prickly pears just before they started to bloom. Well they started blooming...
06/21/2024

A couple weeks ago I posted some picks of my prickly pears just before they started to bloom. Well they started blooming last week. Sorry I did not post sooner - life.
They are all doing so well, and the front yard is so colorful.
I still need to get out and do some weeding and such, its just so steamy outside; its like Florida. Of course saying that, I will have to get some pictures of my hardy bananas, they are growing so well.

Last weekend the MWCSS went on our June field trip. This year we went to the Green Circle Growers facility in Kipton, Oh...
06/21/2024

Last weekend the MWCSS went on our June field trip. This year we went to the Green Circle Growers facility in Kipton, Ohio. Then we went to Mulberry Creek Herb Farm in Huron, Ohio. Mulberry is owned by Mark Langan who is also a member of MWCSS.
The Green Circle facility/greenhouses was incredible and huge. It was amazing to see all the automation used in their growing.
Thank you Green Circle Growers for hosting our tour and showing us around. We definitely got our steps in here.
At Mulberry we had a great lunch, and got to hear Marks stories of how he built his farm/business, his tips on growing, and see examples of his wonderful arrangements and plantings. This place is fantastic. If you are in the area, its a definite stop. Thanks Mark for the information, the plants, and the hospitality.
Links:

https://mulberrycreek.com/index.html
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.3914149,-82.6245263,16.17z?entry=ttu

https://www.greencirclegrowers.com/
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.2540725,-82.3009915,1577m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

Well its that time of year - Opuntia blooming time. June is usually when all my outside cactus, mainly opuntia bloom.In ...
05/27/2024

Well its that time of year - Opuntia blooming time. June is usually when all my outside cactus, mainly opuntia bloom.
In the one picture you can see all the flower buds ready to go on the cactus by the mailbox.
The other picture is the first outside cactus bloom, and also my first bloom of my Opuntia rutila's pink flowers. I am glad some of my other varieties are getting to blooming age.

The first 2024 plant knowledge base post.Blossfeldia liliputiana(bloss-FEL-dee-uh) Named for Robert Blossfeld, a 20th ce...
04/08/2024

The first 2024 plant knowledge base post.

Blossfeldia liliputiana

(bloss-FEL-dee-uh) Named for Robert Blossfeld, a 20th century German hybridizer
liliputiana - a reference to the fictional island of Liliput (Gulliver's Travels) whose inhabitants were said to be rather small

Common Name: Miniature Button Cactus
Origin: Southern Bolivia to north western Argentina

I love our cactus shows and sales because you never know what you will find; and I have wanted one of these for quite sometime, and its here. This is the Blossfeldia liliputiana - the worlds smallest cactus. This whole clump is ~ 1.5 inches across.
These guys come from Bolivia and Argentina where the grow mainly on rocky outcrops and cracks in rocks. This cactus is slow growing
needing 2 to 5 years to become fully grown. Often in collections, like this one, they are grafted to make it easier to take care of. This also speeds
the growing time but they do become more ball like instead of a flatter disk shape like in the wild.
This cactus is the only cactus that is poikilohydric. That means they are capable of complete drying out, and then re-hydrating their cells when watered.
Apparently it has been found that they can lose 80% of their moisture in a year, and go for another year of drought, then come back after the drought is done.
Also,Except for certain parasites and aquatics, this species possesses the lowest density of stomata of any terrestrial flowering plant. Stomata are the pores in which plants regulate water and gas exchange so having so few may have something to do with why this species loses and gains water to such a degree that would kill most other vascular plant species.
As a cactus this is a summer grower. It, hopefully, will flower with little white and yellow flowers.
Liliputianas do not have spines but little trichromes that a soft.

Hope you enjoyed that litte KB update. I will have more throughout the growing season.

Thank You.I want to thank the Midwest Cactus and Succulent Society for another great show and sale. I want to thank the ...
04/08/2024

Thank You.
I want to thank the Midwest Cactus and Succulent Society for another great show and sale. I want to thank the Cleveland Botanical Garden for hosting the whole thing. And I want to thank all the people who came out to the show. Hope everyone enjoys their new plants.
I had a lot of fun talking to everyone and seeing my 'regulars' again.
Dont forget, the next planned big show for me will be at the Cuyahoga Country Fairgrounds. I am sure I will have more in between, and I will post about them as they come up.

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Strongsville, OH
44149

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