epiphyllum King of Yellows. The Epiphyllums in the yard are in full bloom now. Gorgeous yellows, reds, maroons and oranges everywhere. They are huge and yet fragile and delicate, their flowers reminiscent of sparkling crepe paper.
Most of my epiphyllums came from the San Diego ephiphyllum Society Annual Sale in Balboa Park. Back when I bought them, they had cuttings for $1 each! I bought about 20 of them and now I have huge epiphyllums in all sorts of cool colors and combinations around the house. What a bargain! I still have name tags in them too but, when they get large, getting down into the pot to pull the tag can be a slightly prickly situation. I say slightly prickly since most of my epiphyllums are relatively spineless with perhaps a few prickly hairs around the aureoles. However, down along the main trunk of the plant, some of them can be a little prickly so, if I refuse to stick my hand down in the pot, it's understandable. Oddly enough, they're also prickly when they're young but grow into large, flat stemmed, relatively non-prickly adults.
They are generally great all around plants. They don't need much water or food and grow really easily. Few bugs will bother them. Their one issue, those nasty California Brown Snails love them. However, if you don't water much, eventually the snails go away too. Let's hear it for Xeriscape!
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