Dede Sophie

Oh my goodness, my orchid cacti have been absolutely fine wintering outside for the past 6 years, then this year they have been absolutely smashed!  If you didn’t know before, Orchid cactus – Disocactus ackermannii is an species of epiphytic cactus that occurs in the cloud forests of Veracruz and Oaxaca, in Mexico. It is a gorgeous, evergreen plant with an arching trailing habit and produces dark green, long, flattened leaves which are only 2-3 inches wide but up to 36 inches long! Usually tough as old boots I like to grow it outside hanging from my trees. This year however a polar vortex descended on the garden and stayed for a couple of weeks, just long enough to kill a lot of my ‘on-the-edge’ hardy plants. Even the back up plan cacti in the greenhouse were frozen to mush! Luckily it wasn’t a complete disaster as you will find out in this video.

The hanging of mistletoe at Christmas to steal a kiss from a maiden may be considered sexual violence in today’s society but please don’t blame the mistletoe. Mistletoe is having a hard enough time! With the ever-dwindling UK apple industry meaning less and less host plants from which to grow on and steal nutrients and water from without giving anything back. So mistletoe are desperate for a helping hand! With this in mind why not consider growing your own mistletoe from seed – assuming you have a suitable host tree and a pair of organic disposable gloves? The best time of year for this is February/March and you should be able to get hold of viable seeds from on-like retailers. If you would like to see more content like this then why not subscribe to our YouTube channel ;Walking Talking Gardeners’? It is absolutely free and you can unsubscribe at any time.