El48tel I understood peat was supposed to be banned this year, but looking on the web they now seem to have backtracked? Many firms were starting to advertise JI composts as peat free, but it seems the gardeners not unnaturally still prefer peat? Great its still available since in many cases the mix...

There are probably no genuine John Innes composts available these days since both peat and loam are essential ingredients in the original mix. Its a wonder the Trades Description Act does not stop them still falsely trading on the John Innes name these days since they are not the original JI formula...

The virtually spineless form regarded by some as a cultivar called 'Cucumis' gets its name because of its cucumber like appearance. https://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACTI/Family/Cactaceae/14354/Echinocereus_cucumis However Kew accepts it as a valid subspecies' rather than a cultivar. https://powo...

With dry rot like that you can often peel away the dead tissue taking all the rot with it. In any case new roots cannot penetrate that hardened tissue you need to get back to clean tissue, leave it form a clean callous for a few days and then re-root.

Yes I had this Pelechyphora for nearly 50 years. No change in growing conditions or it's looks and flowering the previous year. However on repotting it a year or so ago after the winter rest it turned out to just be a hollow shell. Nothing lives forever!

We forget that plants are individuals and like humans have their own natural lifespan even in habitat. Some individuals, even given optimum conditions, will live longer than others. The older less vigorous we get the more liable we are to die from what we would have shrugged off as youngsters. One a...

Thanks Phil it saves me looking. I had forgotten Ritter (= John Donald as editor on his behalf) had published some more Rebutia's in Ashingtonia. A few blank pages in the reproduction to skip through though. https://www.cactuspro.com/lecture/Ashingtonia/AshingtoniaVol3/page-18.html The Ashingtonia j...

My interest Ralph was because years ago I was given a "Rebutia buiningiana" which when I searched the Web did not match the pictures for that name. I later found out it was the old "R. buiningiana" nomen nudum, evidently still going round in cultivation with the original name of ...

Ralph in his talk had a guess at what the Rebutia archibuiningiana name meant. The botanical definition is:- "In biology and anatomy, it usually means "primitive", "original", or "ancestral"1. For example, archipterygium means "primitive fin or wing". Fro...

Will not affect those in the UK, but the notice of Ralph's talk says GMT. We have put our clocks forward an hour to British Summer Time = BST so evidently the notice was written before then. Just checked with Nigel in charge of talks and it should be 7.30pm BST for those abroad calculating the time ...