That's a nice pokey Rosemarie, It's Pilosocereus azureus, and has been reduced to synonymy with P. pachycladus, in habitat it grows to around 30ft.
Check out the link below for some nice pics.

CP

Here is a link that might be useful: Pilosocereus pachycladus

There's no stopping now, Rosemarie ...

You are well on your way to becoming one of us. There is no turning back now, LOL

Dawn

Hahaha! You will be hooked for sure!! I love the Brazilian columnars. Here is a nice link for them:
Bill in SC

Here is a link that might be useful: Brazilian columnars

Good for you Rosemarie! What's next? A Ferocactus? I'm half expecting Jeff to post a photo of Gumby now...
Amy

Thanks for the info & links CactusPolecat & Bill! Are you SURE? Thirty FEET high?! Yikes! Where will I put it? Assuming I can keep it alive! :P

Hee hee, S-n-B & Dawn! I know! Maybe I should hide out!? :D

Amy, I figure Jeff might bring Gumby out to join Pokey! We shall see! LOL Hey, you know what? My 1st cactus WAS a Ferocactus...along with my half dozen you will see below. I killed it a few years later. Only 2 of the originals are still alive from Dec 2000. :( I managed to keep alive a Mamm. bocasana I bought a bit after that.

Are you ready for this? My current count of Pokeys is 19!! LOL

Here are some pix I dug up from pre-diggie days...my Xeriscape Lemon Island...1st planting for the cacti & sux (12/00)!

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Yes...that is a Lemon tree in the middle! My youngest son wouldn't let me remove it.
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This is my Ferocactus a couple years later ('02):
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My, oh my, how the yard has changed since then! Maybe I'll do a more current shot of my Xeriscape Lemon Island later on...after I CLEAR the jungle! :)

~Rosemarie

Rosemarie...It really looks like a P. azureus. The body of it looks exactly like the one I have, but mine has much yellower (is that a word?!) spines, and the spines are a bit thicker, even though it is about the same size cactus. Maybe mine is mislabeled! I love your lemon island! Do the lemons ever fall on your succs and cacti? That's gotta be devastating for an Aeonium of the like...

Kate

I just realized I was misspelling the name Pilosocereus! Ha! I don't usually figure out how to spell it till I can pronounce it in my head in order to write it. So, can any of you tell me if the 'c' is hard & sounds like a 'k' or soft like an 's'?

Kate, I think "yellower" is considered an inflected form of yellow, like "funnest" (which many people say)! :) I try to say "more ____ (whatever)" to be on the safe side if I don't know. I am curious to see how this one will grow up!

No, the lemons don't fall on/hurt the plants. I give them to a friend as they ripen, so they don't usually have a chance to do that. I've cut it back considerably over the yrs., as my son isn't as attached to it now (thank goodness). Too bad I couldn't have gotten it out in the beginning though.

Hey! I just realized you have some of the great grandchildren of the Aloe in one of those pix!

~Rosemarie

Rosemarie, what is that aloe in the second last pic, that is gorgous. You have a nice set-up there.

Dawn

The C is soft, like Pill-Oh-So-Serious, or Pee-Lo-So-Serious. Either way, that is what you have, and mine is too. Just different.

It must be the Aloe on the left in pic 2, because mine don't look much like the one near the cactus pots. They are inside for the winter now, by the way...The one I planted in the ground as a test subject did MUCH better over the summer than the ones in the pots, but it is looking VERY sickly now, and I am thinking about digging it up and potting it for the winter. If it's too cold for it now...yikes. By January, it will be a miserable shriveled little mass. : (

K

Thanks Dawn. That set up has changed BIG time & is overrun by other non-succulent plants now. It's ready for an overhaul!

That is Aloe grandidentata (in any of the pix), or so I'm lead to believe. I the beginning (& for many years) I thought it was Aloe saponaria, but the flowers are not club-shaped & the inflorescences branch. I think those were the determining factors, but I'm not positive.

Thanks so much for the pronunciation of the name, Kate!

No, Kate, yours has to be the same as that Aloe because it's the only kind I had back then & it has been puppiferous (to steal Jeff's coining) ever since! It looks different depending on how much sun &/or water it gets. Too bad the one in the ground is looking sickly. Well, it would've been a good test to see how it fared in the cold.

Here's one pic I found of the Aloe blooming & you can see 2 of those 1st cacti in the background along with part of my Xeri. Lemon Is.

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~R

Does yours get direct sun all day? That's the only thing I can think of that would make the leaves on mine longer and skinnier...not enough sun. they were in the sun from about 10-noon every day, then shade. Next year, I will try full sun for them. They did grow quite a bit, but they are a little on the slim side! Thanks, Rosemarie...for the plants, and the photos!

Kate

Here's a pic of the ones in pots. Sorry to have hi-jacked your P. azureus post with Aloe photos!

K

That middle one is about 15 inches now from tip to tip...

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Yes, most of them are in full sun (unless they get shaded from other plants). Maybe it's from them being older. I did have some that looked like yours. Those might've been the ones in shade. It's okay to hijack...as long as we're having fun! Full sun might do the trick for you!

~R

I will acclimate them to some full sun next spring, and I am sure they will do well! I actually couldn't believe how much they grew in one season, since they were just not-so-big pups when I got them, but they just got lanky. Next year we are going for "plump". I actually thought they were doing great, until I saw their grandparent there in the shade of that mighty lemon tree. All the other Aloe types I have seem to be very slow growers, but these guys just took off! How big is that older relative? It seems really healthy to me.

Kate

I will go out in the morning light & take pix of the old guys left over out there. I looked at it earlier tonight (but didn't take a pic) & it seemed a ft & a half across. I'll measure tomorrow. Will post then.

I know the ones I have in the far corner of the yard aren't getting any water & are shaded by 2 fences. I'll see how they're doing too. might as well check on my Aloe nobilis hiding over there while I'm at it!

~R

Thanks, Rosemarie! I'd love to see more of what grows so well there in your yard in SoCal...I should've been more into my outdoor collection when I lived in Pasadena!

K

Hey Rosemarie, which "brand" of Fero is that? It appears young, yet it's flowering! Personally, I think your Lemon Island is very attractive. And how funny that your son wouldn't let you remove the lemon tree.

When life hands you lemons, plant a xeriscape garden!

Amy

Looks a bit like F. herrerae, but that gets to be a big old thing. I think Rosemarie is a secret cactus expert ;)

S&B, I have to agree with you. I think she has been holding out on us :)

Dawn

Okay, if you haven't already found it, I started a new post with the Aloe pix. I'll bet your growing conditions in Pasadena were WAY different that what you have now, Kate!

Thanks, Amy! (Name on that Fero below.) My son was only 6 or 7 yo at the time. He was helping me by holding the hose to soak the ground. When he asked & I told him why we were doing that (to remove the Lemon tree), tears streamed down his face & he wailed "I want to keep it!" That was that! :)
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Shrubs n bulbs, my Fero was originally ID'd here as Ferocactus herrerae, but later I started thinking it might be F. wislizenii. Whichever, I killed it! :( Or, I caused it to die by not caring for it properly...which makes me hesitate to get more! "Secret Cactus Something", I am! :D

Hee hee, you guys!
~Rosemarie

I though about wislizenii, but your plant appears to have one central spine more flattened than the others while wislizenii tends to have around four somewhat equal central spines. A mature wislizenii will have twenty+ ribs while hererrae should have thirteen. I can't quite count yours but it looks close to thirteen.

I believe you are correct, Shrubs n bulbs...the one I owned had less ribs & just the one central flattened spine. I think I got myself confused when seeing pix of both at a site in a different language & I was too lazy to translate to find out what was what. Live & learn!

Here's another view:
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~R

I'm also happy the lemon tree stayed. Historical pics are great. I wish I had more of my earlier ones.

Al

This post has takn on a life of its own! They don't call me "Sidetracked" fer nuttin'! :O)

Well...I've been searching for an "after" pic (more current, anyway)...of my Xeriscape Lemon Island.
Hard to pick just one...and you can't really see much of the C & S in it...so I selected THREE!
You might have to scroll a bit on this one I pieced together (more or less what it looks like now).
(XLI is to the right, plum tree bare behind pink bush)
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Here, showing the side of XLI (to the right of Clematis)
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A close-up of XLI when an Echeveria was blooming & Variegated Vinca has taken over (there's that same Aloe)
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Okay, one last pic showing what we started with ('00-cleared of garbage, that is) & we've been working on it ever since!
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Thanks for letting me reminisce!
~Rosemarie

The second last pic is nice. I did see a pokey though and a nice one at that. The oranges look inviting and so does that aloe. Nice pool. What I would do to have a palm tree growing in my back yard. You have a very nice yard. Thanks for sharing.

Dawn