I have no doubts about this theory since somewhere there is a young man who must well remember the time he came out of the bedroom that two of my girls shared and landed in the cacti outside. I later heard his mother had to take him to the emergency room to remove the cactus needles and that it took several hours to cure him. The visual image of that young man wearing only his tidy-whities is one that I laugh about now, but as a mother wasn\\u2019t quite amusing at the time of creation.
Cacti Forest - Photo Source: Jason Vasquez via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons
Anyway, my discarded suggestion wasn\\u2019t as creative a garden design as the one that my husband came up with. We have a large very sunny yard with a stucco faced four foot wall separating the traffic off a very busy main road and our property. The cactus he rescued were not small in number or in size. What we ended up with was a row of cacti statues that at night resemble a very modern sculpture of the eery looking kind. It\\u2019s a lot like being at Joshua Tree National Park looking out upon them with the moon and street lights. I should mention at this point that we love them!
All About Cactaceae
The cactus family is a huge group of succulent, mostly spiny, desert plants found in many parts of the world. There are at least one hundred genera and almost fifteen hundred different species, many of which are highly prized and cultivated for their grotesque forms, showy flowers, and as a food source (the fruits) and their ease of growing and starting in gardens if you have a compatible climate.
Cacti (plural of cactus) grow native in the United States primarily in the southwestern states and nearby Mexico and south. They, of course, do best in regions where scant rainfall, sandy or well-drained soil, and very warm temperatures are the norm. However, that doesn\\u2019t mean that some varieties can\\u2019t grow in places, like Florida, for example. They also do well in rocky or gravelly soil.
Totem Pole Cactus - Photo: Cody Hough via Wikimedia Commons, Creative CommonsMany growers limit their cacti collections to growing them in pots. This is especially a good idea if you live where it is too cold during the winter to have them outside and have room for them inside or have a greenhouse. They will survive inside if it is warm and sunny enough, although they will not thrive inside as a rule.
Propagation and Grafting Cactus
Cacti make it easy to grow unusual looking and deliberate cacti sculptures simply because their tissue will renew itself and knit when injured. Cuttings are the easiest method of propagation. It\\u2019s a miracle in the eyes of my West Virginia farm boy to just stick them in the ground and they seem to grow overnight. The real secret to success is to let them dry out for a couple of days and then plant them. You will only need to water them about every third day lightly for them to take root.
If You\\u2019d Like To Know More About Growing Cacti!
I have no doubts about this theory since somewhere there is a young man who must well remember the time he came out of the bedroom that two of my girls shared and landed in the cacti outside. I later heard his mother had to take him to the emergency room to remove the cactus needles and that it took several hours to cure him. The visual image of that young man wearing only his tidy-whities is one that I laugh about now, but as a mother wasn\u2019t quite amusing at the time of creation.
Cacti Forest - Photo Source: Jason Vasquez via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons
Anyway, my discarded suggestion wasn\u2019t as creative a garden design as the one that my husband came up with. We have a large very sunny yard with a stucco faced four foot wall separating the traffic off a very busy main road and our property. The cactus he rescued were not small in number or in size. What we ended up with was a row of cacti statues that at night resemble a very modern sculpture of the eery looking kind. It\u2019s a lot like being at Joshua Tree National Park looking out upon them with the moon and street lights. I should mention at this point that we love them!
All About Cactaceae
The cactus family is a huge group of succulent, mostly spiny, desert plants found in many parts of the world. There are at least one hundred genera and almost fifteen hundred different species, many of which are highly prized and cultivated for their grotesque forms, showy flowers, and as a food source (the fruits) and their ease of growing and starting in gardens if you have a compatible climate.
Cacti (plural of cactus) grow native in the United States primarily in the southwestern states and nearby Mexico and south. They, of course, do best in regions where scant rainfall, sandy or well-drained soil, and very warm temperatures are the norm. However, that doesn\u2019t mean that some varieties can\u2019t grow in places, like Florida, for example. They also do well in rocky or gravelly soil.
Totem Pole Cactus - Photo: Cody Hough via Wikimedia Commons, Creative CommonsMany growers limit their cacti collections to growing them in pots. This is especially a good idea if you live where it is too cold during the winter to have them outside and have room for them inside or have a greenhouse. They will survive inside if it is warm and sunny enough, although they will not thrive inside as a rule.
Propagation and Grafting Cactus
Cacti make it easy to grow unusual looking and deliberate cacti sculptures simply because their tissue will renew itself and knit when injured. Cuttings are the easiest method of propagation. It\u2019s a miracle in the eyes of my West Virginia farm boy to just stick them in the ground and they seem to grow overnight. The real secret to success is to let them dry out for a couple of days and then plant them. You will only need to water them about every third day lightly for them to take root.
If You\u2019d Like To Know More About Growing Cacti!